“My Life on a Diet” with Renee Taylor Is an Ice Cream Sundae with Hot Fudge, Whipped Cream, and a Cherry on Top—and No More Food ‘til Tomorrow

Dec 12, 2019 by Two Sues On the Aisle

By Two Sues on the Aisle: Sue Weston and Susan L. Rosenbluth

Despite her remarkable ability to create a sense of intimacy with an audience, as though she is just someone we could have met anywhere, there is nothing commonplace about Renee Taylor. Now starring in her own one-woman show, this gifted actress raises an eyebrow and takes you with her on her life story, told through memories, snapshots, and clips.

“My Life on a Diet,” now playing at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, was written by Ms. Taylor and her late husband, Joseph Bologna. It is a funny exploration of a life that, at first, sounds like it should be familiar (her voice, after all, is known to everyone who remembers her as the Jewish mother on The Nanny television show), but, once she gets started, it becomes instantly clear she has had some extraordinary experiences, which she is happily ever so willing to share.

A glamorous octogenarian who has no trouble captivating her audience for a full 90 minutes, Ms. Taylor is alone on the stage, created to become her den, where she recounts her life through the eyes of herself as a young girl who longed to be skinny and famous. A self-described “diet junkie,” she recounts the many times she asked stars who became acquaintances and then often close friends how they managed to stay slim. Ms. Taylor was convinced there was a magic link between weight loss and stardom. “My Life on a Diet” combines Ms. Taylor’s joint obsessions for food and audience approval.

From the Bronx

Born and raised in the Bronx, where her favorite outing was to the zoo, she made her professional stage debut at the age of 15 in a Purim Pageant at Madison Square Garden. Her guardian angels were her accent and her chutzpah. Her father, Charlie, was a compulsive gambler and failed actor, and her mother, Frieda, was always moving, sometimes to the back of a pick-up truck just to keep from being evicted. Ms. Taylor eventually changed her name from Wexler because she felt Taylor was more apt to get her a part.

Although she keeps the conversation light, as though she were just telling a room full of close friends about other friends she has met, it is hard to miss the pattern. The events in her life are linked together, one leading to the next as her compulsion to make it in showbusiness propels her forward.

And, as she does so, she name-drops as though she were sprinkling gumdrops along her way to the top of the Big Rock Candy Mountain. When she met Marlon Brando in acting class, she asked him if he was going to leave her alone. He responded that he wasn’t doing anything to her. Her retort: Well why not?

She and Barbra Streisand were “so poor,” they shared stockings. Marilyn Monroe, whom she also met in an acting class, inspired her with her insecurity and vulnerability.

Diets

Monroe also gave her the grape diet. Ms. Taylor confesses that she picked up scores of diets from celebrity friends. In fact, when her late husband suggested she do this one-woman show in part about the number of crazy diets she has tried, she thought it was silly. Who would want to come to the theater to hear about her diets? she wondered. Her husband soon disabused her of those doubts. Everyone is on a diet, he told her.

Before the show reaches the halfway point, Ms. Taylor makes it clear her life includes a who’s who of the theatrical community.

Many of her references are strictly geared for those in the audience ages 70 and up. Most of them laughed throughout the entire performance. Those of us a little younger, well, let’s just say some of it went over our heads. But as a war-baby and not-quite-a-baby-boomer, she prompted me to see her perspective, and that connected me with my mother and all the memories that can conjure up.

An Icon

She is an icon, a living legend from the theatrical past. Those who remember her from The Nanny will find themselves intrigued to learn about her roles in Hollywood and on Broadway, her fad diets, and her anecdotes about celebrity legends.

My Life on a Diet is a rare opportunity to share an evening with a great Jewish woman from the screen and stage. Her story is inspirational; the privilege of hearing her tell it is priceless.

The show, which played Off-Broadway a few years ago and is now touring nationally, will be in New Brunswick until December 15. For more information, call 732-246-7717 or go to GeorgeStreetPlayhouse.org.

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Two Sues on the Aisle bases its ratings on how many challahs it pays to buy (rather than make) in order to see the play, show, film, or exhibit being reviewed.

“My Life on a Diet” received 5 challahs