My overall impression
Saw Paula Deen opening night and enjoyed it tremendously. This satire is defined by two elements, IMO:
1) The multi-playwright writing process from which this was created results a sort of barely-controlled chaos onstage. Sometimes it works – the performers are game and all-in, and there are lot of layers from which great pleasure can be derived – it’s often simultaneously funny and borderline tragic. Sometimes, though, it doesn’t work – it was difficult to locate and lock on the POV and central theme, and the chorus’s role in Paula’s journey was very fuzzy. All this is balanced, however, by:
2) Sasha Harris as Paula Deen. Whenever the play starts to come apart a little, pulled apart by its seemingly uncontrollable entropy, Sasha’s got your back. Her Paula is a perfect mix of ego and obliviousness, of neediness and narcissism. She centers and focuses the chaos, and gives a wonderful, funny, tragic performance.
