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WASHINGTON CITY PAPER
March 11, 2005
BETTY does rule, in case there's any doubt about the title
of the autobiographical vehicle the D.C.-born trio has
ridden back to its birthplace for a 20th-anniversary engagement.
BETTY is Alyson Palmer and the Ziff sisters, Amy and Bitsy
(now calling herself Elizabeth), possessors of the tightest
harmonies this side of the Roches and the funniest act
this side of....well, let's just call it the funniest.
BETTY RULES is subtitled "The Exception to the Musical," but
it fits pretty neatly into the off-Broadway genre previously
inhabited by Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Like that plot-driven
rock concert, BETTY Rules chronicles a musical rise to
fame, in this case, from humble beginnings in the Ziff
family's Fairfax, Va., garage. "I only know one chord,
but we wrote a song around it," says Elizabeth at
the outset of Alyson's audition to join their sisterly
girl group. Then they start blending voices in the ethereal
harmonies that tend to make instant fans of anyone who
hears them. Though the story proceeds chronologically from
the 9:30 club to HBO and off-Broadway, it does take a few
side trips--through past-life regressions, and visits with
boyfriends, children, and a rock-group analyst--always
returning to the road they've traveled as a trio.
Palmer is the group's designated Amazon, tending to occupy
stage center (or perhaps making the center follow her around).
She claims to be 6-foot-2 and looks at least a head taller
than that when she's belting out a song, but she has a
deftly delicate way with a lyric. Of the Ziff sisters,
Elizabeth claims the title of exhibitionist (which she
proves early on by flashing the crowd out front) and seems
the team's social conscience, bouncing at her microphone
with enough energy to power the band to the moon and beyond.
Amy, meanwhile, lets the audience come to her during an
airy, Mae West-ian offhandedness, only to explode zanily
in the sketches and in between. Her coked-to-the-gills
riffs are priceless, her boozy rants breathtaking. Providing
backup from high atop a scarlet staircase are the capable
Tony Salvatore on guitar and Mino Gori on drums.
Though BETTY has a loyal fan base hereabouts, on opening
night the band mingled oddly with the older, more staid
Theater J audience. But the show the group has assembled
around it's still-rising career arc is entertaining enough
to make believers of first-timers, and by curtain call
the crowd was pretty unified in its cheers. As I say, the
D.C. theater scene will be a bit less bright when 'BETTY
Rules' closes up shop next month.
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'Betty Rules': Punk-Pop Women Know the Score
By Peter Marks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 8, 2005; Page C01
"Betty Rules" is an anomaly in the annals of loud entertainment. It's
a rock musical that levels with you. The exuberant 90-minute show recounts the
story of Betty, a feisty punk-pop-alternative-rock trio formed 20 years ago in
the basement of the Ziff family manse in ol' Virginny -- Fairfax to be exact.
And wonder of wonders, it's not all up in your face about platinum-record glory.
No, the rollout of Betty's sumptuous harmonies and raucous storytelling on
the stage of Theater J is an occasion for an invigorating showbiz confessional.
The
show is a sassy reckoning, an authorized biography of the heart. Two decades
into their musical collaboration, the middle-aged members of Betty -- Amy Ziff,
Alyson Palmer and Elizabeth Ziff -- are bound to one another as only a team
can be whose fortunes are umbilically linked. All for one and one for all,
in sickness,
in health and in the corrosive amount of rejection the music business can mete
out to tough-but-fragile artists.
The work is a candid distillation of the entwined and combative personalities
of the three musicians, and part of the show's allure is reveling in the unexpurgated
feminine chutzpah. You have no doubt why these women choose to sing to the
rest of the planet, and why they stay plugged into their amps long after it
becomes
clear their address will never be easy street. The theater piece is a valentine,
of sorts, to an irrational imperative, to the joy of performing, even when
that joy is tempered by time and disappointment.
First produced off-Broadway, where it was directed by Michael Greif -- also
the director of a little bitty thing called "Rent" -- the musical traveled
to Chicago and now at last has come home. Like the Ziff sisters, Palmer is from
the Washington area. Betty, launched in the Washington club scene of the 1980s,
eventually moved its base to New York. The intimate Goldman Theater in the D.C.
Jewish Community Center, where Theater J is quartered, proves to be a happy shelter
for "Betty Rules." Working from the blueprint of the New York production,
director Sarah Bittenbender stages it as a kind of therapeutic club gig.
Backed by a drummer (Mino Gori) and electric guitarist (Tony Salvatore), the
women intersperse numbers from their songbook with a chronology of Betty's
ups and downs. The group apparently confounded record executives. Its eclectic
style
has roots in everything from hard rock to musical theater. Though Betty has
recorded several albums, the trio by its own account has been more interested
in making
the music it wanted than filling a niche dictated by industry mandarins.
In the anarchic style of a Beatles movie, "Betty Rules" skips along
from song to fantasy sequence and back again. The idea here is of three misfits
who can't live with or without one another. A series of funny scenes in the office
of their shrink -- being a girl group, the girls go in for group sessions --
has them trying regression therapy. In one past life, all three find themselves
tied to a stake with a smoky smell in the air. The time is the 1600s and the
place is Salem, Mass. Though the odor sets off in one of their band a craving
for a little weed, it's clear they'll all be burning soon enough.
As witchy as the women can be to one another, what's gleaned over the course
of the production is that the members of "Betty Rules" are both rockers
and, at heart, good girls. The show is reminiscent of a cult-hit TV program of
the 1970s, "Rock Follies," about a fictional British girl group, the
Little Ladies. In the tradition of the rockumentary, the band members come across
as lovably idiosyncratic. Amy Ziff, with her bugged-out eyes and blond dreadlocks,
is the zany extrovert. Her sister, Elizabeth, a proud, tattooed lesbian, is crankier,
more foulmouthed. Palmer is the group's sexy amazon, the anguished diplomat between
the sparring sisters.
The group's music flows rather easily out of the vignettes, and some of the
best numbers, such as "Jungle Jane," "It Girl" and "Kissing
You," are dynamically and moodily melodic. A couple of times, Betty trots
out its harmonies a cappella, in short, silky interludes.
At some other times, the group's actory exertions, the need Team Betty exhibits
to win your affection, feel a little overdone. It's at those moments you're
reminded that the women are musicians first.
But there's also an admirable reluctance here to cloak Betty in the ill-fitting
wardrobe of mythology. Betty's trajectory does not resemble that of a rocket
launch. It's more like the oscillating line on a cardiogram. "We were broke
then. We're broke now," one of the women laments toward the end of the show.
One of the pleasures of "Betty Rules" is being reminded that even in
a culture of winner-take-all, staying true to oneself is a thrilling consolation. Back
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Girl
band sets 'Rules'
By
Jayne Blanchard
"
Betty Rules" throws
a bright estrogen halo over Theater J.
This girl-powered tribute to 20 years of harmony, discord
and uncategorizable
independent music — is the rock band Betty a cappella rock, spoken word,
techno or an amalgam of all three? — will re-energize Washingtonians
who remember the lively punk/new wave musical scene of the 1980s.
It also stands on its own as an evening of funny, pun-filled songs and
frank insights into what it's like to be a girl band on the road.
