ANNIVERSARY WALTZ
Shaw and Weaver have been lovers and colleagues for ten years, and Anniversary Waltz is fundamentally a celebration of their relationship. Written by them and Deb Margolin, the third member of Split Britches, it begins with Shaw and Weaver standing atop a buffet table–the only set piece–Weaver in poufy hair and ruffles, a country darlin’, and Shaw in a kind of sequined, boxy, quasi-military cowboy’s tux. Looking like a couple of bizarre wedding-cake decorations, they lip-synch Tammy Wynette and George Jones’s “We’ll Build a World Together,” Weaver all forced sentimentality and Shaw all macho understatement. They turn to face each other, pivoting clumsily like mechanical targets in a shooting gallery. Clearly they are on display, and will cling to each other with all the affection they can possibly muster. It’s their anniversary, after all.
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Similarly, the piece itself is a refreshing, unique recombination of recognizable styles. All of the elements are familiar, especially to a gay audience–cross-dressing, gender confusion, campy lip-synching, even the pink lame backdrop–but the angle is always fresh. One sidesplitting scene has Shaw, in an orange gown and a plastic smile, manipulating Weaver, in a gray pin-striped suit, as if she were a ventriloquist’s dummy. While Barbra Streisand and Nell Diamond sing “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers,” Shaw and her dummy perform a “duet.” Yet Shaw is such a bad ventriloquist that, even though the singing is prerecorded, you can see her lips move during the dummy’s solos.
