Tag Archives: My Life on a diet

Comedy Can’t Be Taught ~ A review of Renée Taylor’s “My Life on a Diet”

Comedy Can’t Be Taught!
A review of Renée Taylor’s

“My Life on a Diet”
July 19, 2018
Theatre at S. Clement’s

If ever there was proof that comedy can’t be taught, Renée Taylor is that living proof.

After a lifetime consisting (so far) of 22 plays, 4 films, 9 TV movies and TV series, 3 Broadway shows, an Off-Broadway show, Oscar noms, Emmy and countless other awards, and a 52 year marriage to the man of her dreams, actor/director Joseph Bologna, Renée Taylor is still at it – and still trying out new diets!

In “My Life in a Diet”, co-written and originally directed by her late husband, Ms. Taylor, at a spry 85 years young, delivers a hysterical 90+ minute monologue about her life which sparkles and shines almost as much as the dress she wears. 

Best known for her role as Sylvia Fine, Fran Drescher’s food obsessed mother in “The Nanny”, Ms. Taylor started her acting career at age 15 in a Purim Pageant at Madison Square Garden and earned her Actor’s Equity card at age 19 for her appearance in “The Rehearsal” on Broadway. A Wikipedia or IMdB search will tell you all the details of her amazing credits, what I will tell you is this show is a goldmine of stories, Hollywood secrets and a personal journey that is a master class in comedy and story-telling that should not be missed.

Her on stage biography is liberally sprinkled with anecdotes about Hollywood legends such as Joan Crawford, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Cary Grant, Barbra Streisand, and her mother, Frieda, the ultimate stage mom.

Ms. Taylor also shares the myriad of fad and celebrity diets she has tried over the years. As she says, “I used to think that if I ate like star, I just might live like one!”

Ms. Taylor is living proof that you’re either born with it or not. Go see a living comedy legend  for a delightful evening of laughs and tears. There is nothing like it on or off Broadway right now.

Elli with Renée Taylor @ “My Life on a Diet” 07.19.18

*********************

MY LIFE ON A DIET is presented by Mr. Schlossberg in association with Morris S. Levy, Rodger Hess, Harold Newman, Jim Fantaci, Andrew Tobias, andRonald Glazer/Sabrina Hutt.

MY LIFE ON A DIET has set design by Harry Feiner, lighting design by Stefanie Risk and sound design by Jay Risk.

MY LIFE ON A DIET will be performed Off-Broadway at Theatre at St. Clement’s (423 West 46 Street, btw. Ninth & Tenth Aves). The limited engagement runs Thursday, July 12ththrough Sunday, August 19th. UPDATE: Now extended thru Sunday, September 2nd. The performance schedule is as follows: Wednesdays at 2pm, Thursdays at 7pm, Fridays at 7 pm, Saturdays at 2 pm and 7pm, and Sundays at 3pm.

Tickets to MY LIFE ON A DIET — priced at $65 ($75 premium seating) — are now available online at MyLifeOnADietPlay.com or by calling Telecharge at (212) 239-6200.

Follow Renée Taylor online:
Facebook:         https://www.facebook.com/Ren%C3%A9e-Taylor-394298697354583/
Twitter:            https://twitter.com/ReneeTaylor1613
Instagram:       https://www.instagram.com/official_renee_taylor/?hl=en

Press Release: Broadway in Bryant Park Summer 2018 Schedule Released from BWW

THE BAND’S VISIT, SPONGEBOB, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, and More to Perform at Broadway in Bryant Park

Copied from: BWW News Desk Jun. 20, 2018  

THE BAND'S VISIT, SPONGEBOB, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, and More to Perform at Broadway in Bryant Park

Photo Credit: Peter James Zielinski

Broadway in Bryant Park will return this summer! The 2018 program will bring the best of Broadway together for free performances for six consecutive weeks from Thursday, July 12 to Thursday, August 16. New Yorkers and visitors to the Big Apple are invited to come at 11 a.m. every Thursday with performances running from 12:30 p.m. EST – 1:30 p.m. EST on the Bryant Park Stage. Hosted by 106.7 LITE FM’s on-air personalities, this year’s annual presentation of open-air lunch hour performances featuring the best Broadway and Off-Broadway shows will be presented by your local Toyota Dealers, VISIT PHILADELPHIA and FUJIFILM Instax.

106.7 LITE FM’s Broadway in Bryant Park invites participants to soak up the summer sun while enjoying musical numbers from hit shows including “The Band’s Visit,” winner of the 2018 Tony Awards’ best musical and best performances by an actor and actress in a lead role in a musical, “Once on this Island,” winner of the 2018 Tony Awards’ best revival of a musical and “SpongeBob SquarePants,” winner of the 2018 Tony Awards’ best scenic design of a musical, as well as “Waitress” starring Katharine McPhee, “Beautiful” starring Melissa Benoist, “Come From Away,” “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical,” “Chicago,” “Kinky Boots,” “School of Rock,” “FRIENDS! The Musical Parody,” and many more. New this year, Disney on Broadway will take over Broadway in Bryant Park on August 2nd with performances from the hit shows “Aladdin,” “Frozen,” and “The Lion King.”