The trio — Alyson Palmer, Amy Ziff and Elizabeth Ziff — began collaborating
in 2000 with Michael Greif, director of "Rent," on an autobiographical
theatrical piece with music that would be part memoir, part showcase filled with
two decades of Betty's idiosyncratically gorgeous harmonies and compositions.
(Think the Andrews Sisters on Red Bull, or the Go-Gos after taking in a marathon
performance of "The Vagina Monologues" at the Michigan Womyn Festival.)
The show was a hit, running off-Broadway for seven months before embarking
on a tour.
Now, for a month, Betty is back where it all began. The Ziff sisters jammed
in their father's basement in Fairfax and note during a segment in this
funky-beat, grin-inducing show that their dad would flick the lights on
and off when
it was
time to stop.
The Ziff sisters found bass player Alyson Palmer after putting out a call
to the newly relocated WHFS-FM, the District's once-mighty alternative
rock station,
which moved to Baltimore last month.
Many of the local places mentioned in "Betty Rules" are gone: the recently-departed
WHFS, DC Space, the original 9:30 Club on F Street NW, the Bayou, the Crazy Horse
saloon in Georgetown. Yet Betty has survived 20 years together, even indulging
in "band group therapy," a hilarious bit in the show in which the three
fuss and feud, each clamoring to take turns with the "talking stick" — a
familiar staple to those in group therapy, who pass the stick around to obtain
permission to speak.
The two Misses Ziff and Miss Palmer have plenty to say. Since its beginning
in 1985, Betty has defied predictable musical genres, remaining true to
its distinctive,
daredevilish style. The group never conformed to the stereotype of girl-bandom — or
any kind of pop-music rules, for that matter.
Betty was always a quirky hybrid of snaky rock beats, exquisite harmonies
and smart-alecky lyrics that dealt with procrastination, infidelity, ticking
biological
clocks, food issues and male groupies. The women proudly used the F-word
(feminism) as well as the L-word before it became fashionable.
Though it never became the flavor of the month, Betty has always had a
cult following, and the group's music has shown up on HBO, Comedy Central,
the
Food Network,
MTV, Nickelodeon and numerous commercials. In one scene, titled "Betty Pays
the Bills," the group sings zealously about the food court at Tyson's
Corner Center.
"Betty Rules," directed at Theater J by Sarah Bittenbender, takes audiences
through the land mines and triumphs of being a female rock band during the
new-wave 1980s all the way up through the hip-hop era.
"I can't believe I spent all these years sleeping my way to the middle," cracks
Amy Ziff, the wisecracking, flamboyant clown of the group. She's the one with
all the crazy voices and the manic energy, while her sister Elizabeth is more
the cool, edgy guitar chick, tense and intense. In the middle — literally
and figuratively — is Miss Palmer, possessing supermodel height and playing
her bass with laid-back glee.
Betty has two men in the band, drummer and percussionist Mino Gori and
guitarist Tony Salvatore, who preside over the show on a platform at the
back of the
set. The men provide meaty beats and guitar riffs, but the women are front
and center,
the way it should be.
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Pop Rocks
BETTY returns home in triumphal musical form
By Jolene Munch
Published on 03/10/2005
Remember those black packets filled with the sugary-sweet
concoction of tiny stone-like candies that you pop
in your mouth and they sizzle, fizzle, crackle
and explode
all
over your tongue? Believe it or not, that’s exactly what
the ladies of BETTY deliver: a delicious and naughty little
treat to satisfy your musical sweet tooth. Not that the three
musicians rocking BETTY’s world -- Alyson Palmer,
Amy Ziff, and Elizabeth Ziff -- are docile enough to
leave you
aching with a cavity. On the contrary, Palmer and the
Sisters Ziff are real women with real stories of tragedy
and tribulation.
The group is much more than the sum of its parts, more
than a cabaret or novelty act, more than just another
girl group
gone wild. The women of BETTY are bona fide rock babes.
And BETTY RULES: The Exception to the Musical is more
than just
another concert.
On the heels of a seven-month run Off-Broadway and
a subsequent production in Chicago, BETTY returns home
to the D.C. area
to share the story and glory of the group’s roots.
In 90 intermission-less minutes, the members of BETTY reveal
their history together through colorful montages, music and
memories ripe for theatrical retelling. From group therapy
sessions to a stint at the ultra-liberal Womyn’s Music
Festival, BETTY’s life has always nurtured its
fair share of drama.
BETTY
It was 1985 when sisters Amy and Elizabeth met rocker
Alyson after reaching out to a local radio station
for a talented
bass player. Born in the Ziff family’s Fairfax basement,
BETTY would soon learn the ins and outs, ups and downs, and
highs and lows of the music business, from playing local
venues to avoiding the brands of high-end record execs who
couldn’t land a finger on the pulse of BETTY’s
core.
A fickle blend of lovely ballads and catchy rock hooks,
the music of BETTY is not easily defined. From soft
punk rock
numbers to bubbly pop with bite, you
get the sense that no matter how you categorize their style of music, the
women of BETTY will react with disapproval and find
ways to defy any label affixed
to their sound. But beyond such dexterous music, what is most surprising
about BETTY is not their unlikely mature image or even
the fact that they’ve
lasted nearly twenty years. The most surprising element of BETTY is how
polished they are, particularly for such animated characters.
The women of BETTY might have been described during their early years as
a real-life Josie and the Pussycats, only with brains and brattitude. Now
their
act feels
more solidified and stable, blowing away any notions of cobwebs clinging
to the strings of their electric guitars. What anchors the three is an
evident sense
of respect and genuine concern for each other. There’s Alyson, the
statuesque guitar goddess; Amy, the quirky comedienne whose unexpected
instrument of choice
is the violin; and younger sister Elizabeth, a solid force of sound and
fury, the active advocate in the threesome.
They’re not actresses, but the members of BETTY perform their own material
with comfortable ease under the guidance of Sarah Bittenbender. Originally directed
by Michael Grief (who also helmed the original Broadway production of Rent),
Bittenbender’s version is a breezy affair bathed in hot club-scene lighting
by Lisa Ogonowski. The stage recycles Dan Conway’s staircase from a recent
Theater J production, and a large platform at the top features BETTY’s
band -- Tony Salvatore blazing his guitar, and Mino Gori on drums.
It’s obvious that Palmer and the Ziffs love what they do, and consequently,
the audience does, too. BETTY RULES is a fun night of organic music led
by three thoroughly entertaining muses.
BETTY rules, alright. But more importantly, BETTY knows how to rock.
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Hard rockin', 'girl power' trio tells good, old-fashioned
story
by Lisa Traiger
Special to the WJW Hot rock chick trio BETTY is back
in town. It's not your mother's sisterhood. Or
your auntie's musical girl group. But BETTY, an
infectious cross
between the 1980s girl power new wave band the Go-Go's, D.C.'s own hard rockin'
grrrl Joan Jett and the 1940s harmonic powder puffs, the Andrews Sisters,
has got the beat and more.
Birthed in 1985 by good karma and a whole lot of gumption, this D.C. musical
trio started in the basement of Amy and Elizabeth Ziff's dad -- the late
Irv Ziv, a career army lieutenant and later beloved character actor, who
appeared
many times onstage at Theater J and the now-defunct Washington Jewish Theater.
