Carrie Fisher may be best known for her role as Princess Leia in “Star Wars”—and for that infamous cinnamon-bun hairdo—but with her hilarious, one-woman autobiographical show, “Wishful Drinking,” which comes to the San Jose Rep this month, she proves that there is life after starring a multimillion-dollar blockbuster franchise.
The show runs from July 23 to August 2 and offers an unflinching, delightfully sardonic look into the chaos that is the essence of Fisher’s life. Born to singer/actress Debbie Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher, who later left his family to marry Elizabeth Taylor (the original Brad Pitt-Jennifer Aniston-Angelina Jolie love triangle of the 50s, she says),
Fisher became a reluctant celebrity once “Star Wars” hit it big, even becoming a sex symbol for a while during the 70s and 80s, thanks to a skimpy Princess Leia getup in “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.” She then appeared in movies including “The ‘Burbs” with Tom Hanks and “When Harry Met Sally” with Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, and penned the semi-autobiographical “Postcards From the Edge,” which was turned into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Shirley McClaine.
On the surface, Fisher seemed to have it all, but life, as she tells it, wasn’t always peachy. After a dead-end marriage to singer Paul Simon and a string of failed relationships—including the father of her only daughter, who ended up leaving Fisher for another man—she found herself a single mom, struggling with alcoholism and drug addiction and grappling with a lifelong bipolar disorder.
For one and a half hours, the actress-turned-bestselling author takes the audience on a zany, stranger-than-fiction journey through her haphazard and random existence, mixing things up with her own brand of in-your-face, self-deprecating humor and her ability to mine comedic gems from her hard-knock life. The result? A side-splitting, riotous experience you won’t soon forget. —Stephanie Soong
Where:
San Jose Repertory Theatre, 101 Paseo de San Antonio
Showtimes:
July 23-Aug 2: Tues, 7:30pm; Wed-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 3 & 8pm; Sun, 2 & 7pm
Info/Tickets:
408/367-7255
www.sjrep.com
