My vote for best play title of all time is The Passion of the Crawford.

Okay, maybe “of all time” is a little over the top. But since the
Crawford in question is Joan and the person embodying her at the Studio
Theatre is the fabled drag artist Lypsinka—a.k.a. John Epperson—over
the top is kind of a given.

The bulk of this show is devoted to Epperson’s lip-synching to a
recorded interview Crawford did onstage at New York City’s Town Hall in
the early 1970s, a few years before her death. Dolled up in black
cocktail dress, red wrap, and faux jewels, Lypsinka mouths the movie
star’s every word, stammer, and laugh with precision. She bemoans the
decline in glamour and dignity at the Academy Awards, issues
self-aggrandizing banalities (“I don’t live in the past; I live in the
present preparing for tomorrow”), and even out-camps Faye Dunaway’s
future Mommie Dearest caricature of her (“There’s a lot of bitch in
every woman—and there’s a lot of bitch in every man, too!”).

Woven throughout the verbal pantomime are Epperson’s inventive gestures
and facial expressions—his quivering lips deserve their own credit in
the program. He brilliantly intuits the almost embarrassing neediness
of an aged star of Crawford’s magnitude—she was in her late sixties by
then—and milks that quality to hilarious and sometimes poignant effect.

Two shorter segments follow the interview. The first is a bizarre
speech by Crawford, a saccharine reverie on childhood innocence with
lofty—and increasingly incoherent—references to Alice in Wonderland and
Little Boy Blue. The final part, Crawford’s recording of the pop poem
“Desiderata,” segues into a dizzyingly frenetic recitation of dialogue
snippets from Crawford’s films.

Joining Epperson is Steve Cuiffo playing the bespectacled interviewer
and announcer. Cuiffo has a less-showy role but pulls it off with as
much dexterity and glee as his scene-stealing costar. In one brief,
witty flashback within the interview, he masterfully impersonates not
only another interviewer but also Crawford’s young children, Christina
and Christopher.

In the opening lines of “Desiderata,” Epperson-as-Lypsinka-as-Crawford
recites: “Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace
there may be in silence.” There’s nothing peaceful or silent about this
joyfully twisted homage to everyone’s favorite whacked-out screen
legend, but therein—for an hour or so anyway—lies the road to
happiness.