“We are so excited to be hosting the annual 106.7 LITE FM’s Broadway in Bryant Park for the 18th year,” said Chris Conley, Program Director of 106.7 LITE FM. “We have an incredible list of shows, including the winner of the 2018 Tony Awards’ best musical, ‘The Band’s Visit,’ among so many other new shows coupled with popular classics. We look forward to welcoming theater fans once again to this special summer series.”

The Bryant Park stage is located at 6th Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets. Lawn seating is first-come, first-serve.

The current 106.7 LITE FM’s Broadway in Bryant Park schedule** is as follows:

July 12
106.7 LITE FM Host: Helen Little
Co-Host(s): Catherine Russell and the cast of “Perfect Crime”
“Chicago”
“SpongeBob SquarePants”
“Stomp”
“Waitress”

July 19
106.7 LITE FM Host: Rich Kaminski
Co-Host: Renée Taylor from “My Life on a Diet”
Pre-Show: Brooke Shapiro
“Anastasia”
“Beautiful”
“Desperate Measures”
“On A Clear Day You Can See Forever”

July 26
106.7 LITE FM Host: Bob Bronson and Christine Nagy
Co-Host(s): Cast of “The Play That Goes Wrong”
Pre-Show: “Mary Poppins Returns”
“Come From Away”
“Kinky Boots”
“The Band’s Visit”
“FRIENDS! The Musical Parody”

August 2
106.7 LITE FM Host: Delilah
“Aladdin”
“Frozen”
“The Lion King”

August 9
106.7 LITE FM Host: Victor Sosa
Co-Host(s): Cast of “The Play That Goes Wrong”
Pre-Show: “VITALY: An Evening of Wonders”
“Avenue Q”
“Jersey Boys”
“Smokey Joe’s Café”
“Summer: The Donna Summer Musical”

August 16
106.7 LITE FM Host: Delilah
Pre-Show: Jordin Smith + Brooke Shapiro
“Once On This Island”
“School Of Rock”
“Wicked”

For details, schedule updates and a chance to win free Broadway tickets, fans can listen to 106.7 LITE FM via the station’s website, www.litefm.com, as well as on iHeartRadio. 106.7 LITE FM is a leading media outlet in the New York market. The station’s programming and content are available across multiple platforms, including its broadcast stations; online via its branded digital sites; mobile; and social, with nationwide listening through iHeartRadio, the all-in-one streaming music and live radio service.

**Schedule subject to change at discretion of 106.7 LITE FM or pending weather conditions.

In the event of mandatory performance cancellation, all efforts will be made to reassign previously scheduled shows into a remaining performance date. Visit www.litefm.com or tune into 106.7 LITE FM for ‘Up-to-the-Minute’ schedule changes and/or performance cancellations.

PRESS RELEASE: Renée Taylor in The New York Premiere of  “My Life on a Diet”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE:
PHOTO: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qtcWFtZ4LQ8x92U92

Press Contact:
Bill Coyle – coyleentertainment@gmail.com, 917-279-6044 

Julian Schlossberg
Presents 

Academy Award Nominee and Emmy Award Winner
Renée Taylor
in
The New York Premiere of  

By Renée Taylor and Joseph Bologna
Directed by Joseph Bologna

Six-Week Off-Broadway Engagement
Begins Thursday, July 12th

Opens Wednesday, July 25th at 7:00 PM
At Theatre at St. Clement’s (423 West 46 Street, between 9th & 10th Aves)

MyLifeOnADietPlay.com

 New York, NY (May 31, 2018) – Producer Julian Schlossberg announces that Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning writer and actress Renée Taylor – known to millions for her role as Fran Fine’s food-obsessed mother, Sylvia, on “The Nanny” – will return to the New York stage this summer in MY LIFE ON A DIET, an autobiographical comedy written by Ms. Taylor and her late husband Joseph Bologna.  Originally directed by Mr. Bologna, MY LIFE ON A DIET will have its New York premiere Off-Broadway at Theatre at St. Clement’s (423 West 46 Street, between Ninth & Tenth Aves) beginning Thursday, July 12, 2018.  The limited, 6-week engagement is currently scheduled to run through Sunday, August 19th. The Opening is Wednesday, July 25th at 7:00 p.m.  Tickets to MY LIFE ON A DIET are now available online at MyLifeOnADietPlay.com or by calling Telecharge at (212) 239-6200.

Renée Taylor looks back on a life full of memorable roles in Hollywood and on Broadway, and just as many fad diets. A self-described “diet junkie,” Taylor, in MY LIFE ON A DIET, dishes out juicy anecdotes about — and weight loss tips from — Hollywood legends such as Joan Crawford, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando and Cary Grant (she used to think that if she ate like star, she’d just might live like one). By sharing her high and lows – on and off the scale – as only she could, RenéeTaylor proves how the ability to laugh will get you through it all.

