Buyer & Cellar

Babs-Themed One Man Tour-de-Force

When My Passion for Design was published in 2010, little did Barbra Streisand know that it would inspire one of New York's most talked about shows. The handsomely mounted coffee table book featured glossy spreads of Streisand's various homes around the country, and seemed like it would pass by as nothing more than an innocuous celebrity curio, but one section in particular piqued the interest of playwright Jonathan Tolins. Namely the section about the full-scale model shops in one of her basements.

Buyer and Cellar opened Off-Broadway last year to rapturous reviews, winning the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo Show. Its star Michael Urie (Ugly Betty) chose to stay on for the national tour, which has already played Los Angeles and Chicago. His performance is a thing of wonder, inhabiting multiple roles including the lady of the house herself, playing the situation for broad laughs one moment and shrinking back into the dark recesses of the character's anxieties and insecurities the next. A sweetly short performance piece that explores the nature of the fame game, for both those who play it and others who are fascinated observers, Buyer and Cellar is a hugely charming night at the theater.

What is Buyer and Cellar About?

Alex More is a young out-of-work actor in L.A, having been fired from his previous job as a Mayor of Toontown at Disney World for talking back to an eight year old. He lands a position at Barbara Streisand's estate, as the shopkeeper charged with looking after the star's private basement mall. This underground emporium is where Babs stores her huge collections of antiques and vintage toys, a mini-shopping center that she frequently visits herself, passing down the Main Street and selecting items to 'buy'. It's Alex's job to play along with this charade, a truly bizarre situation which fascinates Alex but is ridiculed by his boyfriend Barry.