by Macey Levin
Joan Alexandra Molinsky began her career in comedy at various clubs in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Unknown and raw, she learned her craft as a stand up comedian on the punishing “Paris Island” of live performance in smoky downtown joints. She was rejected and demeaned but persisted. Then one magical night as a guest on Johnny Carson’s “Late Night” she received the royal nod and Joan Rivers stormed into our lives through television, theatre and films. Her comedy albums and books sold millions. Although many considered her an overnight success, Joan’s life carried plenty of emotional baggage and was not for the faint of heart.
Joan’s life is onstage in a sensational production at Barrington Stage Company, Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The play, first produced by South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, California has transferred the original and very talented cast in this memory play detailing the complexities of becoming The Queen of Stand Up Comedy.
The show opens with Rivers (Tessa Auberjonois) doing a stand-up routine to the Barrington Stage audience. She is observed by another woman, her daughter Melissa (Elinor Gunn,) Both actresses take on other roles, Gunn as the younger Joan and Auberjonois as Joan’s mother.
Joan is the daughter of Jewish immigrants who are dismayed when they catch her performing in one of the clubs. They want her to follow the accepted path of creating a marriage and family. This is not the life Joan has envisioned and she continues to work, finally getting a shot on Jack Paar’s TV “Tonight Show.” He was followed by Johnny Carson who helped Joan establish herself as a television personality. From there she went on to greater fame in the other media. But real life has a way of deviating from carefully laid plans and as Joan’s family says, “Poof,” her circumstances change in a flash. Her personal life… two marriages and her relationship with daughter Melissa along with some problematic career decisions create the compelling drama of Joan’s life.
This is a four-person cast all of whom play multiple roles. Their acting is flawless. Ms. Auberjonois’s Joan is exactly as we remember her… that raucous voice, those mannerisms, her body language, hysterically comic, iconoclastic and raunchy in those situations where she can use many four-letter words as well as anatomical references. Through her often self-deprecating jokes and her, “Can We Talk,” come-on, Joan seduces the audience into an immediate intimacy. She also earns our sympathy when she meets difficult times and our disdain when she is insensitive.
Joan’s daughter followed her into show business; in fact, they often worked together. Ms. Gunn’s Melissa is a somewhat softer version of Joan and a perfect foil to her outrageous behavior. Her performance also captures the nuanced persona as the daughter of a famous and driven mom. She, displays a well-acted range of emotions. The two women play with and off each other as if they’ve lived their lives together.
One of Andrew Borba’s roles is Joan’s husband, the paradoxical and ill-fated Edgar Rosenberg. The actor brings both strength and weakness to him which evokes our empathy as he loves and fights with his powerful yet needy wife. He also plays her father and Johnny Carson, two obviously diametrically opposite men who feel authentic through his interpretations.
Zachary Prince succeeds in creating different characterizations in a wide range of secondary characters, including Joan’s first husband, that play a part in either her personal or professional life.
The actors, having honed their roles in the show for a month in California, are offering insightful and well-rounded performances.
Directed by David Ivers, who staged the original production, the pace of the show moves briskly. The whole play is very absorbing and beautifully acted. Some basic costume changes occur onstage, actors bring props on and off. It all keeps the audience rapt.
The set by Wilson Chin, complemented by Philip E. Rosenberg’s light design, is simple yet evocative of each of the myriad locations from a kitchen scene to TV studios to luxurious parlors. Set pieces slide on and off while the rear wall also moves forward and back helping to define the various rooms. Kish Flanagan’s costumes suggest the time periods via style and color. They also define the characters’ personality.
This is a funny and yet poignant telling of a life that broke taboos and created paths for other women comedians to break into a very tough and closed business. Joan Rivers was an original force of nature in that respect.
She may have led a larger than, and sometimes very public, life, but the play “Joan” presents an fascinating study of the essence that was Joan Rivers.
Joan By Daniel Goldstein; Director: David Ivers; Cast: Tessa Auberjonois (Joan/Mrs. Molinsky), Andrew Borba (Edgar/Dr. Molinsky/Johnny Carson/ Others), Elinor Gunn (Melissa/Young Joan), Zachary Prince (Jimmy/Blake/Chet /Others);
Scene Design: Wilson Chin; Costume Design: Kish Flanagan; Lighting Design: Philip S. Rosenberg; Sound Design: Beth Lake; Production Stage Manager: Matthew Meeks; Assistant Stage Manager: Merit Glover; Running Time: one hour/forty minutes no intermission, July 31 – August 17, 2025; For tickets: Phone: 413-236-8888 email: info@BarringtonStageCo.org