Renée explains, “A few years ago, I had the pleasure to work with my friend Nora Ephron on her wonderful play, Love, Loss, and What I Wore. I told her that, as a woman who had worn every size from 4 to 18 over the years, my version of the play would be called, ‘Love, Loss, and What I Ate.’  Well, this is that play, but I ended up calling it MY LIFE ON A DIET.”

Renée Taylor. Born in The Bronx, Renée made her professional stage debut at age 15 in a Purim Pageant at Madison Square Garden (earning $5 for her role as ‘Slave Girl’).  She then appeared in the showcase Talent 60, which led to her earning her Actors Equity card, at age 19, for appearing in The Rehearsal at The President Theatre. Around this time Renée was also performing stand-up in Greenwich Village nightclubs (a young Barbra Streisand opened for her at Bon Soir). After seeing Renée in a production of Easy Does It, Elaine May cast her in her improvisational revue The Third Ear. Mike Nichols then cast her as a standby for Anne Jackson in the Broadway production of Luv in 1964. After seeing her go on in Luv, George Abbot cast her in Agatha Sue I Love You.  Another time she went on, performing opposite Gene Wilder, Mel Brooks saw her and cast her as Eva Braun in his Academy Award-winning film The Producers. Renée married Joseph Bologna in 1965, and the two co-wrote the hit comedy Lovers and Other Strangers, which debuted on Broadway in 1968, with Renée featured in the cast.  The couple received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 1970 film. Renée and Joe co-wrote and co-starred in Made for Each Other, receiving a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Comedy in 1971. The couple won Emmy Awards for writing the 1973 television special “Acts of Love and Other Comedies,” and were nominated once again the following year for writing the TV movie “Paradise.” They returned to Broadway in 1981, appearing in their play It Had to Be You, and again in 2001 in If you ever leave me … I’m going with you! Renée and Joe co-wrote, co-directed and co-starred in the 1984 TV movie “Bedrooms,” the 1989 film adaptation of It Had to Be You, and the 1996 film Love Is All There Is (which introduced a young Angelina Jolie). Together, the prolific couple collaborated on 22 plays, four film screenplays, and nine TV movies and series.  Known for her Emmy nominated role of Sylvia Fine in “The Nanny,” Renée’s other TV acting credits include “Daddy Dearest” (opposite Richard Lewis and Don Rickles) and the groundbreaking HBO sitcom “Dream On” (she appeared on these three television shows simultaneously).  More recently she has had recurring roles in “How I Met Your Mother,” “Bob’s Burger’s,” and “Happily Divorced.” Jerry Lewis gave Renée her big break in film, writing a role for her in The Errand Boy in 1961, and her many film credits also include A New Leaf, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Lovesick, White Place, Life During Wartime, Tyler Perry’s Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor, and more recently, The Do-Over and How To Be a Latin Lover.

Julian Schlossberg (Producer). Theatre: Bullets Over Broadway, Relatively Speaking, Sly Fox, Fortune’s Fool, Terms of Endearment, After the Night and the Music, Adult Entertainment, The Unexpected Man, Tommy Tune, Madame Melville, Taller Than a Dwarf, Beauty Queen of Leenane, Power Plays, If Love Were All, Death Defying Acts, Vita and Virginia, etc.  Film:  Widow’s Peak, In the Spirit, Bad Girls, No Nukes, Ten From Your Show of Shows.  Television: “Mike Nichols – American Masters” (PBS), “Nichols and May” (PBS), “Elia Kazan:  A Director’s Journey” (AMC), Claire Bloom’s “Shakespeare’s Women” (Bravo), “Lives of Lillian Hellman” (PBS).  He is currently producing a fourteen hour series, “Witnesses to the 20th Century.” Mr. Schlossberg previously worked with Ms. Taylor when he presented It Had to Be You on Broadway in 1981.

MY LIFE ON A DIET is presented by Mr. Schlossberg in association with Morris S. Levy, Rodger Hess, Harold Newman, Jim Fantaci, Andrew Tobias, andRonald Glazer/Sabrina Hutt.

MY LIFE ON A DIET has set design by Harry Feiner, lighting design by Stefanie Risk and sound design by Jay Risk.

MY LIFE ON A DIET will be performed Off-Broadway at Theatre at St. Clement’s (423 West 46 Street, btw. Ninth & Tenth Aves). The limited engagement runs Thursday, July 12th through Sunday, August 19th. The performance schedule is as follows: Wednesdays at 2pm, Thursdays at 7pm, Fridays at 7 pm, Saturdays at 2 pm and 7pm, and Sundays at 3pm.

Tickets to MY LIFE ON A DIET — priced at $65 ($75 premium seating) — are now available online at MyLifeOnADietPlay.com or by calling Telecharge at (212) 239-6200.

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Follow Renée Taylor online:
Facebook:         https://www.facebook.com/Ren%C3%A9e-Taylor-394298697354583/
Twitter:            https://twitter.com/ReneeTaylor1613
Instagram:       https://www.instagram.com/official_renee_taylor/?hl=en