LOOPED A REVUE

Tallulah Bankhead was one of the entertainment worlds most colorful characters. Be it on radio, stage, or screen, Ms. Bankhead was larger then life, and Valerie Harper[a talented actress herself] has a ball playing her in Matthew Lombardo's minor but sometimes entertaining comedy LOOPED.
The time is summer 1965 and the place is a recording studio in Los Angeles California where Ms.Bankhead has gone to redub one line for what was to be her final movie. She arrives drunk and high and in a grueling eight hour session she tosses her customery insults and zingers at her hapless recording engineer and her harried producer/ director.
You may wonder why it would take all day to record just one line of dialog, but you have to remember that this is Tallulah, and she is apt to say or do anything on a moments notice so nobody knows what this foul mouthed, outspoken talented lady will say next.
The trouble with Mr. Lombardos' play seems to be its' generally flat dialog and plain lack of excitement, and the stage direction by Rob Ruggiero is right off the assembley line without much in the way of wit or invention. Still,every so often Mr. Lombardo comes up with a bright scene or peice of dialog that shows what he is capable of doing and Ms.Harper is simply sensational as the drunk pill addicted Tallulah, and she is capably supported by Brian Hutchison an her put upon producer and Michael Mulheren as the sound engineer.
So while LOOPED is unexciting and sometimes on the level of low grade stock Ms. Harper is a hoot and single-handedly makes the play entertaining and just maybe worth a visit.
At THE LYCEUM THEATRE 149 WEST 45th STREET N.Y.C.