She really does conjure the hookah-smoking Caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland, ensconced on a sofa in her Beverly Hills living room, drinking scotch and smoking tobacco and weed, sometimes all at once.
Emma Messenger is suitably hilarious, profane, sadistic and arch as Sue Mengers, the ferocious Hollywood super-agent, reflecting on past conquests and serving up life lessons.
In Josh Logan’s acidly funny one-woman play from 2013, the legendary first female agent to the stars recounts her 1970s glory years when she ran the game in Tinseltown. She understood not just human nature but the particular insecurities of celebrities and the fearful impulses of movie executives. She brought a creative vision to the task — and passion. Thatap how she got an unknown named Gene Hackman into “The French Connection.” Thatap why she pushed to get Faye Dunaway into “Chinatown” over Jane Fonda. The long game, seeking status and power more than money, was always her goal.
By the ‘80s, however, the movies were evolving, the celebrities were changing, the studios were going corporate and Mengers’ star was fading.
Logan (“RED,” “Skyfall”) gives us a deliciously gossipy insider’s view of the cutthroat and ego-driven industry, rife with ethnic stereotypes. Itap a dual character study, Mengers and Hollywood, neither particularly flattering but savagely entertaining.
Bette Midler played the part on Broadway; Messenger is fully absorbing in this regional premiere, modulating and keeping the distinct lack of action riveting under Josh Hartwell’s direction.
“I’m not getting up,” she advises at the start. And she doesn’t.
Mengers clawed her way to the top and now, in her signature sequined turquoise muumuu, she’s spilling secrets, inviting the audience to listen in before one of her stars-only dinner parties. She lets us know just how privileged we are to be in her presence.
In the process of revealing the ugly underbelly of Hollywood, Mengers acknowledges the challenge of her childhood. After her family fled Nazi Germany, she was a shy Jewish immigrant desperate for acceptance. She learned English at the movies, she says. (“Thatap why I still talk like a gum-cracking Warner Brothers second lead.”)
In grade school, could she shake her accent and boldly cross the playground to introduce herself to the popular girl? In the same way, could she listen and learn as a talent agency secretary and eventually become a talent agent?
Could a shark enjoy sushi? Over the course of 75 minutes she recounts her trajectory, from shy little kid to great white of ICM (International Creative Management).
Itap a night of name-dropping. If itap not Barbra Streisand, itap Julie Harris, Steve McQueen or Ali McGraw.
It boils down to a showbiz tell-all. But there’s a love of movies at the core and a certain pathos, too.
The “twinklies,” in Mengers’ parlance, the bold-faced names and A-listers who made her parties the hottest invite in town, needed her as much as she needed them. Until they didn’t.
Three and a half stars
“I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers” By John Logan, directed by Josh Hartnell. A one-woman show with Emma Messenger. Through July 31 at The Edge Theater, 1560 Teller St., Lakewood. Tickets available at www.theedgetheater.com or call 303-232-0363.
