BWW Reviews: BEN RIMALOWER Is Back at The Duplex Dramatically and Humorously Dealing With the Personal Demons of His Past

Ben Rimalower just might be heading a revival of downtown theater. Following the wild success of his popular cabaret-theater piece, Patti Issues, which ran forever (and is still going strong), he's back with his latest entry into obsessive-compulsive issues, Bad With Money, running at The Duplex Cabaret Theatre through April. This is a profoundly darker work, laced with campy humor and his trademark spitfire delivery. It is more serious and thought provoking as he expounds on his neurotic spending habits and substance addictions.

Making his entrance from the rear, Rimalower belts a teaser from the song, "I'd Like To Hate Myself In The Morning," a silly ditty that John Meyer wrote for Judy Garland in 1968. He might as well have sung "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry (Julie Styne/Sammy Cahn) considering the quotidian awfulness of his life and what follows. After all, Meyer wrote that fun song spoofing an imaginary wild night on the town. Sung here by Rimalower, the tune serves as a morbid prequel for what follows. Kicking off this foray into his tortured past, it's obvious his life has been overrun with frolic, heavy partying and, ultimately, self-loathing. Rimalower is eloquent and truthful in relaying such angst as he spills his guts.

It started at a young age. "I didn't know what poor meant," he recalls. His parents were paying for everything including $10,000 a semester for him to attend private schools. At 16, he booked a $400 limo to the prom and promptly spent the money friends contributed for their share. His parents bailed him out. The journey had begun.

As he digs deeper into the first of his diatribes covering the problems in his messy life that almost destroyed him, he articulates the agony of the disaffected as well as the plight of an overindulged Jewish-American prince. Wandering aimlessly through a world of betrayal, irresponsibility, mounting debts, and reckless spending habits, it all became toxic. The debt factor was as enslaving as any party drug or alcohol (both of which he wallowed in with glee). Among the ruins, he recalls his days at Berkeley and trolling the streets of San Francisco. One of his first dalliances into mindless spending occurred with stealing from an employer. His life spins further out of control and, ultimately, borders on a typified financial psychosis that leads to prostitution, larceny, and even more deceit as he just sinks deeper into this abyss. Such is the nature of addiction.

The syndrome grows by the day and it all gets as bad as it can get. During his apoplectic haze, he is introduced to even more mind-altering drugs while his drinking exacerbates. At one point, he even searches for a sugar daddy to subsidize his lifestyle. A decent job with the record label Varese Sarabande leads him to blatantly stealing and selling CDs (as well as abusing that credit card.) All of this out of control madness yields no results for the talented boy who started out with big dreams of a life in the theater. An impulsive move to New York to start anew is met with mixed results. He gets a break and lands a job with the television show, Spin City. But, the roller coaster roars on and the addictions rule.

Rimalower is a good actor. Directed by Aaron Mark (who also directs Patti Issues), his honest portrayal of such life-altering, personal events is raw and dramatic. One might recall other truth-telling protagonists like David Drake in his acclaimed account of a descent into a dark disco world during the AIDS crisis in his 1992 hit, The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me. Whoopi Goldberg and John Leguizamo carved out star turns from honesty-laced humor and reached mainstream audiences. Karen Finley rattled nerves offering politically charged rants in the early '90s. Rimalower has the goods to take him to larger stages and reach a wider audience. He has a brooding star quality that might recall a gay Lenny Bruce. Occasionally, some lines are obstructed by rambling delivery and the fast-paced book is not perfect. Bookending it all with random remarks about Garland's addictions and finances, based solely on John Meyer's bitter tome, Heartbreaker, are confusing--and questionable.) An occasional pause might be suggested to allow the last accounting to digest before racing on. After all, this is powerful stuff; its message should be absorbed. But that's a minor quibble considering Ben Rimalower carries off an intelligent, revealing, and trenchant one-man show. He does it with a straightforward veracity that is rare and such fearless self-possession will be key to taking him to the heights he is capable of--and deserves.

BAD WITH MONEY and PATTI ISSUES will be performed at The Duplex (61 Christopher Street at Seventh Avenue) on Wednesdays at 7:00 PM. BAD WITH MONEY on March 18, April 8 and 22; and PATTI ISSUES on March 11 and 15, April 15 and 29.

NOTE: There is no performance on April 1. Tickets to both are $25 (with $50 VIP tickets available) and can be purchased at www.BenRimalower.com. There is a two-drink minimum per person. You must be at least 21 years old to attend.