Review Roundup: Michael Urie in BUYER & CELLAR

The hit off-Broadway comedy, Buyer & Cellar, starring Michael Urie ("Ugly Betty"), written by Jonathan Tolins, and directed by Stephen Brackett, opened last night at the Barrow Street Theatre, and is scheduled to run through September 1 only.

Marilyn Stasio, Variety: Could there be a goofier job than playing the Mayor of Toontown at Disneyland? Well, yeah. That would be playing the faux proprietor of a faux mall of boutique shops that a lonely (bored?) superstar built to display her acquisitions in the basement of a barn on her Malibu estate. That's the unkind but absolutely delicious premise of "Buyer & Cellar," which came to Jonathan Tolins in a flash of inspiration when he got his hands on Barbra Streisand's coffee-table extravaganza, "My Passion for Design." Solo piece, lovingly played by "Ugly Betty" cutie Michael Urie, should thrive in this Off Broadway transfer.

Michael Dale, BroadwayWorld: At only 80 minutes, the play still drags a bit when sincerity gets too soupy. If the play is meant to convey anything significant about the sadder part of celebrity, Tolins doesn't dig deep enough to make it interesting. But as an entertainment, Buyer And Cellar is a charmer and Urie's charismatic performance lifts the evening into something memorable beyond the corners of the mind.

Robert Kahn, NBC New York: "My Passion for Design" was a boon to both Streisand fans and foes (gauging by the reviews currently on Amazon, the lovers seem to outnumber the haters roughly 10-to-1). There's room for either in this theater. I left "Buyer & Cellar" thinking it was a touch unfair to Ms. Streisand, who, according to the playwright, has not seen the show. Something tells me, though, she'd find it just as outrageously inventive and downright gut-busting as everyone else does. There would probably be just a few things she wants to change.

Steven Suskin, Huffington Post: This past spring saw not one but four solo shows, three of them Broadway vehicles for major star ladies and one unassuming off-Broadway effort with a skinny guy you probably never heard off. Buyer & Cellar -- starring Michael Urie, written by Jonathan Tolins -- was the downtown David battling for attention with three uptown Goliaths, in the persons of Holland Taylor, as Governor Ann Richards in Ann; Fiona Shaw, as the mother of God inThe Testament of Mary; and Bette Midler as -- well, as Bette Midler playing super agent Sue Mengers in I'll Eat You Last. Ms. Midler was the most financially successful of them, drawing millions of dollars-worth of ticketbuyers while providing a diverting ninety minutes sitting on the couch. For entertainment, warmth and laughter, though, the unheralded Mr. Urie took the title.

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