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Whoopi Goldberg: Direct from Broadway
1985 was a banner year for EGOT winner Whoopi Goldberg. She not only made her film debut in The Color Purple, that earned her an Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress, but she also won a Tony Award for Whoopi Goldberg: Direct for Broadway, a one woman show which displays the true genius of Whoopi as she plays four very different characters.
This is an HBO recording of the Broadway show that Goldberg opened at the Lyceum Theater on October 10, 1984 and did 156 performances, closing in March of 1985. This film version shows Whoopi arriving at the theater and then going backstage to a CGI dressing room where she greets the four characters she is about to perform, asking if they are ready for the show.
As the show opens, we are introduced to a drug addict who ends up on a plane that takes him to Anne Frank's house; a 13 year beach bunny who discovers she's pregnant; a Jamaican nursing home aid, and a 7 year old black girl who wears a shirt on her head because she wants blonde hair,
Goldberg displays such artistry here because as characters that she created, she has complete control over the evening, something I don't think Goldberg ever had for the rest of her career. Loved when the drug addict came onstage and didn't like the greeting he got from the audience, Whoopi just walks offstage and starts the show over again. The little girl with the shirt on her hair is the only character who actually interacts with audience members. Adult language is very controlled but adult subject matter is not. Goldberg offers no kind of introductions to the characters, as one character leaves the stage, the stage goes back and comes back seconds later and a new character is onstage with absolutely no warning.
This is a brilliant and challenging evening of comedy that mesmerizes from curtain to curtain and one of my great regrets in life is that I didn't get to see it in person. Whoopi is a revelation here and, though it's an often abused phrase, she has, literally, never been better. She has never been better because Whoopi had complete artistic control over what she was doing here. Thomas Schlamme is billed as director, but basically he just points the camera where Whoopi tells him to. Think about everything you've seen Whoopi do over the years, and I am including Ghost, Sister Act, Soapdish or any other vehicle where Whoopi made you laugh, those laughs pale next to the ones provided here, because these laughs come from Whoopi's very singular, very unique voice, that was silenced forever when this show closed on Broadway.
1985 was a banner year for EGOT winner Whoopi Goldberg. She not only made her film debut in The Color Purple, that earned her an Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress, but she also won a Tony Award for Whoopi Goldberg: Direct for Broadway, a one woman show which displays the true genius of Whoopi as she plays four very different characters.
This is an HBO recording of the Broadway show that Goldberg opened at the Lyceum Theater on October 10, 1984 and did 156 performances, closing in March of 1985. This film version shows Whoopi arriving at the theater and then going backstage to a CGI dressing room where she greets the four characters she is about to perform, asking if they are ready for the show.
As the show opens, we are introduced to a drug addict who ends up on a plane that takes him to Anne Frank's house; a 13 year beach bunny who discovers she's pregnant; a Jamaican nursing home aid, and a 7 year old black girl who wears a shirt on her head because she wants blonde hair,
Goldberg displays such artistry here because as characters that she created, she has complete control over the evening, something I don't think Goldberg ever had for the rest of her career. Loved when the drug addict came onstage and didn't like the greeting he got from the audience, Whoopi just walks offstage and starts the show over again. The little girl with the shirt on her hair is the only character who actually interacts with audience members. Adult language is very controlled but adult subject matter is not. Goldberg offers no kind of introductions to the characters, as one character leaves the stage, the stage goes back and comes back seconds later and a new character is onstage with absolutely no warning.
This is a brilliant and challenging evening of comedy that mesmerizes from curtain to curtain and one of my great regrets in life is that I didn't get to see it in person. Whoopi is a revelation here and, though it's an often abused phrase, she has, literally, never been better. She has never been better because Whoopi had complete artistic control over what she was doing here. Thomas Schlamme is billed as director, but basically he just points the camera where Whoopi tells him to. Think about everything you've seen Whoopi do over the years, and I am including Ghost, Sister Act, Soapdish or any other vehicle where Whoopi made you laugh, those laughs pale next to the ones provided here, because these laughs come from Whoopi's very singular, very unique voice, that was silenced forever when this show closed on Broadway.