Six-time Emmy winner and Tony nominee Jean Smart (“Hacks”) stars in the new Broadway solo play “Call Me Izzy.” It is being performed at Studio 54 in New York City.
This marks Smart’s return to the Broadway stage for the first time in over two decades.
She portrays a trailer park housewife and writer whose words are her greatest gift, her biggest secret, and her only way out. For the majority of the play’s duration, Jean is delivering her lines in the toilet.
The play was written by Jamie Wax and directed by Sarna Lapine.
The writing by Jamie Wax is uneven and flawed at times (especially when it tackles the subject matter of domestic violence), and it could have been better developed in some areas.
By the end, the audience doesn’t really feel for her character, and it doesn’t add much to any conversation with the exception of being in the presence of a true acting dame.
The Verdict
While the play “Call Me Izzy” is thin and meek, Jean Smart is thoroughly entertaining as the title character, and does the best given the material that she has.
The show is an intimate portrait of one woman’s refusal to be silenced through her own sheer tenacity, wit, and fiery imagination. It is a similar scenario as Robert Downey Jr. in “McNeal,” where he was far better than the actual play. (The same holds true for Jean Smart in “Call Me Izzy”).
The lighting is solid but the set design and staging are minimalist and lackluster. As a whole, the play would have benefited substantially from a different director and book, especially since it had potential.
For people expecting to see Jean Smart play something similar to her vibrant “Hacks” character Deborah Vance, they will be extremely disappointed.
Unless they are true Jean Smart fans, the audience ought to grab a ticket to see John Krasinski in “Angry Alan” instead, which is a far better written and more cohesive and emotionally depth solo play.
Jean Smart’s solo play “Call Me Izzy” garners three out of five stars.