The Ziff sisters plus one penned a 75-minute roller coaster ride of a rock
'n' roll musical, BETTY Rules: The Exception to the Musical, which is bringing
down
the house at the Washington DC Jewish Community Center through April 3, courtesy
of producer -- and BETTY groupie -- Theater J.
The Washington gig, at the more staid Goldman Theater, a step up from the
dive bars and smokey clubs BETTY is accustomed to, comes on the heels of
a seven-month
off-Broadway run and an extended gig in Chicago last year.
A wild and woolly admixture of the underground music scene, vaudeville and
Broadway, BETTY Rules is a sister act with heart, soul, plenty of sibling
rivalry and enough
dysfunctionality to make this autobiographical story ring ever true.
The Ziffs, funny-girl diva Amy and middle-class feminist radical Elizabeth
-- formerly known as Bitsy -- found sanctuary and salvation in their dad's
Fairfax
County garage in the '80s.
Weaned on playground feminism, "Hava Negila" and teaching Chanukah
to the non-Jewish classmates -- they live proud and loud. Ignoring schoolyard
taunts that girls don't play guitar, they taught themselves chords, licks and
rock stylizations.
Wearing their post-feminist, post-denominational Jewish bravado on their
sleeves, they inculcate liberal, feminist ideals in their lyrics drawn from
the tail end
of the feminist consciousness-raising era of Gloria Steinem and Ms. magazine.
Anthemic "It Girl," sung with spunk and pride and a go-go beat, sets
the tone. Once the Ziffs hooked up with 6-foot-2-inch bass-playing supergirl
Alyson Palmer, a leggy Amazon with her own untamed tough-chic attitude, BETTY
was on its way.
BETTY Rules tracks the group's 1985 debut at the old 9:30 Club, when pregentrified
F Street was still a seedy dive. Soon, the women were riding the feminist
wave into rock and New Age post-punk alternatives, trying to get noticed
and signed
by a music executive.
Original BETTY Rules director Michael Greif clearly knew from rock musicals
-- he left his mark on the now-and-ongoing rock-opera phenomenon, Rent. This
production
staged by Sarah Bittenbender, shares hallmarks with its more prominent peer:
The principals live on the edge, partaking freely of the accoutrements of
rock 'n' roll, namely sex and drugs, not to mention big hair (Alyson), tattoos
(Elizabeth)
and a black bustier (Amy).
At its heart, BETTY Rules is a family story, a theme central throughout the
canon of Jewish theater; it's just that this family -- two Jewish sisters
and their
African-American friend -- is untraditional, but no more so than William
Finn's gay and lesbian couples in Falsettoland or even Tevye and his independent-minded
daughters in the quintessential Jewish family musical, Fiddler on the Roof.
But BETTY Rules is first and foremost about the music and how these women
have lived and fought, created and cried, together over the course of their
band's
nearly 20-year trajectory. The opening, "Ups and Downs," with its
edgy guitar licks provided by virtuoso Tony Salvatore, with drum back beat
by Mino
Gori, becomes a theme song of sorts as these women set out to build their reputation.
BETTY Rules has its share of conflicts, which these women play out in hilarious
vignettes subtitled "Band Therapy." Satirizing therapeutic jargon,
sister vs. sister rivalry and just plain graspy, bitchy women, the three go
at it, bickering about men, money, career goals and gigs.
Their "Past Life Regressions," small but amusing skits, prove this
musical partnership was b'shert -- meant to be. Other insightful moments include
an interlude where the three attempt to write a song but each woman's inner
thoughts keep taking center stage from the incessant ear worms of Amy's TV
ad jingles,
to Alyson's obsessive inner to-do lists and Elizabeth's detour into Carole
King-dom.
These women are musicians more than actresses and while they mostly play
themselves, zaftig Amy -- with her over-bleached dreadlocks -- captures solid
laughs with
her gift for odd accents and hyperexaggerated mimicry, most especially her
own tenure as a coked-up insurance clerk with the rabbit-like nose twitch.
With the poignant tear-jerking ballad, "Broken," Amy pays touching
tribute to her dying mother. And, amid fights, break ups, boyfriends and reconciliations,
BETTY Rules plays it blue with language and a tad of female nudity, but in
its heart is an old-fashioned tale of working hard and making it within a close
sisterhood
of friends.
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“BETTY” STILL
RULES
By Gary Tischler
At the end of the rock-and-angst fueled musical, "Betty Rules," which
practically levitates the usually more dignified Aaron and Cecile Goldman
Theater in the DC Jewish Community Center, people (those
that are able) jump up and
cheer and clap.
On opening night, one man, thinning hair, thin mustache,
gets up slowly amid the raucous noise around him, pulls
out what appears to be a Zippo lighter,
and, in the tradition of rock concerts of yore—back in the days—lights
it in tribute and appreciation.
Now, he may be a plant, or he may be just one beguiled audience member tripping
on a rock reflex, but the gesture seems entirely right.
Betty, the three-woman rock band which has its roots in the DC rock scenes
of the 1980s, really does rock out. The girls are loud, the guitars are louder
and
it deserves a hundred lit lighters. The fact that there was only one lighter
lit is cool, too, because it speaks to the fact that while Betty is a really
terrific rock group, somewhat impossible to categorize, it is also a band
that is as much local legend as anything else. "Betty Rules," a wonderfully
entertaining and original gig nabbed for Theater J’s season, is also
a personal kind of show about three women and how their lives got all wrapped
up
in the band and before they knew it, 20 years had gone by.
Betty—that would be the sisters Ziff, Amy and Elizabeth, and their partner
in crime, the amazing Alyson Palmer—formed in 1985, practicing in the Ziff
basement in Fairfax, a couple of "Jewish chicks and a tall African American
woman." They got noticed at the 9:30 Club, DC Space, Birchmere, and other
local-legend clubs. They made records and albums. They toured with big and not-so-big
groups. They moved to New York. They made more records and played the clubs and
wrote music for HBO children’s shows and much later, the current "The
L Word" on Showtime.
They were a success, and they were not. Partly because they wanted to play
and sing and perform the music they liked, they never quite conformed to
any of the
boom-and-bust girl bands of the time. They weren’t hard rockers like the
Wilson Sisters of "Heart" and they weren’t the "Go-Gos";
they were a little and a lot punk, a little and a lot harmonic, and they
could scream, but they were also tight, high-energy, no wasted notes.
And they were a little crazy because their personas and their lives made
them that way. After all that time, as Amy points out in the show, the record
stood: "We
started out broke and we’re still broke." So did they despair? Yeah.
Did they kvetch endlessly? Damn straight. Did they love and lose and lose and
love? Of course. Did they give up? Hell no. They made a show out of a career
path that was the ultimate zigzag. The result was "Betty Rules," which
WAS an unquestioned success in New York, Off-Broadway, and now here. That’s
probably fitting, too, because it’s about performing, about being "Betty."
The three are not the same girls they were 20 years ago. They’re 20 years
older and with an attitude, and the unflinching need to rock, to sing. That’s
what makes the show fun, the way they kick musical butt. What makes the show
funny is their personas.
