January 25, 2007

Julie White worth the price of admission to ‘Little Dog’

There is a single, yet compelling, reason to see "The Little Dog Laughed" before it closes on Broadway February 18.

Julie White.

No disservice to playwright Douglas Carter Beane, but his words couldn’t possibly have the same wicked, self-serving bite as when they shoot from White’s astutely mannered and attired form.

Playing an outta-my-way agent mastering Hollywood’s clichés, White’s is a performance that would lose something in its translation to Hollywood.

In one scene she’s seated at a table with her actor-client, taking a lunch meeting with an (unseen) playwright in order to secure the movie rights for his play. He wants assurance they will not do off with the homosexuality of the main characters, and she smiles and lies, lies, lies that she wouldn’t dream of changing a word, taking plenty of asides for the audience’s (and her own) benefit.

As she’s winding herself up tighter and faster, oh horror of horror, the playwright asks for her promise, her word.

"My WORD? That’s like asking a whore for her cherry," she quivers and squelches at the audience.

To see her embody this line, this character, in this Broadway staging, is a particular treasure better seen than explained. And it’s not likely to come this way again quite like this.

That isn’t to say the play itself is important, or brilliant, but it is very funny and makes a few clever observations. Seats are easily available at half-price (at TKTS and elsewhere,) making it feel slightly more reasonable to see White’s performance.

White is probably best known for her role as Mitzi Dalton Huntley in TV’s "Six Feet Under." Tom Everett Scott plays her actor with the "recurring case of homosexuality;" Johnny Galecki is cast as the actor’s boy toy for hire; and Ari Graynor is the rent boy’s girlfriend. Yes, a little twisted, but that’s the point.

It plays the Cort Theatre, located at 138 W. 48th St., map.

Earlier: Critics love witty 'Little Dog Laughed' on Broadway

January 25, 2007 01:47 PM in Broadway

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