Broadway’s ‘Celebrity Autobiography’ Is an Unfair and Unsatisfying Boldface Name Game

Many have tried to impersonate Oprah Winfrey through the years, but I’ve seen few professionals or amateurs capture her almost comical imperiousness as adroitly as Jackie Hoffman did at a recent preview of “Celebrity Autobiography.” Ms. Hoffman, a beloved character actress, is one of a number of stage and screen veterans who will be appearing for varying lengths of time in the new Broadway production, which brings the show to the Shubert Theatre after runs at a smaller venue uptown and in other American cities, as well as London, Edinburgh, and Sydney.Created by Eugene Pack, a performer, writer, and producer whose credits also include middlebrow TV specials and series like CMT’s “Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team” and CBS’s “Home for the Holidays,” “Autobiography” has, in its current iteration at any rate, a simple and rather crass premise: Enlist a bunch of accomplished and familiar actors and other public personalities to read excerpts from memoirs written by other, mostly bigger stars, with the primary goal of making fun of the latter.On the surface, it doesn’t seem like punching down. Ms. Winfrey, for instance, is a more iconic figure than any of the cast members at the performance I saw, which found Ms. Hoffman joined by Rita Wilson, also a producer of the show; Dayle Reyfel, who co-developed it and co-directs with Mr. Pack; Scott Adsit, Mario Cantone, Jeff Hiller, Christopher Jackson, Ben Mankiewicz, Andrea Martin, Nia Vardalos, and Mr. Pack himself. (Other names scheduled to take part include Christie Brinkley, Matthew Broderick, Bob Costas, Katie Couric, Kathy Griffin, Billy Porter, and Kenan Thompson.) Rita Wilson in ‘Celebrity Autobiography.’ Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.But many of the other celebs deemed ripe for mockery at this preview — the show “continually evolves,” according to a publicist, its script changing according to the cast — are already widely considered punchlines. Mr. Adsit, an alumnus of the NBC sitcom “30 Rock,” opened by reading from David Hasselhoff’s “Don’t Hassel the Hoff,” getting easy laughs by relaying the “Baywatch” actor’s own account of his terror and pride in making his Broadway debut in the musical “Jekyll & Hyde.” “I had to prove I was more than a guy in red speedos,” Mr. Adsit intoned, later reciting, “I can’t remember a thing…except the standing ovation.”Other targets included Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Ryan Seacrest, Geraldo Rivera, and two Kardashians, Khloe and Kris Jenner. Several segments took the form of mashups structured around themes: We learned about Mr. Bieber’s and Ms. Jenner Kardashian’s excursions in Paris, while Mr. Seacrest, Ms. Winfrey, Dolly Parton and Neil Sedaka were quoted on their culinary preferences. ‘Celebrity Autobiography.’ Show website. It’s an inherently unfair exercise, as excerpts were taken out of context, as I assume they are at other performances, and delivered in a fashion that reduced the subjects to caricature. Mr. Bieber, as represented by Mr. Jackson, who played George Washington in the original cast of “Hamilton,” preened relentlessly and had great trouble pronouncing Louvre. Ms. Vardalos, best known for writing and starring in the film “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and its sequels, was assigned to focus on Khloe Kardashian’s time at the gym, and the actress drew out the term “abs” to make the reality star sound even dopier.A particularly mean-spirited passage mocked poems written by the actor Matthew McConaghey and Suzanne Somers, who died of cancer just a few years ago, after a career spent largely pigeonholed as the blonde bimbo she played on the 1970s series “Three’s Company.” Here and throughout the preview, the participating performers — dressed in black by scenic and costume Derek McLane and gathered in varying arrangements before a string of microphones — laughed and egged each other on, while a smug Mr. Pack kept reassuring the audience that they were just repeating the words of other, presumably less enlightened people. (The show’s subtitle, as featured in the playbill, is, “We couldn’t make this stuff up!”)Christopher Jackson in ‘Celebrity Autobiography.’ Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMadeI’ll confess I enjoyed Mr. Jackson’s parody of Mr. Seacrest, having always found that particular TV host’s glib unctuousness insufferable. My favorite segment, though, was “Broadway Babies,” a relatively reverent mashup bringing together Ethel Merman, Carol Channing, and Sandy, the dog from the musical “Annie.” Mr. Cantone’s screeching, slurring Channing sounded a lot like his Liza Minnelli had in an earlier bit, but Ms. Martin’s fiery, funny Merman proved the closest thing to a tribute in the show.As Sandy, Mr. Hiller, a comedian and television actor, provided a welcome flash of warmth and fuzziness, reading the pooch’s recollection of once overstaying his time on stage for bonus applause: “I just sat there and wagged my tail for more. And I got it.” Those with a hearty appetite for snark may respond with similar enthusiasm to “Celebrity Autobiography,” but it left me mostly cold, and a little guilty for the times I did smile or chuckle.

Broadway’s ‘Celebrity Autobiography’ Is an Unfair and Unsatisfying Boldface Name Game

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