There’s Amy, who looks like the smart one, the practical one, but she’s
a screaming ninny, a bundle of over-think and over-analysis. There’s Elizabeth,
the raging lesbian, who’s got a scream in her voice and does those
stage jumps like the third guitarist for a heavy metal band or a rugby player,
and
incidentally, flashes the audience right off the bat.
And there’s Alyson Palmer, tall, big-boned, and, of course, vulnerable.
That is, until she slings the strap of a pink electric guitar over her shoulder
and takes up the position. There’s something about an attractive female
rocker with a guitar that’s both scary and enticing for guys of almost
any age—at least I hope it’s not just me. Remember those Robert Palmer
backups? And Joan Jett, who would just as soon shove "I Love Rock and Roll" down
your throat?
It should be said that Betty, as a rock band—with male backup guitarist
and drummer—is slick and tight. So is the show. It aims to please, to make
the lives of the women just fascinating. The music—from the invigorating "Ups
and Downs" to the "I Met Someone" ballad—is bracing
and engulfing. Musically, they accomplish the original trick of sounding
both hard-core
rock/punk and melodic.
Betty still rules.
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NEWSWEEK
May 24, 2004
BETTY RULES BETTY
The off-Broadway musical “BETTY RULES” (which just opened
in Chicago) is the autobiographical tale of a 17-year-old unsigned girl
band from New York. The alterna-rock show, directed by “Rent’s” Michael
Greif, is performed by original BETTY members Alyson Palmer and Amy and
Elizabeth Ziff. Now the soundtrack is out, which, like the show, follows
BETTY through dingy venues, lame boyfriends, drug addiction and hysterical
group-therapy sessions. There’s even a brush with a major-label
exec: “You think someone else should write our songs? You clueless
creep with comb-over hair, say what you want, we just don’t care.” Edgy
performances, catchy pop-punk melodies and sweet-‘n’-sour
lyrics paint a vivid picture of life just under the radar.
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'BETTY'
for everybody
BY BARBARA VITELLO Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Thursday, May 13, 2004
"BETTY RULES"
***out
of four
Countless rock bands have lived BETTY's story. Beloved by indies, teased
by major labels, they skirt the edge of obscurity as they flirt with
success outside the mainstream.
They begin when post-adolescent outsiders, dreaming of multiplatinum
records and sold-out stadium tours (achieved without compromising sound
or vision), form a band.
They write songs that they rehearse in basements and garages until they're
good enough to play clubs. Their shows generate a buzz. The band releases
a CD. The airplay it gets on alt.rock and college radio stations translates
to regional success.
A&R reps take notice. Everyone's very excited. The band signs a contract
and tours as the opening act for a national headliner.
Then nothing.
The record fails to chart. The label drops them. The band disbands. The
story usually ends the same.
But not for BETTY, the band Alyson Palmer (vocals and bass), Amy Ziff
(vocals and cello) and Elizabeth Ziff (vocals and guitar) formed in a
Washington, D.C., suburb nearly two decades ago, and the subject of the
feisty, entertaining "BETTY RULES," the mostly true, loosely
defined musical that opened this week at Chicago's Lakeshore Theater.
Encompassing the trials, tribulations and triumphs of rock life, the
brisk and bold "BETTY RULES" plays like a club set with back
story.
Backed by guitarist Tony Salvatore and drummer Mino Gori, BETTY takes
audiences on a 90-minute retrospective of their career, depicting the
success, setbacks, squabbles and split-ups; romantic failures and financial
ruin; excess and unmet expectations, grief and joy that make up their
19 years together.
Besides showcasing the band's music - sharp lyrics sung in sweet, well-matched
harmonies layered over a vigorous alternative rock accompaniment - "BETTY
RULES" effectively incorporates humor, insight and sorrow.
The show's most poignant moment occurs when Palmer and the Ziff sisters
reminisce about the loss of their respective mothers in individual monologues
interspersed with a beautifully plaintive a cappella version of their
song, "Broken".
In addition to playing themselves, the women take on the roles of fans,
roadies, ex-lovers and strangers they've encountered. Highlights includes
Palmer's comic turn as a childhood friend e-mailing an ersatz fan letter;
Amy Ziff's bold caricature of her younger, cocaine-snorting-travel-agent
self and Elizabeth Ziff's endearing rebel who observes that "success
is like a slinky, sometimes you slink up, and sometimes you slink down."
Scenes play out against a screen projecting dates, places and subtitles
like: "Backstage," "BETTY on the road" and "Therapy." Not
every moment works, however. The "BETTY through history" scenes
feel forced, and those in which the characters' solo musings evolve into
a trio - while provocative, feel a bit self-conscious.
The show, written by Palmer and the Ziffs and directed by Michael Greif,
fares best when BETTY does what it does best: play themselves and play
music.
Songs like "It Girl," a winning celebration of girl power;
the ska-inspired "Mr. Music"; the working woman's anthem "Put
it Off"; and the working woman's lament "Overwhelmed";
and the brooding "Played Out" make this a rock musical worth
seeing.
Near the end, Amy Ziff asks, "if at last you don't succeed, what
then?"
"BETTY RULES" is the answer.
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Daily Southtown
Betty Mohr
Keen 'Betty Rules' rocks with music, laughter
Do we really need another rock band bio? Yes, if it's as
much fun as "Betty Rules," in its Chicago
premiere at the Lakeshore Theatre.
Taking center stage are three female rockers
who make up the group named Betty, and who belt
out their original songs and
personal memoirs, accompanied by two male musicians (Tony
Salvatore on guitar and Mino Gori on drums).
Review
Betty includes two Jewish sisters, Amy and Elizabeth Ziff,
and an African-American woman, Alyson Palmer. Amy
has a zesty neurotic touch and plays electric cello.
Her younger sister, Elizabeth, is a spitfire
of anger who wears
a tattoo and opens the show by giving a hint of bare
chest as she plays electric guitar. Alyson is statuesque
and
sweet and
plays a sassy bass guitar.
We follow the bandmates through an 18-year roller coaster
ride on their road to fame and fortune. Along the way,
we learn of
their humiliation when they had to open for a better-known
band, when they were brushed aside by recording studios
and how they
had to tour on a shoestring budget.
While the women had a tough time getting their band
noticed, they also had a difficult time getting along
with each
other, which almost caused the group to break up many
times since it
was first formed in a basement in Fairfax, Va., in
1985.
During the course of this 90-minute show without intermission,
directed with great comic flair by Michael Greif, we
hear all about Betty's personal and professional troubles
along
with cabaret-style
bits, sketch comedy and the group's original songs.
Yet this band really stands out with the group's harmonious
singing. Separately, each woman has a good voice, but
put the trio together
and you get a beautiful, harmonious blend that really
makes Betty's music come alive.
The concert is often interrupted with recollections
of quirky, very funny therapy sessions. And the songs
weave
into narratives
about how the group came together, how its songs developed
from personal experiences and how the group almost
broke up because
of flashing tempers.
In the course of the presentation, we also hear that
one woman had difficulties with deep depression, another
had
an abortion,
and all had constant money problems. While those seem
to be pretty tough subjects, Betty overcomes the negatives
with a bouncy,
upbeat spirit.
The highlight song of the production is "Broken," a
poignant ballad that eulogizes the women's departed mothers,
and the funniest sketch is that in which Amy Ziff plays a
cocaine-sniffing travel agent who gets feverishly high.
