Elaine Bromka portrays a trio of back-to-back-to-back First Ladies in one-woman show (photos by Ron Marotta)
30th Street Theatre at Urban Stages
359 West 30th St. between Eighth & Ninth Aves.
Wednesday – Sunday through June 29, $25-$45
212-868-4444
www.teaforthree.com
Sitting down for tea is usually a rather pleasant experience, cordial and not too stressful. Such is the case at Elaine Bromka’s one-woman show, Tea for Three: Lady Bird, Pat & Betty. Running at the small, intimate Theatre at 30th St. at Urban Stages, the show is divided into three parts, as Bromka portrays Lady Bird Johnson in 1968, Pat Nixon in 1974, and Betty Ford in 1976, as each one is getting ready to leave the White House for the next First Lady. Bromka, who previously played eight First Ladies in Rich Little’s The Presidents show, wonderfully embodies the three women, capturing their unique diction and looking the part, wearing Bunny Mateosian and Patricia Carucci’s costumes and Robert E. McLaughlin’s wigs. In each section of the eighty-minute intermissionless production (there is a short break between segments), each First Lady has a silver tray of tea, discusses life with her husband, and prepares for life outside the White House, directly addressing the audience. Although the women touch upon some of the serious aspects of their husbands’ administrations, including the Vietnam War and Watergate, the play, cowritten by Bromka with Eric H. Weinberger (Class Mothers ’68, Wanda’s World) and directed by Byam Stevens, primarily opts for lighthearted moments that are gently humorous. Bromka incorporates Pat Nixon’s claim that being First Lady is “the hardest unpaid job in the world,” but that never quite comes across in this sugary sweet look at this succession of presidential wives who wanted to be considered more than just appendages of their spouses. Thus, Tea for Three makes for a pleasant experience, served with a few too many cubes and not enough lumps.