The Amazing Cloris Leachman's One-Woman Show

I loved, loved, loved Cloris Leachman’s one-woman show at the Buckhead Theatre Friday night! I expected her to be funny and outrageous but she delivered much more than I expected.

Cloris entered the stage to a standing ovation. The beautifully restored Buckhead Theatre was over half fulled with an audience of obvious fans. The set consisted of a chair, sofa, coffee table and a grand piano. There was also one pitiful little flower arrangement that became the object of ridicule during the show.

Cloris came out in a long, flowing, mulit-colored dress with drapes of loose fabric from the shoulders and waist. She handled the dress in a variety of ways throughout the show making it quite the funny prop. Her outfit was complete with Ugg-like slip-on shoes that did not go with the dress but when you’re an 85 year-old acclaimed actress of stage, film and television who has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards, one Daytime Emmy Award, an Academy Award and been inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame you can do whatever you please! And she does!

Classically trained in both piano and voice, Cloris often broke into song during her well-crafted stories about her life as a great-grandmother, aging, estate planning, her husband George, her childhood and her years in show business. Her voice is so strong and clear it’s obvious why she was a hit on Broadway. Her piano playing was quite impressive. During the show a wide variety of film clips from her expansive career were shown as she gave behind-the-scene antidotes about her performances and the other actors. In telling about family members and show biz friends she was funny, sad and outrageous but never unkind. (See her website for list of her stage, TV and film credits www.cloris.com)

One of my favorite parts of the show was how she played with the audience. Spying an empty chair in the front row she asked the person sitting beside it who was supposed to be there. The woman replied that her husband wasn’t able to come. Cloris asked if there was one single person who had purchased their own ticket and was attending alone. Someone in back raised their hand. Cloris asked that she come up front, introduce herself to the audience and sit in that front-row seat. “Sonya” sat there for a while then Cloris spotted an attractive man on the opposite side and asked the he, “Kevin,” change seats with Sonya. Later she brought Kevin onstage to sit with her during a story. Anytime she saw someone in the audience taking a photo she invited—no insisted—that they come up front to get a close-up, introduce themselves to the audience then she would smile, pose and send them back to their seat.

At the end she talked of the death of her son and how difficult it was to go on afterward. Then she pointed out that she’d broken a rule of show business as the ‘get-off’ at the end should always be on a positive note. She then talked about how she’s very much a hugger, hugging family, friends and even strangers. She says that she wants to always remember that ‘just for a moment we’ve done something wonderful—we’ve had a hug.” She then promised that everyone purchasing one of her books could get a hug. The show ended of course, in another standing ovation.

For two full hours on Friday night the amazingly talented Cloris Leachman did something wonderful!