When I went to see the show, my first thought was that
with a name like "Betty Rules," it had better be good.
I wasn't disappointed. It was rockin' good.
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HERSTORY RULES
Reviewed by Web Behrens
Contributing writer
In 1985 the Eurhythmics' Annie Lennox and Aretha Franklin
released "Sisters
Are Doin' It for Themselves." While that hit was garnering
radio airplay, Amy and Elizabeth Ziff and Alyson Palmer were
proving its sentiment too true-which is why you're probably not
familiar with the titular band in the aptly named "Betty
Rules."
Part concert, part musical, this rocking good time at the
Lakeshore Theater features the trio of women telling their
own tale as
a struggling indie band. Although they've been together almost
20 years you've probably only heard of them if you're plugged
in to the progressive music community or an avid viewer of
HBO's educational "Encyclopedia." (You can imagine
how a corporate record exec might react to a band composed
of two poor
white Jews-one, a dyke!-and a black chick.)
But living well is the best revenge and now Betty's finding
wider acclaim with their own version of their story, written
and performed
by them. (It lands in Boystown after a seven-month run off-Broadway.)
In one of many amusing touches they sprinkle in snippets
of songs from women who found mainstream success over the
years (Heart,
Pat Benatar and, shudder, the Spice Girls), providing an
interesting counterpoint to their own musical attraction.
While wafting tight
harmonies, they play guitar, bass and cello, abetted by drummer
Mino Gori and guitarist Tony Salvatore (Palmer's partner).
Standout tunes include the smoking "Slap Bang" and "Jungle
Jane" and the poignant "Broken." The contrapuntal
delight of "Noise" is so rich you wish you could
press rewind as soon as it's over. Meanwhile, if the clever
book isn't
flawless, it does keep things moving briskly with its amusing
depictions of band therapy and whimsical past lives. Especially
funny is how they do (or don't) find the goddess at the Michigan
Womyn's Music Festival.
Seasoned performers, Betty already knows how to hold an audience's
attention. Beyond their musicianship, they wear the hats
of several different characters quite well-particularly Amy
Ziff,
whether
she's sending up a flight attendant who witnesses one of
Betty's signature tiffs or sending up herself as a coke-fueled
dervish.
And Palmer has a great moment (alas, too brief) in which
she plays a jaded drag queen whose discovery of Palmer-a
real life,
6'2" Amazon-revives his own show.
This quirky genre mélange might alienate some, but it
ought to double Betty's audience. Musical lovers who embraced "Rent"-directed,
like "Betty Rules," by Northwestern alum Michael
Greif-should check this out too. Paging you boys at Sidetrack:
Now you can
add a new show tune or two to your repertoire.
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NEW CITY CHICAGO |
Nina Metz
There
are certain live music shows that only work in the confines
of a small
club, where the crowd is standing--this
is key--and the energy from the band can ripple down and
back over the audience in heavy waves and you feel like you've
formed
an important relationship with everyone in the room. Too
bad "Betty
Rules," the concert-confessional that ran Off-Broadway
for seven months last year, is booked at the Lakeshore Theater,
where everyone is trapped in their seats, sitting like good
little children while the band rocks out on stage. (You can't
escape the sinking feeling that the $20-$39.90 ticket price
would be closer to $15 if the show took place in a club.) Having
said that, Betty does a damn fine job of it in a less-than-ideal
setting. Three women front the band--bass player Alyson Palmer
and sisters Amy and Elizabeth Ziff--and they are a likable,
talky bunch. They've achieved moderate success since their
inception in 1985, but they're still pretty obscure. And middle
age is just around the bend. "Here's to fucking my way
to the middle for this band," says one of the women as
she downs a shot. The band describes itself as "kind of
like the Go-Go's, but with more edge," which is pretty
accurate, especially their boppy "If I Had It Over to
Do." But they also bring to mind a defanged version of
Heart--there's none of the dangerous energy of "Barracuda" in
their music, but the sisters Ziff sisters seem to have much
in common with the Wilson siblings. The statuesque Palmer
has a fun, earthy sexuality, a gracefully dominating presence
as
she plucks that shinny pink bas--the color of Bubble Yum--with
her right pinky sticking up like she's drinking a cup of
tea.
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Theater and Music: Betty Rules
by Rick Reed
2004-05-19
What do
I know about performing on the road as a rock band, or know
about the “trials and tribulations of an unsigned
band in a signed world” (as the press materials put it)?
Not much, it turns out. Luckily for me, two of my friends happen
to head up a phenomenal acoustic rock band, The Locals (more
about them at www.localsrock.com ) that performs on the road
for the better part of the year and know all about what it’s
like to be an unsigned band in a signed world.
So, when I went to review Betty Rules, the off-Broadway smash
directed by Michael Grief of Rent fame, I invited lead singer
Yvonne Doll and bass guitarist Christy Nunes along to get their
expert opinion on this hybrid concert/ play that has just touched
down in Chicago after a seven-month engagement at New York
City’s Zipper Theater. The New York Times called the
show, “one of the very best off-Broadway plays” of
the 2002 season.
The three gals who head up Betty Rules (Alyson Palmer and sisters
Amy and Elizabeth Ziff) have crafted a riveting, rocking story
of how three women (and two males … drummer Ted Gori
and guitarist Tony Salvatore) created a band and took their
act on the road. The play chronicles 20-some years of travel,
disputes, disillusionment, joy, failed and successful relationships,
pregnancies, abortions, and financials ups and financial downs.
In short, Betty Rules takes us on the journey of a talented
and dedicated rock and roll band whose music is too smart to
get them pigeon-holed and perhaps too smart to make them the
kind of performers that could win them big acclaim in America.
Along the way, we learn how moderate success and a love of
art can bring joy to one’s life, and how it can seriously
fuck it up. Betty Rules gives us an insider view on what it
means to be dedicated to art and how such dedication can impact
lives. We get humor (I challenge you not to laugh at the sequence
exploring Betty Rules performing at a “Womyn’s” festival).
We get poignancy (I challenge you not to get choked up when
the three women talk about their dying mothers’ pride
at their work). And we get three distinct women, each amazing
and lovable in her own way.
I was glad when Betty Rules ended that Yvonne and Christy turned
to me, amazed, and said, “That’s exactly what it’s
like. I felt like this was an inside joke.” But Betty
Rules, with its wisdom, humor, sympathy, and a righteously
rockin’ edge, is an inside joke we can all enjoy.
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Illinois
Wire |
'Betty Rules': A nostagalic, autobiographical musical adventure
Dan Zeff
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
CHICAGO — Suddenly we don't lack for shows in Chicago
theater about all-female rock bands. The Lookingglass Theatre
is presenting its exciting production about a New Hampshire
band called the Shaggs. Now a lady combo called Betty is
visiting the Lakeshore Theatre with a concert/autobiographical
musical
simply called Betty Rules.
The components of Betty are sisters Elizabeth and Amy Ziff
and Alyson Palmer. During an intermissionless 80-minute program,
they sing their songs and act out events in their turbulent
and often hilarious history.
