TAKE 5Search NoticesSearch NoticesPost a NoticePost a NoticeProduction ListingsProduction ListingsHeadshot and Reel DatabaseHeadshot and Reel DatabaseCasting FAQCasting FAQREGIONSREGIONSNew York CityNew York CityLos AngelesLos AngelesNortheastNortheastSoutheastSoutheastMidwestMidwestWestWestPacific CoastPacific CoastTOPICSTOPICSFilmFilmStageStageUnionsUnionsTV/Video/MultimediaTV/Video/MultimediaOther News & ObitsOther News & ObitsAnnouncementsAnnouncementsFeaturesFeaturesColumnsColumnsTheatre ReviewsTheatre ReviewsBlogs - CuesBlogs - CuesBlogs - CutsBlogs - CutsMessage BoardMessage BoardScam AlertsScam AlertsCommunity PicsCommunity PicsBack Stage BulletinsBack Stage BulletinsHelpful LinksHelpful LinksDirectoryDirectoryRoss ReportsRoss ReportsBack Stage BooksBack Stage BooksShop Back StageShop Back StageGetting StartedGetting StartedTrainingTrainingCareersCareersPromoting YourselfPromoting YourselfUnionsUnionsActing as a BusinessActing as a Business _ SEARCH: Advanced Search » Search Back Stage Search the web January 17, 2006 SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | MOST POPULAR | RSS | SAVED ARTICLES | REPRINTS TAKE 5 September 10, 2005 By Leonard Jacobs Christopher Durang knows the idiosyncratic comic touch; his website, www.christopher durang .com, symbolizes it. His homepage's keywords include "satire, dark comedy, parody, funny, absurdist," plus "coffee, Yale School of Drama, zippers, age, lapsed Catholic, hiccups" and "cursor, satire, parody, glaucoma drops, dog, dog food, bread, butter, cheese." His plays—Beyond Therapy, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Betty's Summer Vacation—are superb examples of the intelligibly laughable, the cerebrally loony. It's how he thinks. It's who he is. So when asked to consider memorable performers and performances, Durang—whose new play, Miss Witherspoon, opens Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons on Nov. 29—pithily, whimsically, and quickly formulates a list of five and a unifying theme. "I find it fun when a performer is asked to show many different sides of themselves in an evening," he says. "Part of the fun that came from watching Kristine Nielsen in Betty's Summer Vacation was watching her play a prosecuting attorney who was browbeating a witness who she was also playing." A revival of the play is running at the Electric Lodge in Venice, Calif., through Nov. 27. So here are Durang's five favorite performances—all women, let's note—by actors playing either a multiple-personality character or, simply, more than one character. "I didn't see this TV movie in its first run, but as years went on I kept hearing how great it was. Sally Field had such a strange introduction to us—The Flying Nun is the second most ridiculous TV show ever made; the first is My Mother the Car. So poor Sally wasn't taken seriously, plus she'd played Gidget too, right? In any case, she is astonishing in Sybil. The emotional truth of her pain, the variety of despair, anger, and seduction she brings to the different parts of her multishattered personality make this a legendary performance." "Kristine won an Obie for her hilarious performance as Mrs. Siezmagraff, the narcissist who hasn't a clue she's causing chaos everywhere. In Act Two, the scandal-addicted Voices in the Ceiling crash through the roof and demand to be entertained. Mrs. Siezmagraff obliges by creating for them, in advance, the Court TV trial that may happen once her daughter and the daughter's serial-killer boyfriend are arraigned for beheading and de-penising the flasher Mrs. Siezmagraff brought home to dinner. (Follow that?)" "I saw Tommy Tune's Off-Broadway production of Caryl Churchill's Cloud Nine five times. It's one of my favorite plays and productions. The entire cast was wonderful, but people still talk about E. Katherine Kerr. Katherine played three roles: Ellen, the weepy lesbian maid; Mrs. Saunders, the independent-minded dominatrix; and Betty, the "look on the bright side" British mom. (Katherine subsequently created the Woman in my Laughing Wild.)" "What a great talent Lily Tomlin is. Aside from Laugh-In, I remember her early appearances on Saturday Night Live when that full-wattage smile of hers lit up the screen, full of smarts and warmth. She's done great movie work, and in the various versions of Search for Signs, written by the talented Jane Wagner, Lily is dazzling. That work is such an amazing mixture of comic caricature, complicated characters, and not comedy at all—just plain moving." "Liza Minnelli has always been a very good actress. One of her showiest roles was playing mother and daughter in the musical The Rink—somehow she managed to look like herself as the daughter and Chita Rivera as the mother. Not everyone realized Liza played both parts, but it explains why she famously forgot to thank Rivera in her Tony speech." Addendum: "I'm sorry: No. 5 is a joke. Rivera did play her mother, and Liza didn't win a Tony. I actually like Liza Minnelli a lot; I just felt like being silly. I had trouble coming up with No. 5. Here's a runner-up: Chita Rivera in Kiss of the Spider Woman, in which she played the Woman, the Kiss, and the Spider." < SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | MOST POPULAR | RSS | SAVED ARTICLES | REPRINTS SUBSCRIBE TO BACKSTAGE » Related Articles » The Odd Couple Oct 27, 2005 – Back Stage » Review: 'Comedy On The Bridge' and 'Brundibar' Nov 18, 2005 – Back Stage » Measure For Measure Dec 28, 2005 – Back Stage » eBay Bidder Buys Stage-Time at Laugh Factory Nov 30, 2005 – Back Stage » SKiNNY Oct 27, 2005 – Back Stage View more related articles more » » New York City » Northeast » West » Pacific Coast » Los Angeles » Southeast » Midwest » Film » Unions » Other News & Obits » Stage » TV / Video / Multimedia » Announcements An Evening With...Hugh Laurie January 17, 2006 'Back Stage West' will present a Q&A Hugh Laurie, the star of FOX Television's 'House', and recent Golden Globe winner for Best Actor in a Drama Series. The event will be moderated by National Film & Television Editor Jenelle Riley. 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