The Ritz

The stars and nearly the entire Broadway cast of The Ritz managed to make it to the film version as soon as the original run on Broadway had finished. Although he had written before for Broadway, The Ritz was the first solid commercial success for playwright Terrence McNally. It ran for 400 performances in its initial run and has been revived twice since.

The threadbare plot involves Jerry Stiller who has a grudge against his brother-in-law Jack Weston, one of those Italian Mafia things. It's so personal that Stiller is going to do it himself.

Poor Weston is given a tip to check into a place called The Ritz as a place that no one would suspect. he'd be it. And why not because unless was leading another and gay life why would he go to The Ritz?

It's all a culture shock to Weston who is just looking for a discreet hideout and to those who follow which include a detective with a high pitched squeak of a voice in Treat Williams, Stiller, and Weston's wife Kaye Balllard.

This play is a chance to look at some outrageous stereotypes and one of them is Rita Moreno who entertains at the bathhouse and is the worst singer on record. But she is hopeful for that break and after all this is where Bette Middler started. Her full blown performance got her a Tony Award on Broadway to go with the Oscar she got for West Side Story, two completely different Latina roles. Moreno gets it in her head that Weston is a Broadway producer traveling incognito and she's willing to do what a girl's got to do to make it on the Great White Way.

Stiller, Ballard, and Weston give Italian stereotyping a good going over. Since The Ritz is a place where aliases are used more often than not, Weston finds it amusing to use Stiller's name when registering. Half the comedy of the work comes from that.

Over 40 years after it was released The Ritz is still a laugh riot.