The group makes a striking visual appearance — the
statuesque and voluptuous African-American Palmer flanked
by the petite
and edgy Elizabeth Ziff and the stocky and outgoing Amy Ziff.
The group's musical strength resides in its attractive close
harmony singing. Instrumentally, Palmer plays electric bass,
Elizabeth Ziff the electric guitar and Amy Ziff the electric
cello and tambourine.
Betty plays accessible music, sometimes hard rock, sometimes
old time rock 'n' roll, and sometimes Broadway musical pop.
First rate rhythmic accompaniment comes from drummer Mino Gori
and guitarist Tony Salvatore perched on a platform above the
stage.
Betty was born in 1985 in a basement in Fairfax, Va. The group
has been together ever since, in spite of periodic internal
stresses that threatened to tear the band apart. Betty has
recorded several CDs and been on the road almost continuously,
leading to a successful six-month engagement of Betty Rules
in New York City in 2002 and 2003. Curiously, in spite of its
longevity, Betty doesn't rate a single mention in any of the
five rock music reference books I consulted before the show's
opening.
Intimate show
Betty Rules is a direct and intimate show. The three women
line up in front of microphones and sing and sometimes
talk. Occasionally they move to other parts of the stage
for brief
sketches, especially therapy sessions that explore the
tensions among the performers and also provide much of
the evening's
humor. The show's narrative moves in a jerky manner back
and forth in time. A screen above the stage projects
titles that
inform the audience about where and when the next bit
will happen. The three woman are musicians and singers
first
and actresses second, but Amy Ziff does show a real flair
for
comedy. She just needs to slow down her delivery at times
to keep herself
intelligible. But she struck some hilarious comic moments
with brief monologues as a wired flight attendance, a
hick clerk
at a Kentucky convenience store, and herself as a coke-sniffing
travel agent at the time of Betty's birth as a working
band. The ladies cover the miseries of struggling in
the music
industry — lack
of respect from audiences, the thankless assignment of opening
in concerts for major acts, trying to land a decent recording
contract, and being broke most of the time. There are personal
problems, like a pregnancy, the death of a mother, difficulties
in their love life, and the periodic emotional explosions
when the gals just get on each other's nerves too much.
Fortunately, the women don't take themselves too seriously,
and their self-deprecating humor and all round sass are
easy to take. Some of the language is R-rated (and Elizabeth
even
flashes the audience early in the show). But director
Michael Greif keeps the mood light to capitalize on the
group's
unpretentious "we're
having fun up here" attitude.
Original songs
So basically this is a straightforward show about three
attractive people trying to make it in the rugged
music business and letting
us in on their life and hard times. Factor in the
agreeable and sometimes pungent original songs and
you have an
enjoyable, if not earthshaking, evening.
The show gets a rating of 3 1/2 stars.
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'BETTY' embraces new stages of life
May 7, 2004
BY MARY HOULIHAN
Alyson Palmer, the statuesque bass player for the pop-rock
band BETTY, recently became a mother. Along with that new
responsibility came the long-avoided but now inevitable
cell phone. Those
are
two big changes for the woman who wrote the anthem "Put
It Off," one of the highlights of "BETTY RULES," the
rock musical written by Palmer and twin sisters Elizabeth
and Amy Ziff.
"
Yes," admits Palmer, with a laugh, "a lot of the
things we talk about avoiding because of our rock 'n' roll
lifestyle
have come to pass. The key is to adapt to the changes. We're
basically doing the same things but they're much richer experiences
since the baby came along."
No, these life changes aren't going to slow down Palmer or
the Ziffs, who together are the band BETTY. Seven-month-old
Ruby
will simply join the rock 'n' roll life while the New York-based
trio performs the musical for a six-week run at the Lakeshore
Theater.
Since 1986, the band has built a substantial cult following,
which only grew larger when "BETTY RULES" opened
Off-Broadway to great reviews in the fall of 2002. It was
a well-deserved
moment in the spotlight for a band that has toiled in the
underground rock scene for nearly 20 years. The show chronicles
the musical
journey of these outrageously colorful women in a frenetic
sensory assault that balances a rock message with the best
structural
elements of musical theater.
Writing "BETTY RULES" opened up new avenues of expression
for the women, whose rock tunes have a feminist bent. In the
mid-'80s, they had become friends with Broadway director Michael
Greif ("Rent") when he asked them to compose music
and perform in a staging of Caryl Churchill's "Cloud Nine." Later,
they went to him with an idea for a wacky screenplay about
mysteriously disappearing pop stars and BETTY's role in filling
in the widening
gap.
"
They had ideas that reminded me of 'Help' and 'A Hard Day's Night,' " said
Greif, referring to the quasi-autobiographical movies starring
the Beatles. "I encouraged them to get more personal.
To theatricalize their version of how they formed the band
and how
they've managed to stay together for so many years."
Palmer remembers wondering: Who would want to hear about
that? But it turned out to be a serendipitous suggestion,
as the women
discovered they really did have a story to tell.
"
We realized our story could resonate for any group of people
who come together and try to achieve a goal," said Palmer. "It's
a piece about how hard that is and how you modify your version
of success along that journey."
The result is an eclectic new-wave vaudeville show, part
musical and part rock concert, that creates a patchwork story
of the
band's history. With their edgy and intelligent material,
the trio have always come across better onstage than on their
recordings.
Their outrageously colorful rock shows always have been part
vaudeville, so the move to a staged show was a natural for
the group, said Greif.
"
They've always had stories and their own point of view to go
along with their songs," he said. "It's very appropriate
material for a concert/storytelling setting which is basically
what this is. There is something immediate and wonderful
about them playing these versions of themselves."
Existing on the fringe of the music world has a long list
of challenges that never seem to go away, but Palmer admits
she's
known no other sort of existence. While BETTY is not currently
signed to a label and is going the independent-release route,
the band members, all self-described "rabid radical feminists," continue
to back a list of causes they are passionate about, including
equal rights, the pro-choice movement and cures for AIDS
and breast cancer.
"
It's challenging but also loads of fun, and we meet the most
incredible people," said Palmer. "And to use our
talents to raise money for causes we believe in is very rewarding."
Over the years, BETTY has played a handful of shows at local
clubs, including the now-defunct Lounge Ax, as well as Park
West and even that bastion of frat-boy annoyance, the Cubby
Bear.
Palmer offers a knowing laugh when asked about the show at
the Wrigleyville venue.
"
Chicago is open-hearted in ways that other urban areas aren't," she
said, diplomatically. "It seems no matter where you
perform in this city, it's always a different experience.
And that's
good for a band with an underground reputation."
The Chicago dates for "BETTY RULES" are the first
since the run at New York's Zipper Theatre. Palmer says they
conducted
a poll of their fan base through their Internet site (www.bettyrules.com)
and got a great response from Chicago fans.
"
One of the reasons we wanted to bring the musical here is that
Chicago is such a lively music town," said Palmer. "In
the past, we've always gotten a great response here. It's
a sort of petri dish for us where we can continue to grow
and
build
on our fan base. So we figured as long as it's not winter,
let's take the show to Chicago."
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Double your pleasure
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
By Betty Mohr
Daily Southtown theater critic Musical theater fans in
Chicago get a chance to double their pleasure with
the presentation
of two rocking shows—"Rent" and "Betty Rules" — both
of which have been directed by Michael Greif and both playing
almost back to back in different theaters.
