MY PAL BETTE...The Reviews are IN!!!

The reviews are IN!!!!

MY PAL BETTE is going very well and we got a great review!
You can take a look on the bottom down here>>>

If you haven't gotten a chance to check it out, do so today!
The show is running till June 28th at The Producer's Club.

This Hilarious Comedy will have to chuckling out loud!


Dates and Times for the performances:

6/23- 8pm
6/24-8pm
6/25-8pm
6/26-8pm
6/27 2pm and 8pm
6/28 7:30pm

Tickets: $20 or $15 for students
Venue: The Producer’s Club
358 W 44th St
New York, NY 10036


Info and tickets: www.mypalbette.com




nytheatre.com review
Martin Denton · June 20, 2009

My Pal Bette, a new play by John Ryan that has arrived in New York City just in time for Gay Pride, has an unbeatable concept. Tommy Klein, an awkward, unpopular, pre-teen living with his possessive mother, acquires a guardian "diva" to help him grow up—and that diva is none other than Bette Davis. Bette instructs Tommy in the finer points of assertiveness and holding one's own—who would know better than she how to face down a schoolyard bully with only a cigarette for a weapon? And, as Tommy matures, she helps him understand and come to terms with the realization that he's gay, even playing Cupid to help him overcome shyness with a boy he wants to get to know better.

It is a fabulous conceit, with plenty of possibilities. (It feels like it could be the basis for a sitcom, doesn't it?) Ryan wisely does not overplay his hand here, though, keeping My Pal Bette to the very manageable length of one hour. The show is at its best in the interplay between Davis and the teenage Tommy, played convincingly and likably by the playwright himself. The earlier scenes are a bit spottier: Ryan does a fine job establishing Bette in movie star heaven, recruited by a hunky angel (played by the buff, game Reece Scelfo) to earn her "diva wings" by helping Tommy find self-actualization; but the vignettes that introduce young Tommy to us make him out to be more of a weird little nerd than a budding gay boy, which in this context feels jarring. (I liked, though, that these opening vignettes are intermixed with footage of La Davis in All About Eve and other classic roles/poses.)

The bitchy, witty, allusion-laded repartee is generally pretty clever; some of the funniest material in My Pal Bette come in sight gags. I don't want to give too much away, but know that this play makes plenty of disparaging references to Joan Crawford and includes set pieces devoted to fellow diva Ethel Merman and another who I won't name (but she is portrayed dead-on by Sivan Hadari, who also plays Tommy's loving but dysfunctional mother). Michael Ell is the very appealing young actor who plays young Tommy, and the cast also includes, in multiple roles, PJ Brennan, James Brent Isaacs, and Cindy Pearlman. In the star part of Miss Davis is Tammy Kopko, who sounds and moves enough like the real thing to convince us that she is indeed this particular guardian diva.

Kenny Howard's direction serves the play neatly, on a modest set designed by Keith Rogers and Kris Smith that bespeaks the show's fringe theater origins. The video work by Adam Rohrmann and Gerard Kouwhenhoven is expert. And the pre-show music, a mix of '40s pop and a campy song about the famous movie that Bette Davis and Joan Crawford made together (I can't find out who recorded it; it's very funny), sets the tone for the show perfectly.

SEE YOU THERE!!!

Sivan in the Off-Broadway City!

OPENING NIGHT!!!

So tonight is opening night for MY PAL BETTE!!!

Last weekend the cast of the show all took part in the Brooklyn Pride Parade and we all had a blast.

So where will you be tonight??? At home, sitting on your couch eating Durritos and watching Golden Girls re-runs? Or enjoying this off the hook great comedy at the Producer's Club???

YOU BE THE JUDGE!


Dates and Times for the performances:

6/18 - 8pm
6/19 -8pm
6/20 - 2pm and 8pm
6/21- 3pm
6/22-8pm
6/23- 8pm
6/24-8pm
6/25-8pm
6/26-8pm
6/27 2pm and 8pm
6/28 7:30pm

Tickets: $20.00
Venue: The Producer’s Club
358 W 44th St
New York, NY 10036


Info and tickets: www.mypalbette.com

My Pal Bette!!!!!

