The Tale of the Allergist's Wife The Tale of the Allergist's Wife Press releases and local media not withstanding, the important thing about The Tale of the Allergist's Wife isn't the fact that it stars Valerie Harper ‚ even though her performance is a good one ‚ but rather the fact that it's written by author, actor and (to quote his web site) "drag legend" Charles Busch. Best known for outrageous comedies such as Psycho Beach Party and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, Bush has "gone legit" with Allergist's Wife but hasn't abandoned his interest in the kinky and the slightly surreal. As a result this generally conventional comedy about an upper-middle-class, upper West Side New York matron working through a mid-life crisis goes off in unexpected directions just often enough to raise it above the "cable movie of the week" category into which it otherwise might fall.
The setup is deceptively simple: Thrown into a fit of self-analysis by the death of her therapist, Marjorie Taub sees herself as a failure and "cultural poseur", subscribing to the right theatres and donating to the right progressive charities but accomplishing little. It doesn't help any that her husband, Dr. Ira Taub, has retired from a successful practice only to become even more in demand as a volunteer at free clinics and public speaker, or that her mother Frieda seems to enjoy nothing more that dropping in at dinnertime to discuss her bowel movements in graphic detail. When former childhood chum Lee Green miraculously turns up, Marjorie's life suddenly turns around. Widely traveled, successful, and apparently on a first-name basis with every notable human of the last 40 years, Lee appears to be the best friend Marjorie really needs.
Or is she? As the play progresses, Lee becomes more enigmatic, Ira and Frieda more suspicious, and situations more complex. Then Lee manages to seduce Ira and Marjorie into a mÈnage a trios and things start to become seriously ‚ but still comically ‚ weird.
Harper is believable and sympathetic as Marjorie, even if her portrayal does tend to stay largely on one note, starting big and remaining that way to the end. In all fairness, though, I should note that the part as written doesn't appear to have a lot of shading and playing to a big house like the Fox ‚ easily two or three times the size most Broadway theatres ‚ dictates a larger than life approach.
Mike Burstyn is warm and very funny as Marjorie's long-suffering husband and Sondra James provides hilarious counterpoint as the acerbic Frieda, locked in a love-hate relationship with both her daughter and her own lower GI tract. Busch relies perhaps a bit too heavily on the obvious "ailing Jewish mother gags" at times, but James does them justice. Jana Robbins is properly mysterious and alluring as Lee and Anil Kumar effectively rounds out the cast as the doorman Mohammed. The part is largely there to provide exposition and move the plot along, but Kumar makes the character appealing.
Technically the show is impressive. Santo Loquasto's beautifully detailed set looks convincingly "lived in", Ann Roth's costumes nicely mirror changes in character and tone, and Christopher Akerlind's lighting is highly effective.
The Tale of the Allergist's Wife may not be High Art, but it's highly entertaining often enough to be worth a look. Whether or not it's worth up to $60 per ticket is, of course, another question. It wouldn't be for me, but your mileage and bank balance may vary. It runs through September 29th [2002] at the Fox; call 314-534-1111 to order tickets.