"
Rent," which runs through Sunday at the Shubert Theatre,
is a touring production of the show that won the 1996 Tony
Award for best musical and the Pulitzer Prize for drama. Though
the
dramatic musical first played here in 1998, it has returned
every few years for encore presentations.
The rock musical centers on a group of artists — struggling
to survive AIDS, drugs and artistic rejection — who have
a tough time making ends meet and coming up with enough money
to pay their rent.
"
Betty Rules," which until recently was playing off-Broadway,
makes its Chicago debut on May 11 at the Lakeshore Theater.
It features the real-life story of the five-piece pop-rock
band,
Betty, that's made up of three woman vocalists who are backed
up on guitars and drums by two guys.
"
The only similarity between these two shows is the wonderful
music and the way both are accessible to today's audiences," Greif
said by phone from New York, where the Brooklyn-born director
lives.
While "Rent" was inspired by the Puccini opera "La
Boheme," Jonathan Larson wrote the script, music and lyrics
of the modern rock-concert production to reflect the contemporary
lifestyles of today's young rebels and artists.
"
'Betty Rules,' on the other hand, isn't a made-up story as was
'Rent,'" Greif said. "It's a true autobiographical
story about a group of women — now mature in their 40s — who
overcame problems within themselves and with each other."
No one in the group is actually named Betty. Greif said the
women chose that name for their band because it suggests
an everywoman
quality. When you think of Betty, you recall American icons
such as Betty Crocker, Bette Davis, Betty Boop, Betty Grable,
Betty
Ford and Betty White.
"
'Betty Rules' is a 90-minute show filled with lots of music and
lots of comedy. There's satire behind the music, and the story
of these women is presented with a lighthearted touch. 'Rent'
is a much darker show," Greif said. "I've come to
see 'Rent' as an opera and 'Betty Rules' as a nightclub kind
of show."
Working closely with playwright/composer Larson, Greif took
a couple years to shape up "Rent," while the gestation
of "Betty Rules" took almost 15 years.
" I first worked with the women in 'Betty' in the mid-80s while
I was doing a play, 'Cloud Nine,' in the Berkshires. The group
already had a great fan base, and we talked about doing a stage
play. We talked on and off for years about the idea of focusing
on how the women got together and how they stayed together.
The final staging of the show works on two levels, which alternate
with a musical concert and behind-the-scenes sketch comedy."
While most directors find a specific niche directing either
comedy, drama or musicals, Greif has tried his hand on all
genres of
theater. The 45-year-old director has gone from doing serious
works such as "The Seagull" to farce such as "What
the Butler Saw" to old fashioned musicals such as "How
to Succeed in Business" and to his recent song-and-dance
comedy, "Never Gonna Dance," which closed in New
York in February.
Greif said that he thrives on variety.
" I'm happy to be able to move from one kind of project and one
theater style to another. It's been such a joy to have been
able to work on 'Rent' and 'Betty Rules' because both these shows
allow me to communicate with the audience in different ways."
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BETTY Really Rules: Amy, Elizabeth and Alyson of BETTY
by Gregg Shapiro
2004-05-12
A longtime fan of BETTY, I first attended a performance by the
all-female trio, consisting of Alyson Palmer and sisters Amy
Ziff and Elizabeth Ziff, when I lived in Washington, D.C., in
the mid-1980s. I was instantly hooked by their live shows, which
incorporated rock, pop and dance elements, comedic and spoken
word segments and the gayest sensibility since Bette (Midler),
and became a devotee. I own all six of their CDs (including the
expanded edition of Limboland and the Kiss My Sticky EP) and
recently added their seventh, the wonderful cast recording to
their acclaimed stage musical BETTY Rules: The Exception to the
Musical (BETTY Rules). More information about BETTY is at www.bettyrules.com
.
New mother Alyson, with seven-month-old Ruby Lucca in tow,
and Amy and Elizabeth sat down with me in the green room of
Chicago’s
Lakeshore Theater to catch up on the last 18 years.
Gregg Shapiro: It wasn’t planned this way, but this morning
I interviewed SONiA, who, like BETTY, also performed at the March
For Women’s Live in Washington, D.C., at the end of April
2004. What can you tell me about your experience at that event?
Elizabeth Ziff: It was our fourth Pro-Choice March. We’re
sad to say that we have to keep singing for these. For me, it
was an incredible experience to be around that many like-minded
people. To be not only performing, but also to be one of the
people that was counted, because there were so many people there
and it’s so clear now that there’s going to be some
kind of revolution in this country if the administration doesn’t
start taking notice of what the people actually want.
Alyson Palmer: The other thing that was fantastic about the
Pro-Choice March was that it was basically a convention for
feminists. It
was so fun; it was like being in Las Vegas. All these people
who hadn’t seen each other, except on the frontlines,
were able to get together and celebrate. We hosted an event
the night
before that had people from Kate Clinton to SONiA to all different
kinds speaking and performing. There was a lot of love and
support and hope and positive feelings, which I thought was
great ...
Amy Ziff: People getting rejuvenated to keep fighting the
fight.
GS: Which is so important, with the election coming up so
soon.
EZ, AP and AZ: (together) Absolutely!
GS: BETTY Rules asks the musical question, “When is just
enough enough?” The expression on Alyson’s face
at one point during the song seems to say it all. And yet you
stuck
it out. Is it hard to believe that so much time has gone by?
AP: Yes, sometimes. And I think that’s the true test of
a great relationship. All of a sudden you wake up one day and
you say, “Eighteen years?! It feel like it was just last
Friday.” And that’s how it is with BETTY. Sometimes,
when we’re in the van together, driving a long way, it
seems like 48 years. But, generally, it feels like even shorter
than that. That’s the great thing about our relationship,
I think.
EZ: I think that to stick with any relationship that long
is crazy. But, for me, it’s gotten better. We went through
therapy—everything in the play is true. We’ve grown
as people and I we’ve grown together and separately as
artists. It’s been a really good ride.
AP: The tools that we’ve used to further this really
intense creative relationship have helped us in other relationships,
which is wonderful.
AZ: You just don’t know whether it’s co-dependency
or challenge or love …
EZ: (laughs)
AZ: …or far-sightedness or near-sightedness or …
AP: …joy.
AZ: Joy.
GS: She’s a little peacemaker.
AZ and EZ: Yes!
AP: Little Ruby Lucca is seven months old and it’s really
exciting to have a relationship as we’ve had for all
these years, as a creative endeavor, and then have someone
like Ruby
come in with fresh eyes, fresh spirit and a fresh life.
EZ: And she likes our singing, which is helpful. That’s
a good thing!
AP: Whenever she’s crying, if we harmonize it always
makes her feel better.
GS: There has long been a theatrical edge to BETTY live performances.
Is that how you arrived at BETTY Rules?
AZ: Yes. We did. We’ve always been theatrical. We’ve
always been more than just a band. We’ve always done
monologues, triptychs, and all sorts of things. But we wanted
something that
would be more of a document about our journey.
EZ: Actually, we didn’t want it at all. (Director) Michael
wanted it.
