Theater Review: ‘The Third Story’

The remarkable Charles Busch has concocted yet another fable with his latest offering, “The Third Story.”

ZANY FUN: (L-R) Sarah Rafferty and Charles Busch in a scene from MCC Theater's production of 'The Third Story.' Joan Marcus

NEW YORK—The remarkable Charles Busch has concocted yet another fable with his latest offering, The Third Story, in which he also doubles in two of the major roles. This prolific playwright, noted for past triumphs such as Broadway’s The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, one of the longest-running plays in Off-Broadway history (five year run), here presents a complex, and hilarious story of a mother and son screenwriting team and their creative struggles.

Peg (Kathleen Turner) and her son Drew (Jonathan Walker) have fled 1940s Commie-obsessed Hollywood to, of all places, Omaha, Nebraska, where they wish, hopefully, to turn out a viable script. In between their creative struggles they deal with who Drew’s father actually is: Is he a postman delivering mail in Omaha, or someone possibly more glamorous from Peg’s Hollywood days?

While the pair deals with this and other domestic difficulties, various characters and situations they imagine fill the stage.

There is the B-movie queen, Queenie Bartlett, played by Mr. Busch himself, who parades about in full purple-garbed satin regalia, presenting a glamorous figure replete with wavy red wig. Queenie, threatened by underworld characters, enlists the aid of her henchman, slightly sleazy Steve Bartlett (doubled by Jonathan Walker). The presence of Steve’s luscious wife Verna (Sarah Rafferty) only angers the jealous Queenie, who wants her son all to herself. [caption id=“attachment_80616” align=“alignright” width=“320” caption="IMAGINARY CHARACTERS: (L-R) Sarah Rafferty and Charles Busch in a scene from