Charles Busch: Last News

who died Sunday at age 87, was a captivating Broadway star beloved by audiences for her electrifying contradictions.A celebrated fixture of the New York stage for six decades, the Tony Award-winning actress was just 5-foot-3-inches tall yet towering; maternal and volcanic; glitteringly musical and groundedly real; hilarious and heartbreaking.Her sardonic punch line could be followed by a shattering gut punch a second later.“She was several women in one fragile body,” playwright Charles Busch, whose Broadway play “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” starred Lavin in 2000, told The Post.“To be able to conjure forth such sharp wit, comic invention and intense emotion, she had to be a woman of great complexity.”She was. And one of staggering range.Dramas, comedies, plays, musicals — Lavin ably did it all with an artistry and assuredness few can match.Yes, Lavin played many mothers.

There’s funny, there’s very funny, and then there’s Oh, Mary!, Cole Escola’s riotous new comedy that brings more laughs to Broadway than all the Gutenberg!s, Edelmans and Birbiglias combined. You can throw in Shucked for good measure.

Oh, Mary!, Escola’s hit play which marketing materials tout “finally examines the forgotten life and dreams of Mrs. Lincoln through the lens of an idiot.Although they may not be immediately recognizable, Escola appeared on the TV shows Difficult People, At Home with Amy Sedaris, and Search Party.

Andrew Leynse, whose 21-year tenure as the artistic director of the Off Broadway theater company Primary Stages saw the production of works by such prominent playwrights as Terrence McNally, A.R. Gurney, Theresa Rebeck, Charles Busch and Donald Margulies, died Jan. 20 after a sudden illness. He was 53.