Billy Crystal delivers a comedy master class in Broadway’s ‘Mr. Saturday Night’
Welcome to Curtain Call, our mostly queer take on the latest theater openings on Broadway and beyond.Move over, Dave Chappelle.
Legendary comedian Billy Crystal proves that to be funny is to be human in a musical adaptation of the 1992 film Mr. Saturday Night.
Featuring music by Jason Robert Brown (The Last Five Years), lyrics by Amanda Green, and a laugh-out-loud book by Crystal, Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, the musical is a rare opportunity to see the 74-year-old legend in action — and he doesn’t miss a beat.After being mistaken for dead on the Emmy Awards “In Memoriam” tribute and playing one too many gigs at the local retirement center, Buddy Young, Jr. (Crystal), hopes to resuscitate his waning career and, in the meantime, repair relationships with his former manager and younger brother (David Paymer), wife (Randy Graff), and daughter (Shoshana Bean).Young reluctantly elicits the help of a junior talent agent (Chasten Harmon) to get back in the game, but the whole set-up is really just an excuse to watch Crystal hold a giggling and guffawing audience in the palm of his hand.
True, the jokes target a geriatric crowd with a sense of humor. In one bit, he says, “By the way, Moses called. He said you were a great f*ck,” and later, when filming a commercial for adult incontinent pads, goes off script, joking, “But with these new ‘Secures,’ I feel like a horse … which means I sh*t when I walk!”Related: ‘Who are you now?’ ‘Funny Girl’ and a Broadway revival’s identity crisisBut if seven seasons of Grace and Frankie have proved anything to a wider audience, it’s that comedy doesn’t have an expiration date.
