Carrie Fisher’s ‘Wishful Drinking’ heading to HBO
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Carrie Fisher’s recent one-woman stage show ‘Wishful Drinking’ started in Los Angeles and ran on Broadway earlier this season. Now the star is bringing it to cable television.
HBO said Thursday that it will produce a television special that will feature elements of Fisher’s stage show, which will be taped during a scheduled June 25 performance at the South Orange Performing Arts Center in South Orange, N.J.
The HBO show also will feature archival footage and interviews with friends and family.
No air date has been announced for ‘Wishful Drinking,’ but a spokeswoman at HBO said that it is expected to air sometime near the end of 2010. The spokeswoman said HBO has been in talks to tape the special since the Broadway run of the show.
‘Wishful Drinking’ is based on Fisher’s memoirs of the same title. The stage adaptation had its world premiere in 2006 at the Geffen Playhouse in L.A. It later played at Berkeley Repertory before opening on Broadway in October at Studio 54.
The show takes audiences on a comic tour of Fisher’s messy personal life and career. The actress-writer recounts stories about her work on the ‘Star Wars’ series as well as her relationship with her parents Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. She also discusses her much-publicized problems with alcohol and drugs.
In his review of the Geffen Playhouse production, Times critic Charles McNulty called the show a ‘Beverly Hills yard sale of juicy anecdotes’ and an ‘L.A. story that would defy credulity were it not for the very credible presence of its narrator.’
The HBO special will be directed and produced by Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey, whose previous credits include “Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal’ and “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.”
-- David Ng
