A Review

Life Unplugged

By R. J. Donovan

When Miss Witherspoon wishes upon a star, of sorts, she winds up in a whirlwind of trouble.

Within the first few moments of "Miss Witherspoon," at Lyric Stage through April 21, the title character dies.  Hardly the opening you'd expect in a comedy.  But when the comedy is from Christopher Durang, you can pretty much expect that nothing is going to be by the book.  After all, where else will it be suggested that Thornton Wilder has been reincarnated as Arianna Huffington?

Directed by Scott Edmiston and described at a "crazy quilt fantasy," "Miss Witherspoon" takes a look at free will, fate, karma, rebirth, reincarnation and exactly what happens on the "other side."

Sadly, Miss Witherspoon doesn't see any white light, nor any long lost ancestors beckoning in the mist.  Rather, she finds herself swathed in a muddy tweed aura thanks to her less than productive time on Earth.  Negativity is her calling card. "I'm considered to have a bad attitude," she understates.

When presented with the option of returning to live out other lives and learn the lessons she needs to reach nirvana, she is none too pleased. Such that she puts on the brakes and refuses to participate.

All the same, she gets zapped back to Earth as an infant, an abused teen and a yippy dog. It's intentionally absurd, but Durang applies his word wizardry and it zips along with big laughs. 

Along the way, our soul-in-transition has to deal with with Skylab, Rex Harrison, terrorist attacks and her medications ("I'm antidepressant-resistant"). Her guide is one Maryamma (Mala Bhattacharya), who tells her she's "like some negative English woman in an Agatha Christie book who everybody finds bothersome."  Whether here or in the bardo (kind of like a Heavenly anteroom), she resists following the path chosen assigned to her, going so far as to demand to see St. Peter to discuss her personal list of grievances.

With Durang poking holes in assorted religions, we find there's not one common afterlife. It turns out you get the Heaven you believe in.  If you're Buddhist, you get that version, if you're Catholic, you get another, while Jews get a nothingness that consists of a prolonged state of general anesthesia. 

At the center of the madness is Paula Plum, who shines as the misanthrope, getting a solid grip on Miss Witherspoon at the top of the show and never letting go.  She's hard-nosed, she's opinionated, she's brittle and she demands answers. 

Plum is excellent spitting out her observations (and she's got lots of them), and especially funny when she appears as the infant.  Thanks to a clever baby crib, she takes what could be an annoying passage of baby gibberish and turns it into something pure and inventive.

The multiple supporting characters, from Chicken Little to the kingpins of Heaven are all played by Marianna Bassham and Larry Coen (both above with Plum in the center) and a very funny Jacqui Parker, who's belly-laugh funny in a role best described as Woman In A Hat.

The story stretches a bit thin when Jesus Christ asks Miss Witherspoon to return to Earth and straighten things out. But it's still a tight evening of dizzy fun, offering a soul-searching performance by its dynamic leading lady.

"Miss Witherspoon "is at Lyric Stage, 140 Clarendon Street in Boston, through April 21. For information, call 617-585-5678.

-- OnStage Boston