Bitch!

This adaptation of Lady May Lawford's 1986 flaky, pull-no-punches memoir, written with starry-eyed UCLA grad student Buddy Galon, bears a superficial resemblance to "Souvenir," the Florence Foster Jenkins bio: an outrageous leading lady and a sympathetic male companion on piano. Of course, Lady Lawford—actor Peter Lawford's mum—doesn't sing, but she matches off-key soprano Jenkins in eccentricity. We see how she came to hire Buddy and how their asexual relationship proved unconventional but loving.

Charlotte Booker wrote the piece and gives a vibrant performance as Lawford, but her character's paranoid rants against "bastard" son Peter, the Kennedys (her son's in-laws), and Tinseltown notables become tiresome. Joe Kinosian's Buddy provides some balance. The excessive stridency was not helped by an audience that found everything riotously funny, disregarding the bittersweet underpinning.

Director Melinda Buckley's scene transitions are awkwardly protracted, but Tony Castrigno and Samantha Yeager's modestly attractive set design is a plus.

Presented by Andsoshesaid Productions in association with Mad Productions as part of the 2009 New York International Fringe Festival
at the Connelly Theater, 220 E. Fourth St., NYC.
Aug. 17–28. Remaining performances: Thu., Aug. 20, 4:45 p.m.; Sat., Aug. 22, 7 p.m.; Sun., Aug. 23, 2:30 p.m.; Fri., Aug. 28, 7 p.m.(866) 468-7619 or www.fringenyc.org.