’Streep Tease’ :: Meryl’s words in men’s voices
by Jim Halterman
EDGE Contributor
Wednesday Feb 24, 2010

Picture the climactic scene from the 1994 Meryl Streep-Kevin Bacon film The River Wild where Streep’s valiant mother must fight off bad guy Bacon while going down a treacherous path in an out-of-control river. Now, picture a group of men playing all the roles on a stage with oars, spray bottles (for proper raging rapid simulation) and a bit of overly dramatic acting and you essentially have the core of Streep Tease: An Evening of Meryl Streep Monologues Performed by an All-Male Cast.

In Streep Tease, running through next Saturday at the bang Comedy Theater in Los Angeles, monologues from such Streep classics as Sophie’s Choice, Out of Africa, Death Becomes Her and The Devil Wears Prada are performed in both comedic and dramatic tones by a group of men.

Created and produced by stand-up comic/actor Roy Cruz, Streep Tease has been a big success in the LA market and has already seen their original run extended and there’s also hope that the future holds performances in other cities around the country. Besides Cruz, familiar comedian/actors such as David Dean Bottrell (Boston Legal) and Taylor Negron (The Aristocrats) take turns with their favorite Streep character and monologue.

So why Meryl Streep? Why have a group of men do the monologues? And has Ms. Streep taken time out from her busy schedule to see the show? EDGE’s Jim Halterman posed these questions to Cruz last week and found out the origins of the show and why Cruz thinks fans are responding so favorably.

Why not Meryl Streep monologues?

EDGE: Obviously Meryl Streep was a huge inspiration for the show but what made you put a show together about her and her career?

Roy Cruz: Well, I’m also a stand-up comedian and I love The Devil Wears Prada and I do this impersonation of the speech in the office with the sweater and you know how you have a joke that is really reliable and always works? That one always works. I kept doing it and someone said ’Why don’t you do a show where you impersonate different characters?’ I just sat on that idea and then I thought ’Why don’t we do all Meryl Streep monologues but the twist is all men?’ I was just half-joking about the idea but it kind of resonated with a lot of people because why are we fascinated with a particular woman or actress? When I was growing up, I was fascinated with Gena Rowlands in Gloria.

EDGE: How did you go about picking the monologues?

RC: I would say that the appeal of the show and how the show was created was that I invited these actors that I know and asked ’What is your favorite Meryl Streep character?’ I kind of gave them that opportunity to bring whatever they wanted and we’ll explore that. I think each of them have their own favorite Meryl Streep movie or character.

All for laughs?

EDGE: Are the monologues all for laughs or are there some that are purely dramatic?

RC: Some, like Sophie’s Choice (which is performed by Negron), you can’t really make fun of it. We’re not really doing straight parody but it’s more interpretation with how we’re fascinated with her. And when a man does a woman’s character it just starts out as funny. It’s tricky and it’s hard to make a parody out of it but overall the scenes are comedic.

EDGE: How did your director, Ezra Weisz, approach shaping the piece into the show we see now?

RC: Initially, there was no direction. We just did it more like an open mic. Ezra is the director of the Bang Theater Improv Conservatory and I’d worked with him and know him. Ezra did a lot of enhancing and giving us choices in acting and making it more theatrical.

EDGE: Is there any issue with the rights of the monologues being used in the show?

RC: In my research, it falls under parody, which is still okay. I’ve also asked other people who have done this type of show. We’re doing parody and if you think about shows like Saturday Night Live or doing impersonations and they get away with it.

EDGE: Has Ms. Streep been to the show yet?

RC: She hasn’t and I don’t know if she knows about it. Her publicist was informed but I haven’t heard anything. The show had a feature in Daily Variety so I’m sure at least one or two people read that and someone knows about it.

[Halterman inquired with Streep’s publicist for a quote for this piece and was told that Ms. Streep is not available.]

RC: It’s a scary thing. I’m sure she has a sense of humor but how will she take it? It’s a fun show and we’re not there to…we’re giving tribute and between each number we honor the writer, honor the director and do little things like that. It’s really an homage.

EDGE: Audiences are clearly responding since you’ve expanded your run. Are you planning on taking Streep Tease to other cities?

RC: That’s our goal and there are some thoughts. I’ve gotten calls from people who are observing the progress of the show and nothing is final yet but it would be great to take it to San Francisco or New York. To do a small production like this and then go to New York would be a great idea! We’re working on it.

Streep Tease runs this Saturday at Los Angeles’s bang Comedy Theater (457 North Fairfax Avenue) with shows at 8pm and 10pm and then on March 6th at 8pm.  You can find out more at www.streeptease.net.

Jim Halterman lives in Los Angeles and also covers the television scene for www.FutonCritic.com, Progressive Television and, of course, www.jimhalterman.com. He can also be found on Twitter, Virb and Facebook.

Copyright © 2003-2010
EDGE Publications, Inc. / All Rights Reserved

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 25th, 2010 at 11:04 am and is filed under Forum Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.