Photo by Parker Sargent

                                            By Parker Sargent

Event promoter Daniel Nardicio is on a mission to bring us gay icons from music, comedy and theater- without ever having to leave the comfort of the beautiful beach. His summer series is an annual gift to Fire Island, and there is no doubt that each show has been a well conceived plan to deliver entertainment of every aspect to interests of every kind. He has presented us with Allan Cumming, Margaret Cho, even Liza; and this past weekend we were given the gift of Sandra Bernhard.

For the past year Sandra has been providing her fans with a look into her life with her show #BLESSED, which upon further inspection one finds the content isn’t as mindlessly jovial as the much used twitter tagline would suggest. She’s had a rough year (her own words), and though she summersaults from the trails of raising a teenager to colorful comments about Caitlyn, Bernhard always finds a way to express her effervescence for life.

She’s a strong and confident woman that somehow commanded Whyte Hall with a demure and calming sweetness. Many comics are working through their issues on stage, but Bernhard doesn’t need a public therapy session to share herself with us. Perhaps that is because she is more than just a comedian, crafting cabaret content that enveloped us with thoughtful monologues and well-placed ballads. While this is not a new formula for Sandra, her ability to effortlessly take you on the twisting journey through her mind makes you feel safe that she is at the wheel.

Opening the show with “Where Am I Going” from Sweet Charity, Sandra seems to be telling us that she is continuously questioning what she is doing and saying as an artist. Not content to rest on her laurels as a long time queer comedy queen, she is determined to pull you into her world and force you to feel every emotion she is projecting, whether they are real or not.

We know her story about having an affair with Brad Pitt isn’t authentic, but we buy into the drama of how awful it must have felt being physically attacked by Angelina Jolie when she discovered their tryst. Which sets us up perfectly for her tongue-in-cheek rendition of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”, that truly allowed us to bask in the power of Sandra’s voice.

There is an ease and a flow to Bernhard’s narratives, nothing like standup comedy, yet it feels “of the moment” and created organically with the crowd. At one point she stops the show to ask an audience member what he just whispered in his companion’s ear, and when he responds, “was the grill turned off”, she looks almost as satisfied as she would have been had he confessed his deepest secret to her. Sandra seems to love the little details of life and is tickled by truth, no matter how average or unglamorous; which shows in the way she openly shares her trials and triumphs.

Like the internet posts of so many self-obsessed celebrities, she puts it all out on the table for us to consume or reject, either way, she is clearly looking forward, as she highlights (and lowlights) the recent events that have effected her deeply.

When she discussed losing her mother at ninety-two years old, everyone breathed a heavy sigh of sadness, many of them having felt like they met her mother through Sandra’s various stories and impressions.

“Oh my god, there must have been dust on those mints” she says, as she has many times before, knowing that her fans would instantly understand this tribute to her mother. But it didn’t come off as if it was contrived to pull at our heartstrings, it was instead a way for us all to collectively send vibes of positivity into the ether.

And while the main message of #BLESSED is one of positivity, Bernhard is not without controversy.

“The great thing about being gay was that you didn’t want kids”, she confesses in her frank conversation about motherhood. Sandra reasons with us that marrying her long time girlfriend just isn’t financially wise and she even puts Caitlyn Jenner under her mordant magnifying glass. “When you’re sixty-five years old you settle on the name Caitlyn? Its trashy”.

But just as we may have started to think that Bernhard’s claws are out and ready to shred, she quickly reminded us that she is “a tender reed”, and then fell softly back into another song.

As the show is reaching its climax, out of nowhere Sandra asks for an update on Serena William’s match. This talk of tennis scores results in her sharing her passionate position that the Williams sisters represent triumph over the deep seeded racism that exists on our country, when someone yelled out to her, “why do you like Serena so much?”

Ultimately, it is this victorious spirit that is what Sandra’s show is all about. She came to Whyte Hall with a well-worn critically acclaimed show and made it feel like she had created every moment just for us. Chauffeuring the audience through her “sh*t show” of a year, and successfully returning us to a comfortable state of joy and laughter.

Whyte Hall

Fire Island Pines