[Once again I was unable to find any further details on Ron's version of this production, so I have used extracts from a review by John Guare on a later production of "House of Blue Leaves" to give an idea of the storyline.]

The show opens with Artie Shaughnessy, a zoo-keeper who writes and sings show-songs, but admits he's too old to be a young star anymore. He's held back because his wife is crazy --- I mean round-the-bend bonkers (her name, "Bananas Shaughnessy" says it all). His snappy solution, though, is to sock her away in a booby-hatch (That Blue Leaves house; it's a sort of a poetical, metaphorical thingie --- you gotta go see it to understand it) and run away with the supportive --- well okay pushy love of his life Bunny Flingus, who wants Pope Paul on his visit Stateside to bless their union before His Holiness stops the Vietnam War. Oh yeah, this is all taking place on October 4, 1965, in a cold apartment in Queens, okay?

And Artie's got a shot, because he went through grammar school with his life-long pal Billy Einhorn, who never lost touch even though he's become a top movie director. He even comes to visit at the apartment, but only after the star of his first hit picture and new girl-friend, drops in and has a tragic accident. (I can't tell you about the tragic accident because it'd spoil the plot. Actually, it's her second tragic accident, but I can't tell you about the first one either, except to say the consequences of it make her nearly every line screamingly funny. But you gotta go see it to understand, because My Lips Are Sealed.)

Guare's script demands one shockingly inventive surprise after another, plateau after higher plateau of credibility and schtick, and everyone delivers.

Full review can be found at: http://www.theatermirror.com/hbl.htm

 

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