Wishful Drinking
Saturday, Nov. 18
Geffen Playhouse
There’s no underwear in space.
At least that’s what George Lucas told Carrie Fisher as
the reason she couldn’t wear undergarments for her role as
Princess Leia in “Star Wars.”
Fisher allows theatergoers and Leia fans alike to enter into the
deepest recesses of her mind in her new one-woman show,
“Wishful Drinking,” which runs at the Geffen Playhouse
until Dec. 23.
But don’t think the show is one long expose about her
“Star Wars” escapades. On the contrary, it is a memoir
of Fisher’s entire 50 years on this planet, from her
experiences snorting cocaine with her father to the recent death of
a gay Republican man in her bed.
“Wishful Drinking” opens with a perfect sequence
that sets the tone for the rest of the show’s duration. As
Gerald Sternbach plays the familiar “Star Wars” theme
on the piano, Fisher appears in front of a radiant, glistening
curtain of stars.
Suddenly, Fisher starts to sing “Happy Days Are Here
Again,” and her voice isn’t half bad. A screen opens up
on stage behind her; instead of having the words “A long time
ago, in a galaxy far, far away …” flash on screen, however,
the audience is greeted by tabloid images from Fisher’s life,
including the headline “Carrie’s husband leaves her for
another man.” The irony of song and images is not lost on the
audience.
While the staging is quite monotonous ““ Fisher paces back
and forth on stage as she regales the audience with her tales
““ “Wishful Drinking” is more about the stories
themselves than the actual set, Fisher’s black pantsuit or
stage direction. She infuses her life anecdotes with dry, sarcastic
humor; while her stories are certain to make you laugh, you
can’t help but realize during the laughter what a wild ride
Fisher’s life has been.
The first act features Fisher’s famous father, Eddie
Fisher, as the brunt of her jokes, from his scandalous marriage to
Elizabeth Taylor to when he mistook his hearing aids for medication
and swallowed them. The second act centers more on Carrie
Fisher’s drug abuse, alcoholism, bipolar disorder
(“Let’s have a Bipolar Day; the depressed people
don’t even have to get out of bed ““ we’ll roll
them on the street as part of the parade”) and her marriages
to Paul Simon and Bryan Lourd, who left her for a man.
Despite Fisher’s traumatic and agonizing experiences,
though, the audience is left with the feeling that she’s able
to take on any challenge headfirst and emerge on the other side,
even if it’s with some bruises.
Carrie Fisher may be immortalized as her Princess Leia
counterpart, complete with action figures and soap bars, but when
it comes down to it, in a time and galaxy far, far away,
“Wishful Drinking” will certainly leave a longer
lasting mark in the minds of Fisher fans everywhere.