BUYER & CELLAR


L.A. theater favorite Michael Mullen follows his engaging star turns in Love! Valour! Compassion! and Torch Song with an ebullient solo performance in Jonathan Tolins’ deliciously dishy one-man-and-a-diva comedy Buyer & Cellar, now playing at Burbank’s Victory Theatre.

Taking as his inspiration Barbra Streisand’s self-penned coffee-table tome My Passion For Design, playwright Tolins has confectioned that rarity, a multi-character play that just happens to brought to life by a single actor, and is (as Alex assures us) “a work of fiction [that] could not possibly have happened with a person as famous, talented, and litigious as Barbra Streisand.”

Notwithstanding, Buyer & Cellar feels absolutely real, and once Alex has met the woman whose basement shopping-mall-for-one playwright Tolins imagines him being hired to man, there’s not an audience member who won’t feel as if he or she has been granted a personal audience with Her Majesty Queen Barbra herself.

L.A. theatergoers will chuckle at the dire professional circumstances that have sent Alex day-job-hunting (all he could book was a 99-seat show at the Zephyr), and though boyfriend Barry is supportive, love cannot pay the bills.

Fortunately, a friendly tip from onetime Disneyland hookup Vincent secures Alex an interview with Streisand house manager Sharon, the result of which is a journey into “another world, like when Dorothy steps from sepia into Technicolor” and a job “doing inventory, working the floor, greeting the customer.” (Note the deliberate use of the singular.)

Confidentiality agreement signed, Alex takes charge of Barbra’s Doll Shop, Antiques Store, Antique Clothes Boutique, and Gift Shoppe until, at last, he finds his patience rewarded by a visit from the lady upstairs, and before you know it, our hero finds himself Bonding with Barbra as only a gay man can.

Still, as anyone who’s ever had a run-in with a diva can tell you, hell hath no fury like one who’s been scorned, and Alex must navigate his surroundings (and a late-night encounter with James Brolin) with utmost care.

Mullen gives Alex an endearing mix of sweetness, sass, vulnerability and chutzpah, and the other characters he plays are equally vivid, from the downright adorable Barry to the acerbic Sharon to the goosey-gay Vincent to Babs’s gravel-voiced TV star hubby James Brolin to none other than the one-and-only Barbra herself.

Aiding Mullen every step of the way in creating a nuanced Alex and his colorful band of cohorts is director Cate Caplin, who ensures plenty of visual variety, and by giving Alex an actual physical environment to play in (as opposed to the less literal one Tolins specifies in the script), Caplin has us feeling we’re actually in Barbra’s underground mall, or would had budget limitations not prevented scenic designer Evan Bartoletti from giving the Victory production the luxurious set it deserves.

Jennifer Gonzalez’s lighting design varies effectively to suit Alex’s and the play’s assorted moods and the musical snippets that sound designer Christiam “Gama” Franco inserts along the way are just-right choices.

Buyer & Cellar is presented by Nerve & Grace Theatricals in association with the Victory Theatre Center. Paige Conroy, Herb Hall, and Donna Peacher-Hall are associate producers. Jennifer Bendik is production stage manager.

Having already seen five different productions of Buyer & Cellar (and five different Alexes to boot), I’m not sure I needed another one so soon after the last.

Still, for no other reason than to see Michael Mullen tackle Alex, Barbra, and the rest, this latest revival is worth a visit to the Victory. And if it’s your first time seeing Buyer & Cellar, so much the better.

The Victory Theatre Center, 3326 West Victory Blvd., Burbank. Through June 14. Thursday and Saturday at 7:30. Sunday at 4:00
www.thevictorytheatrecenter.org

–Steven Stanley
June 7, 2026
Photos: CJ Carlin

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

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