By Bart Greenberg***As a showcase for her talent in Sallie Bieterman Plays Herself at Don’t Tell Mama, the star was far from shy in exhibiting her big voice and her high-energy personality. Working with director Katie Lavelle and music director Billy Blair, hopefully, in time she will 
also learn that the old cliche “less is more” can also be true. For all her strengths, subtly doesn’t seem to be one of them.
Propelling herself on stage with “I’m the Greatest Star” (Jule Styne, Bob Merrill), she left no doubt of her big brassy voice and her considerable comic skills, finding all the laughs in lyrics. She also demonstrated some abilities as a writer with her personalized parody lyrics in adapting “Liza With a Z” (John Kander, Fred Ebb) to apply to the complicated spelling of her own name. There was also the eager “Broadway Baby” (Stephen Sonheim) that emphasized the audition aspect of the words—in fact, much of the program felt like an audition with her determination to show everything she could do on stage.
Bieterman drew on several of her jobs as a good source of material within her show. Recreating her stint as a stripper, she explained that she had wanted to dress as the Loch Ness Monster, who she considers very sexy: everyone is so eager to see her. A modified strip followed to her delivery of “You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman” (Carole King)—a clever combination. One of the highlights of the show was a story and revised song number about her time as a guide/interpreter at the Tenement Museum in lower Manhattan. To the melody of “Hello!” from The Book of Mormon (Matt Stone, Robert Lopez, Trey Parker), with adapted lyrics, Bieterman mixed together her duties as a guide and those as an actor. It was a very creative interpretation that happily offered Bieterman at her most relaxed.
Bieterman is a talented and appealing performer who has to gain in confidence. She doesn’t need to keep auditioning. She got the job. Now she should relax and let the audience relax as well.
Photos by Bart Greenberg
