by Jeannie Marlin Woods
The 2025 Berkshire Theatre Season is beginning to wind down and the reflection on the season as a whole is beginning. One theme that has emerged is the need for humor and laughter in what many feel are dark days. So, I suppose it is not a surprise that three productions featured a woman who wrote and performed comedy. Barrington Stage Company offered JOAN, a new play about Joan Rivers written by Daniel Goldstein. Berkshire Theatre Group and Great Barrington Public Theatre both produced world premieres of plays about funny ladies. BTG presented DYING IS NO EXCUSE, a comedy about the love story and writing/performing partnership of Renée Taylor and Joe Bologna. Great Barrington Public presented Robin Gerber’s THE BEST MEDICINE about a woman who was a caregiver for her husband and who found solace in performing standup comedy.
In each of these plays, the main character faces challenges and cultural bias to get herself on stage. I highly recommend the in-depth reviews by Macey Levin and Paula Kaplan-Reiss which you will find linked here and under the reviews section of the BERKSHIRE ON STAGE blog. But in this short reflective piece, I want to consider DYING IS NO EXCUSE, which was not reviewed.
Bringing DYING to the stage was a drama in and of itself. Again, this was a world premiere written by Renée Taylor and staged by the legendary Elaine May and Greg Santos. The story was intended as a tribute to the late Joe Bologna and was to star the 92-year-old Taylor as herself. Life, however, intervened when Taylor became ill and Nicholle Tom was brought in to replace her. Taylor still made an elegant and funny appearance at the top of the play. On oxygen and unable to walk independently, she was accompanied by two gentlemen in formal dress. “They told me I needed a walker,” she quipped, “so I got two.” It was gratifying to see this remarkable talent on stage, however briefly.
Tom, who performed alongside Taylor in the CBS Series THE NANNY, was only given days to prepare what is almost a one-woman show. She performed book-in-hand to very appreciative audiences. Every performance was sold out. I was lucky to see the play near the end of the run and after Tom was off book. She gave a remarkable performance. Not only did she perfectly capture the character of Renée Taylor, but she was also charming, vivacious, and had unflagging energy. Like Joan Rivers, Renée Taylor was a force of nature. The drive and ambition of these comediennes to make people laugh sustained them into long lives. Lives that were filled with difficulties and loss that seemed to fuel the humor. Tom delivered a nuanced performance of a personality writ large. She managed to engage the audience fully, even though the character of Joe was entirely one key. Bologna was known for his deadpan, reserved personality on and off the stage. Jack Maxwell captured his character perfectly, but it was up to Tom to keep the action moving forward. Nicholle Tom was a delight from start to finish.
These funny ladies remind us of the importance of humor and laughter. Several other shows also blended humor and grief or loss. In Chester Theatre’s 100 WORDS FOR SNOW by Tara Hennessy, dealt with a young girl navigating the sudden loss of her beloved father. And FUZZY by Jeff Talbott and Will Van Dyke used music and puppets to soften the pain of a man taking care of his dying mother. We can all hope that laughter is the best medicine and that healing will follow.