Playwrights: Amy and David Sedaris
At: Chemically Imbalanced Comedy at Cornservatory, 4210 N. Lincoln
Phone: 312-409-6435; $12-$18
Runs through: Sept. 30
BY SCOTT C. MORGAN
As soon as you spot the names Amy and David Sedaris attached to The Book of Liz, it's promise that the play is going to be drop-dead hilarious. Yet the play's promise oddly goes unfulfilled in Chemically Imbalanced Comedy's earnest but limp reading of The Book of Liz.
What went wrong? I'm still scratching my head since David and Amy Sedaris have provided a constant stream of laughter in all their other endeavors.
For those unfamiliar with the Sedaris siblings ( hand in your gay card if you fall into that category ) , they both have carved out their own niches of hilarity and pop-culture fame.
David skyrocketed to fame on National Public Radio in the 1990s with his Santaland Diaries. He went on to be an out and proud public radio superstar with best-selling books like Me Talk Pretty One Day and Naked. Sister Amy's celebrity is largely tied to the hit TV comedy Strangers with Candy. Amy created Jerri Blank, a trashy recovering alcoholic who has struck a chord with many gay audiences.
In 2001, the Sedarises collaborated on the off-Broadway comedy The Book of Liz and one suspects that the original production must have been hilarious. The premise is certainly silly enough: A celebrated cheese-ball maker named Elizabeth Donderstock belongs to an Amish-type religious sect called 'The Squeamish.' Elizabeth leaves her community when she feels underappreciated and tries to make it in the 'real' world, which challenges her religious views and finds her sweating problem abhorrent.
The original The Book of Liz featured a four-member cast taking on a number of oddball roles from recovering alcoholic restaurant workers to Cockney-sounding Ukrainian immigrants. Not only did the show feature Amy as the sweaty Elizabeth, but the original cast also starred master comedians Jackie Hoffman ( Kissing Jessica Stein, Queer Duck: The Movie ) and author/actor David Rakoff ( Fraud, Don't Get Too Comfortable ) .
Perhaps one mistake Chemically Imbalanced made was to cast nearly every role with a different actor. Some of the joy of seeing the same four actors conjure up a bizarre array of oddballs dissipates when you have an expansive cast each taking on ( and not always succeeding with ) sketchily underwritten cameo roles.
Along with a stop-and-start pacing for what should be a zippy comedy, director Angie McMahon hasn't properly guided each actor to stand out and exaggerate the basic text which is largely funny-weird instead of gut-busting funny-ha-ha.
There are a few exceptions. Brian Kash's smarmy tics and bulging eyeballs as the interloper Brother Nathaniel Brightbee from another Squeamish community is great. More of Kash's style of extreme interpretation and eccentric line readings would have been welcome from the other actors.
The whole production also has a strong center in Sarah Rose Graber's earnest and funny turn as Elizabeth. Still, you can't help but wonder what extremes Amy Sedaris herself would have brought to this woman known for her cheese balls.