Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Bloody Ballad of Bette Davis
Piper Theatre Productions
Genre: Musical Theatre, Physical Theatre
Venue: C Arts
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Was Bette Davis a witch? Her estranged daughter says so. What say you?
Review
Piper Theatre’s new musical Bloody Ballad of Bette Davis asks a question Arthur Miller would have loved: Was Bette Davis, beloved golden-age movie star, a witch? In this case Edinburgh Fringegoers craving lighter summer entertainment need not worry about needle-filled poppets or long Salem courtroom scenes with invisible birds; this funny, charming show has puppets, songs and a groovy 1970s vibe.
Absurd as the premise may sound, show creators John P. McEneny (writer and director) and Rob Parker (composer) actually have a real-life basis for their concept. In 2017, more than a quarter century after Davis’s death and in the publicity wake of Ryan Murphy’s delicious television series Feud, Davis’s estranged, disinherited and evangelicalized daughter B.D. Hyman reposted YouTube videos with recriminatory catnip for the Hollywood gossip mill: “She practiced the occult witchcraft and when I would not do what she wanted me to do, she vowed to get even with me.”
Mother-daughter conflict: Check. Demonic Hollywood: Check. Camp possibilities: Endless.
The show begins by diving right in those choppy family waters, opening with a hilarious and spirited song where B.D. Hyman (Laura Dillman Frank, spunky and fiery) makes her accusations of ensorcellment. But then Hyman takes a back seat as the show focuses on Davis on the set of the film Burnt Offerings, a 1976 haunted-house flick that came and went in its day but has since built a cult following. As a result the show’s mommie-dearest drama is detoured to focus on film-set shenanigans, specifically those of oft-pickled Oliver Reed and Karen Black, a younger actress in her prime, neurotic and needy despite being hot off the successes of Five Easy Pieces, Nashville and Airport 1975, where she played a stewardess who has to land the plane after all the pilots have either died or become incapacitated, a silly plot line that now begs for (and gets) a sublimely ridiculous musical number.
That number is led by the show’s VIP, Connor Delves, who plays Karen Black with a believable mix of distraught compulsion and pizazz, all while crooning marvelously; he makes the most of the show’s catchy, bouncy score. That said, and to be fair, high praise goes to the entire energetic, hard-working cast of five. Piper Theatre specializes in physical theatre, and the proof is in clear evidence in the endlessly inventive movements and stage pictures the company creates with a few cubes. As Oliver Reed, Aaron Novak drops his pants but never his soused character’s dignity, even when possessed by a cockroach, and Eva Sheehy-Moss brings a bright-eyed zest to a mostly thankless and underwritten role as an assistant who keeps pushing her boss to dabble in black magic. In the titular role of Bette Davis, Annie Meek Montgomery has the show’s most challenging task, and she wisely eschews an arch impression and instead gives an emotionally honest portrayal of an older actress doing her best to survive in an age-phobic industry; she centers this production beautifully.
Dramatically Bloody Ballad of Bette Davis suffers by spending too much time paying homage to the 1970s and colorful supporting characters instead of driving home the central conflict between mother and daughter, and matters aren’t helped when the show veers into occasional sincerity, or apologizes for itself and the times it portrays. To paraphrase another ‘70s film classic: Camp means never having to say you’re sorry.
But do not be deterred. Edinburgh Fringe exists for shows like this, and with its vibrant cast, terrific score, assured direction, fabulous costumes and zany staging, Bloody Ballad of Bette Davis will leave you bewitched.