AP: Michael Greif, the director of Rent, saw us and said, “You
guys have to do your own story.” We wanted to do a different
story. We had a kind of Austin Powers Super Diva thing in mind,
which we think we’re still going to do because it’s
fabulous, but he said, “Bands don’t stay together
three times longer than your average relationship. There’s
a story there that you need to perform.”
AZ: Especially if you’re independent.
EZ: And sisters and friends.
AP: Jewish and Black working together.
EZ: Gay and straight.
GS: You should be held up as an example.
AP: Exactly, right?
EZ: We are America.
AZ: (Sings) “We are the world …”
GS: Amy, I’m glad that you mentioned the monologues,
because another thing I remember from having seen BETTY concerts
was
the use of spoken word, something that is in more common usage
these days. How does it feel to have been so ahead of your
time?
AZ: I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or a
bad thing. It certainly seemed fresh and people really enjoyed
it. Maybe that helped or hindered us as far as being categorized
in American visionless pop music. But, I’m happy that
we did it.
EZ: The three of us are very different creatively. We all
have different styles and we needed to incorporate everything,
and
that took a while. We always thought, “If a song calls
for a cello and it sounds good with just the cello or the bass” or
if somebody had written some spoken word, which has written the
most of over the years by Amy, we felt we should be able to do
that in the context of music, as well. There’s a long history
of that. We always call ourselves “show-folk,” because
we’re much more than musicians.
AP: The most important thing to us has always been to be
entertaining, to put on a great show, whether there are a
million people out
there or four people and Aunt Freddie, which unfortunately
happens once in a while. We want those people to feel so
rocked and entertained.
AZ: And take them away from what’s happening in the world.
Not so that they forget about their responsibilities, but so
that for an hour and a half they’re brought into another
context, they see things a little bit differently, they’re
re-energized, they’re galvanized and they can go back
out to the frontlines of their lives.
AP: We’re glad that we have those elements in BETTY Rules.
It’s exciting that people can laugh and they can cry; they
can be moved. And then they can go home and have sex. That’s
very important to us.
GS: It was also great to hear Amy still doing voices and
characters ... .
AP: Amy’s been doing great characters all along and it
was wonderful for her to be able to do characters in this show
for us, because it’s always been entertaining to do that.
EZ: And in a way that made the through line come alive more.
There’s certain things that we couldn’t say as ourselves.
To have the characters say them makes people understand the journey
that we’ve been on.
GS: In addition to the songs written for the show, you have
included previously recorded tracks.
EZ: What fit lyrically. “Jungle Jane” explains the
joyous part of the Michigan Women’s Music Festival to us,
and also to the director. “It Girl” explains three
people coming together and realizing their strength. “Kissing
You” explains when you get off the road and somebody’s
screwed you over, and “Well, I don’t really want
to kiss you.” Contextually it worked, because of the
lyrics.
AP: Although there were other songs that we tried to put
in there, that just didn’t fit (laughs). ... Then there were things
actually written for the piece, such as “Put It Off,” which
is very specific to how you feel.
EZ: “Mr. Music.”
AZ: “Gravity,” “Overwhelmed.”
EZ: There are a lot of them.
AP: We hadn’t really collaborated with somebody else
and [Michael] really had to put on his black-and-white striped
shirt
and be a referee, as well as being a judge in his robes, and
a lot of other things in addition to being a director.
EZ: We were really lucky to be able to work together. We’ve
been friends for years and had worked with him in other ways.
But to be able to have somebody who is that good with insane
women and also with storytelling.
GS: BETTY has been consistently building a following via
music festivals such as Michigan Women’s Festival, and you
make reference to the fest in the show.
AZ: The first time we played (Michigan) was pretty shocking
for them. We were very different from anything that they’d
seen.
EZ: It was sort of at the beginning of the transition from
folk to riot grrrl.
AP: They had a processing session after we left, because
so many people were offended (laughs) by our show.
EZ: But you know what? So many people loved it.
GS: What do you think the folks out on “the land” would
think of your dig at the fest in BETTY Rules?
EZ: They saw us in New York. They loved it.
AP: Because it’s not really a dig. It’s not about
how bad the festival is. It’s about how these three New
Yorkers with attitude respond to the loving festival.
AZ: And how you get acclimated. Elizabeth feels great kind
of right away and is just energized. It takes Alyson a little
longer,
but she gets the whole transformation. And I get there, too.
EZ: It’s just important because Michigan is a myriad of
emotions. Not only Michigan—(the scene in the play) is
supposed to represent all of the women music festivals that
we played at.
AZ: We’re lucky to have been part and parcel of the gay
community for a while. To be able to support things that we really
believed—to play gay pride festivals when nobody did
it.
EZ: To do AIDS benefits when it was bad for your career.
AZ: When you were stigmatized. And people were really appreciative.
GS: In addition to an abundance of laughter, there are a
couple of powerful dramatic moments in the show. You talk
about seeing
a BETTY Rules t-shirts on a panel of the AIDS quilt.
AZ: God, we’ll never forget that day.
EZ: When we saw that BETTY t-shirt, I literally dropped to
my knees.
AZ: Me, too.
EZ: It was one of the most effecting things that ever happened
to me. It was the last time the quilt was shown because it
became too big.
AP: It was between the Washington Monument and the Capitol.
EZ: We were able to perform for it, which was nice. We did
a song that we wrote about a friend who had died of AIDS.
AP: Literally, it’s the greatest thing that could happen
to you in your career.
EZ: Being in D.C. when AIDS did hit, they’d have the
obituaries every week in the (Washington) Blade and we would
see it a lot.
He was a BETTY fan, things like that. We all lost so many wonderful
people, friends.
AZ: Senselessly, horrifically. These beautiful, bright, wonderful
stars. But we’ll find each other next time.
GS: The piece about mothers during “Broken” is
an especially heart-wrenching moment in the show. Is it difficult
to perform that every night?
AP: Yes (laughs).
EZ: It really is. You can’t just walk through it. You
have to be brought into that moment.
AZ: You remember it. It’s your life.
EZ: For me it was harder because I’m not really an actor
at all. The first couple of times we did it, when we were showcasing
it, I was sobbing.
AP: Sobbing every night. We’re basically talking about
our mothers, who were important to us, dying.
EZ: We’re talking about how we’ve been through that
together and why that’s such a reason for us to also
stay together.
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Friday, January
3, 2003
Reviews
BETTY RULES
- They're hot (if not Maxim material); they harmonize (take that,
TLC); they play guitar, bass, cello, and tambourine; and they've
been doing it for around 15 years. Still, you've probably never
heard of Betty, so get acquainted with this trio of fab femmes at
midtown Manhattan's Zipper Theatre. As you guzzle wine in cushy
car seats, Alyson Palmer, Amy Ziff, and Elizabeth Ziff embark on
a riotous, rockin' autobiographical journey chronicling Betty's
basement beginnings, bathroom breaks, even therapy sessions. Lots
of therapy sessions. Plus, they provide their own soundtrack, flush
with addictive pop-rock-alterna tunes like "It Girl" and
"Jungle Jane." Peppy recorded interludes by the Go-Gos
and Spice Girls inject a note of irony into the evening: Mainstream
success may have eluded Betty, but the band plays on. Forget Destiny's
Child. These are the real survivors.
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