So you HAVE TO COME to this wonderful Off- Broadway Play called My Pal Bette.

The cast is Amazing!!! Rehearsals are going very well and everyone is doing a great job.


The Play was written by John Ryan and stars Tammy Kopko as Bette Davis, the razor-mouthed, high-ball drinking, chain-smoking screen siren. Tommy is an obsessive-compulsive nerd with an unhealthy attachment to his kvelling, Yente-from-hell mother until God and his army of well-chiseled angels grants him a “guardian diva” – Miss Davis in all her glory.


The cast includes playwright John Ryan as Tommy, Tammy Kopko as Bette Davis, Michael Ell as 9 year old Tommy, Reece Scelfo as Angel/God, Sivan Hadari as Carol Klein/Cher, James Brent Isaacs as God/Devils, PJ Brennan as Thomas Klein, Sr./Derek, and Cindy Pearlman as Susie/Ms. Darwin. Kenny Howard will direct.


Dates and Times for the performances:

6/18 - 8pm
6/19 -8pm
6/20 - 2pm and 8pm
6/21- 3pm
6/22-8pm
6/23- 8pm
6/24-8pm
6/25-8pm
6/26-8pm
6/27 2pm and 8pm
6/28 7:30pm

Tickets: $20.00
Venue: The Producer’s Club
358 W 44th St
New York, NY 10036
Info and tickets: www.mypalbette.com



So here's my audition story:

I saw the ad in Backstage in the April 23rd audition; "Seeking Carol Klien/Cher- 20ish to 30ish stereotypical Jewish mother. A mess with mood swings, loud over- bearing and insecurities. Must also be able to impersonate Pop singer Cher." Sounds like me I thought jokingly...

Seemed fun and interesting so I submitted and they called me in for an audition. I quickly polished up my comedic monologue, my Jewish mother and my Cher, grabbed my headshot and resume and was out the door.

When I came in for my audition at the Producers Club, I met Kenny Howard and Tammy Kopko from B Productions.
I performed my monologue and they had me sing some Cher. I sang "It's in his Kiss" or what they used to call " The shoop-shoop Song". They asked me to come in for a call back.

Kenny handed me the sides and as I read the description on my way to the 42nd street dinner, I noticed the description of Carol Klien; "Big hair, make-up, custom made jewelry, loud".

I looked nothing like Carol Klien. I looked like a young sweet girl in a sun dress. And so, I went into the dinner and after eating my scrambled egg sandwich, I went into the bathroom, put my hair up in a bun and created a big hair "water- fountain" if you will. I had my make-up case with me and proceeded to apply layers and layers of purple eye shadow as well as bright green colors, loads of blush and very poorly, applied cheap red lipstick. I put a huge feathery hairpiece in my "water fountain" and put on some big tacky earrings I had in my purse and off I went.

It was the first really hot day in NYC in a while and everyone was sweaty and aggravated. I came in for my callback and the moment I came in I said- in character- "It's so hot outside! I'm shvitzing like a potato knish on a hot- plate!"
It just came out of me (being an Israeli Jew- all our mothers are the same: obsessive and paranoid- AND LOUD!!!)

They laughed. I mean I did look hideous! And sweaty. But sure enough they called me up that night and told me I got the part! I was so happy and excited. This is a part I was born to do- a Loud annoying Jewish mother and I get to go FULL OUT CHER!!!
I drew my inspiration from characters like The Nanny (Fran Drescher) and her mother on the show and George Costanza's mother on Seinfeld and my own mother of- course... who amazingly is now visiting with me from Israel so I get to do all the research HAND ON!!! (You figure it out...)



So that's it. We are now in rehearsals and things are moving by pretty nicely. The cast is just solid. A lot of talented people are involved.

COME SEE THE SHOW!!!!

My Pal Bette
The Producers Club
June 18th - June 28th

It'll be fun!


See U There!

Sivan in the City