Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Nate Parker | Reviews | July 12, 2024
It’s not a secret that we here at Pajiba love Rachel Bloom. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend was a magical, musical journey through one woman’s mental illness. She’s been on television and in movies, done a ton of voice acting, and been reliably funny the entire time. In 2019 she began work on a one-woman stage show that ended up delayed by Covid, a new baby, and the death of a close friend. The show evolved from Bloom’s original vision in ways only a global pandemic can cause and Death, Let Me Do My Show! debuted in 2023. Bloom’s been performing at the picturesque Williams College MainStage Theater in Williamstown, MA since July 5. My wife is a huge fan of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and so we went to the July 11 showing for our anniversary - 14 years, woo! - for what turned out to be a show funny and cathartic in the way only great, live comedy provides.
A show that opens with a promise to make things feel like 2019 again and a song about the raunchy odor of Bradford pear trees swiftly segues into Bloom’s experience having a pandemic baby in late March 2020 while her close friend and writing partner, Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne lead singer, songwriter, and composer), was on a ventilator in New York. Schlesinger, who attended Williams College, passed away on April 1, 2020, while Bloom was still recovering from childbirth. She is the first to admit that the cosmic irony of losing such an important figure while experiencing the joy, terror, and serious discomfort of being a new mother messed her up, and the production that came out of it serves as both tragicomedy theater and a method for Rachel to work through the trauma she’s still processing. Death, Let Me Do My Show! let those of us who saw family on ventilators and lost loved ones laugh through the pain. The subject matter is serious, but the brilliant musical numbers that made Crazy Ex-Girlfriend so much fun to watch pepper the show with observations about the absurdity of death, the difficulty of being a reluctant atheist, and much more I refuse to spoil. Suffice it to say it’s graphic and uproariously funny. It takes a skilled writer to mine a topic as bleak as the pandemic and succeed without becoming maudlin or seeming insensitive, and Bloom manages.
Though a one-woman show, Rachel was joined at several points by David Hull, who played White Josh on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Bloom and Hull’s obvious camaraderie makes the show feel intimate even when 300 people laugh together, as does Bloom’s willingness to share some of the most embarrassing moments of her private life. Her honesty drew me in even when it made me squirm, and I spent most of the 90-minute show laughing. Bloom is an excellent storyteller, and after what I’m sure was exhaustive rehearsal makes it all look easy. Not all the dialogue is perfect; there was a rough line or two that felt forced rather than natural. But they’re tiny blips in an otherwise great show.
It’s always difficult to review a production you don’t want to spoil, and Death, Let Me Do My Show! fits that category. It’s really good, folks. The show has three more nights in at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and will be in Chicago and Boston in August before returning to New York in September. Attending live theater keeps it alive, and this is a show that deserves personal experience. The MainStage Theater is a gorgeous venue without a bad seat, and Williams College is one of the most picturesque campuses in New England, so if you’re near the Berkshires be sure to check it out. And I have good news for those who can’t attend a showing; the July 12 & 13 productions at Williams are being recorded for Netflix, where it will drop in early fall. It’s some of the best post-Covid therapy around.
