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written by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron,

directed by Karen Carpenter

Michael Rubinoff, Panasonic Theatre, Toronto

July 21- October 30, 2010

The prime reason to see Love, Loss, and What I Wore is to see five sensational female performers share the same stage.  What more could you want than musical star Louise Pitre, comedy legend Andrea Martin, 22 Minutes’ Mary Walsh, Degrassi’s Paula Brancati and cabaret diva Sharron Matthews gathered together for your entertainment?  Well, you might wish for a show as willing to challenge as amuse.

The show, written by well-known screenwriting sisters Nora and Delia Ephron, is not a play.  Rather it is a collection of stories based primarily on the 1995 autobiographical book of the same title by Ilene Beckerman, where items of clothing and accessories trigger Beckerman’s memories of her life from youth to age 60.  To this the Ephrons have added other stories by eighteen of their friends.  In the show the five performers sit on stools before scripts to which they sometimes refer and deliver what is basically a rehearsed reading.  Pitre is assigned the Beckerman character whose life provides the show’s through-line and announces themes that the others develop like “Bras,” “Shoes” and “The Closet.”  Although subjects like rape, breast cancer, body image, divorce, adultery and death of a child are raised, the Ephrons never dwell on any of them as if they would disturb the show’s light-hearted superficiality.  The question why women are more subject than men to the tyranny of fashion never arises and neither the word “bikini” nor “burqa” is mentioned.                  

As one might expect the two who routinely bring down the house are the two most experienced comediennes.  Each of Andrea Martin’s monologues is hilarious whether it is a deadpan elegy on the loss of a favourite shirt, the secret wish to mourn the death of her still-living husband or her extended rant about the pointlessness of the purse.  Mary Walsh rivals her in an uproarious account of a first bra-fitting but also can evoke serious emotion in a story about a mastectomy.  Matthews and Brancati make the best impression with intercut stories about two women seeking the perfect wedding gown.  Pitre serves as a wise, wry narrator.  Yet, it is still odd to cast Pitre and Matthews without giving them some excuse to sing especially when a whole section is devoted to Madonna.  The current cast plays through August 7.  Then from August 10 to September 4, Lauren Collins, Wendy Crewson, Cynthia Dale and Margot Kidder take over four of the roles.  You may regret the flimsiness of the showcase but not the strength of the female talent on display.

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2010-07-22.

Photo: Mary Walsh, Louise Pitre, Andrea Martin, Paula Brancati, Sharron Matthews. 

©John Lauener.