Who is Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi - Back to Broadway (The 20th Anniversary Show)

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I worked the entire run of Whoopi's Broadway Debut and remember it vividly. First of all it was never called The Spook Show. She may have done something earlier with that title but on Broadway the it was just WHOOPI GOLDBERG. This show was far more than standup comedy, it was Performance Art. Sure, she made you laugh but she also worked your other emotions and made you think. The show consisted of six great characters: Act I - Fontaine the Junkie, The Surfer Chick, and The Disabled Girl. Act II - The Raisin Lover, An Old Entertainer Gentleman and The Little Girl with the Shirt on her Head. The show ran just about two hours.

Word of mouth quickly made this enormous talent the darling of Broadway, with celebrities in the house nearly every night. However when the show began, no one had any idea who she was, including one lady who called the stage door and asked "So what's a Whoopi Goldberg?" The Doorman described her as very talented but the next detail made the lady hang up. The story was passed on to Whoopi and that lady became a little character in her curtain speech. The entire production staff was three people: A Stage Manager, A Spotlight Guy and an Unknown Star. So who is this down-to-earth talent going to hang with? Seven ushers.

The opening of the show established that there was no fourth wall, and that Whoopi was more than willing to improvise in character with whatever happened. She did that often but we don't see much of it here. One night an embarrassed usher tried to avoid eye contact with the stage as he escorted three groups of latecomers down front. He noticed that the theatre had fallen silent and realized the star had focused on him. He ran to the back and hid behind the seats. Silence. After a long pause he peeked up and saw her staring right at him. In mock indignation (and in character) she said "Don't bring no more people down here!" When told of a mishap with patrons sitting in the wrong seats, Whoopi added a "be kind to your ushers" message to her curtain speech. When she heard that the ushers were not invited to the closing night party she said "(forget) them, we'll have our own party!" On the last night Whoopi held together until the last scene, the Little Girl with the Shirt on her Head. Through that she fought back tears. At the curtain call she called "my ushers" onstage to stand behind her as she said goodbye. The closing party was just Whoopi sitting on the edge of the stage with her ushers.

The next day the HBO crew took over. They wanted only a one hour show with extra bits of the characters backstage. Instead of shooting the show in its entirety and editing later, Whoopi was directed to speed up and cut her material live in front of the cameras. The Old Entertainer Gentleman was dropped entirely, and cue cards were held up to bridge the cuts they wanted. Some great material, (about half the show) was lost in the process. More material survived in the record album, but what was presented on HBO as "WHOOPI GOLDBERG-Direct from Broadway" had actually detoured through a lot of editing. The result does not do justice to Whoopi's formidable talent and how amazing her performance was.

The Anniversary show was in the same theatre, which looks huge due to extra lighting. The opening isn't quite as strong as the original because you don't see the curtain go down and back up as she restarts the show, and because this audience knew how to respond on her first entrance. The new show does seem less character driven and more of a platform for making statements, but it is still thoroughly entertaining. It's a shame we don't have her all of Broadway Debut, but I'm glad to have what's left of it, along with the new Anniversary Show. Whoopi is a terrific talent, even better when experienced live, spontaneous and unedited. This set is a great glimpse of what she is capable of. I Highly Recommended it. -- Garan Grey "Garan Grey" (Hollywood, CA)

Release Date: 11/01/2005

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