Skip to content
Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy
Promotional art for Whoopi: Back to Broadway - The 20th Anniversary
Cover image credit: Promotional image via Prime Video

Whoopi: Back to Broadway - The 20th Anniversary

Whoopi Goldberg

HBO · 2005 · 1 h 30 min

A return to the 1984 stage characters that launched her career.

In 2005, twenty years after the one-woman show that launched her career, Whoopi Goldberg returned to the Lyceum Theatre to revisit the character work that made her a star. The resulting HBO special is an evening of theatrical portraiture, updating her 1984 creations for the George W. Bush era. She steps back into the shoes of Fontaine, a streetwise cynic who now directs his ire at the Iraq War and CNN broadcasts before recounting a trip to the Anne Frank house.

By this point, Goldberg was a household brand, coming off a stint producing The Hollywood Squares and leading a short-lived NBC sitcom. The transition back to stage acting brought mixed results. She introduces Lurleen, a Southern woman recounting a history of feminine hygiene, and reprises an unnamed disabled character who finds unexpected romance. While reviewers appreciated flashes of her acting ability, many noted that the edges of her original breakout performance had dulled. The New York Times compared her loose characterizations to “pictures drawn in sand,” noting that decades of mainstream Hollywood success had replaced her hungry stage energy with something closer to a comforting group therapy session.

The set list

3 bits

  1. Opening monologue as Fontaine, a dope-smoking street person, delivering a rant against the Bush administration and the war in Iraq

    A political character routine targeting George W. Bush and current affairs

  2. Lurleen, a Southern woman struggling with menopause and the reality of aging

    Character monologue recounting a graphic history of modern feminine hygiene and coping with no longer being the hottest thing in the room

  3. A handicapped woman who has reluctantly found romance and love

    An emotionally nuanced character portrait exploring disability, self-worth, and romance

How it plays

Tone
Satirical, politically aggressive, observational, and emotionally touching
On stage
Mesmerizing, expressive character monologist speaking through diverse avatars to address politics and the human condition
Pace
Spends an extended opening half-hour delivering an aggressive political monologue before shifting into character storytelling with animated, flittering hand gestures
About
George W. Bush administration and the Iraq war, aging and menopause, feminine hygiene, physical disability and romance

What the critics said

Critics found the filmed special mixed to disappointing, arguing that Fontaine's extended Bush rant felt dated and blunt while Lurleen's hygiene humor was crude, though Goldberg's final performance as a disabled woman finding love was lauded as touching and distinctive.

In the room: Wildly appreciative New York theater audience

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: allmovie.com, variety.com, hbomax.com, playbill.com, nymag.com, spokesman.com, performanceparadigm.net.

Backstory

Filmed at the end of a 12-week Broadway engagement commemorating the 20th anniversary of her 1984 solo Broadway run, taking place at the onset of George W. Bush's second presidential term and amidst the Iraq war

Details

Released
Taped
Lyceum Theatre, New York City
Runtime
1 h 30 min
Where
HBO
Director
Marty Callner
Topics
Before
Chez Whoopi (1991)

More from Whoopi Goldberg

If you liked this