These ‘Divas’ Should Be Dismissed

There is a mystery about “Dressing Room Divas” at the Backlot Theatre in West Hollywood--a mystery without a clue. The program states that this parody is hugely successful Off Broadway in New York. How can this be? Is Manhattan’s version a drag show? That’s the only possible way to make this contrived, implausible set-up work without resembling out-of-control misogyny.

The improbable is made ludicrous when five celebrities--Elizabeth Taylor (Louise Gallagher), Julie Andrews (Toni Morrell), Meryl Streep (Amy Heath), Bette Midler (Francine McCartny), Joan Collins (Caryl Wiener)--are forced to share a backstage dressing room during a celebrity fund-raiser. The women are expert impersonators, but are required to snarl, hiss, backbite and engage in stereotypical career bashing. Very little wit and few memorable lines get delivered.

Two chorus boys witness this “cat fight” in exaggerated awe. At one point, the Joan Collins character is locked in a trunk. Audiences might want to join her, but for all the wrong reasons. Our town’s “Dressing Room Divas” is a chaotic industry showcase masquerading as cabaret.

* “Dressing Room Divas,” Backlot Theatre, 657 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood. Saturdays, 8 and 10 p.m. Indefinitely. $12 (plus two-drink minimum). (310) 281-3305. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.