Joy Behar Goes ‘Bonkers’ at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor

Joy Behar brings the world premiere of Bonkers in the Boroughs, four short comedies about New York families, relationships and everyday absurdities, to Bay Street Theater Sept. 2-6.

A psychic hairdresser. A television executive. Squabbling spouses. A hypochondriac. Families who yell. People behaving in ways that are bizarre, inappropriate and, somehow, completely recognizable.

Welcome to Joy Behar’s New York.

Bonkers in the Boroughs, Behar’s new evening of four short comedies at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor Sept. 2-6, takes audiences through a revolving door of New York characters and situations that start somewhere around familiar and head straight for the absurd.

“You’re laughing, but you’re like, ‘Oh my God, I shouldn’t be laughing at this,’” producer Rose Caiola told Spark Hamptons.

The plays move from 1959 to the present, with Behar and a formidable group of Broadway, film and television actors transforming into multiple characters along the way.

Tony Award nominee Veanne Cox plays four roles, ranging from an older spinster to a television executive — with a couple of surprises she won’t reveal. Tony Award nominee Robert Cuccioli takes on three characters, including Behar’s husband in one play and Illeana Douglas’ husband in another. Tony Award nominee Lou Liberatore turns up as, among other things, a hairdresser who becomes a psychic.

They’re joined by Craig Bierko, whose Broadway and screen credits include The Music Man, Guys and Dolls and “Boston Legal”; Douglas, known for films including Goodfellas, Cape Fear and To Die For; Broadway veteran Bob Ari; Sag Harbor’s Ammiel Sobey in his professional debut; and Behar herself.

It’s an unusually deep bench of Broadway, film and television talent — but Behar wasn’t casting by résumé alone.

“They all have a comedic sense, which I require for these plays,” Behar told Spark Hamptons. “You can’t approach these the way you would approach drama.”

“Comedy requires almost like an extra chromosome.”

The cast goes bonkers

Cox, a Tony nominee for Stephen Sondheim’s Company told Spark Hamptons she is having a blast.

“I love the chaotic nature of creating something new,” Cox said. “It’s my favorite thing. Joy is an incredibly creative person. The woman never stops. She has this beautiful brain that just wants to create.”

For Cox, the show is a chance to experience “surprises and chaos that reflect our own lives that we’re living right now.”

Some of the plays reach back to 1959, others land squarely in the present.

“There’s a thread of reflection in all of them,” Cox said. “As funny as they are, they give you something to think about. That’s what theater is supposed to do — remind us of our own lives and reflect that.”

Cuccioli, best known for his Tony-nominated performance in the title roles of Broadway’s Jekyll & Hyde, is equally enthusiastic about the company Behar has assembled.

“It’s a great ensemble — a bunch of really talented actors, really funny,” he told Spark Hamptons.

Part of the fun, Cuccioli said, is that the evening is “constantly morphing” as the company works together.

“Somebody may decide to throw another line in. We all don’t know what to expect from one moment to the next.”

Keeping that comic chaos on track is director Randal Myler, a two-time Tony Award nominee whose Broadway credits include It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues.

“Randal is terrific to work with,” Cuccioli said. “He’s been a great referee.”

Cuccioli said a production like this needs “someone with that outside eye” — and Myler provides it.

Behar welcomes the collaboration, too.

“I’m happy actually to have the input,” Behar said. “But I have the last word.”

Where the bonkers began

For all the strange places Behar’s imagination goes in Bonkers in the Boroughs, she didn’t have to invent the people who first inspired her.

“My aunt Rose and Uncle Joe would have these ridiculous conversations,” Behar said of her Brooklyn Italian family.

Uncle Joe was a hypochondriac.

“I know I got cancer,” he’d say.

Then Aunt Julie would walk in.

“You don’t have cancer, you f@#k.”

“And the whole thing would start up,” Behar recalled. “People would be yelling at each other about whatever.”

Words to paper

Eventually, Behar started putting those conversations on paper.

“I just wanted to put that down into a conversation that they had,” she said.

She brought an early script to a salon and gave it to a few friends to read.

“Everybody thought it was funny,” Behar said. “So I said, ‘Oh, OK.’ And then I finished writing it.”

Her inspiration soon expanded beyond her Brooklyn relatives.

“A lot of times I pick up things in the paper,” Behar said. “I’m fascinated by evil. I read about Nazis and Charlie Manson, for example.”

She began putting those figures into unlikely domestic situations.

“What would happen if those evil people were involved with real people that I know?”

Listening for the funny

There’s a straight line between those family conversations and the way Behar has approached comedy throughout her career.

“I guess I’m tuned into what people are saying,” she said. “Even with stand-up, I’d hear a snippet of dialogue and it would become a bit.”

The same instinct drives her playwriting.

“I think I’m more character-driven and the story sort of follows,” Behar said. “Once you take a fish out of water and put it in a different situation, the plot kind of follows. But you have to have those people. What are they doing? What are they like when they’re in those situations?”

Behar is best known as the longtime co-host of ABC’s “The View,” but theater has long been part of her career, from The Food Chain and The Vagina Monologues to her solo show Me, My Mouth and I.

Back at Bay Street

“I like the Bay Street Theater,” Behar said. “I have a bit of a history there.”

Behar sits on Bay Street’s board of directors and has appeared on its stage in Eugene Pack’s Celebrity Autobiography. In the past year, the theater has become a place for her to develop new work.

Last summer, Bay Street workshopped My First Ex-Husband, her comedy based on divorce stories she collected and shaped from women about their former spouses. The show went on to an Off-Broadway run at the MMAC Theater and other stages. A year later, Bay Street is giving Bonkers in the Boroughs its world premiere.

Several members of the Bonkers ensemble are also familiar to Bay Street audiences. Cox appeared in My First Ex-Husband and has performed previously at the theater, while Cuccioli appeared there in My Life Is a Musical.

“I love the audience out at Bay Street,” Cox said. “I think they’re hip and into coming to the theater. It’s a joyous occasion, no matter what it is. I think they’re game.”

The team behind ‘Bonkers’

Rose Caiola and Cyrene Esposito, the producing team behind My First Ex-Husband, are together again for Bonkers in the Boroughs.

“We’re like the mob, with tits,” joked Behar.

Caiola first became involved with Bonkers when an earlier version was presented as part of the New York Comedy Festival. She was immediately drawn to the short plays and Behar’s particular brand of comedy.

“They’re quirky and they’re funny and they’re a little bit bizarre, like Joy in certain ways,” Caiola said. “They’re characters that everybody relates to and recognizes doing highly unusual things.”

Caiola and Behar met about three years ago and quickly developed a friendship and creative partnership that has now spanned two productions and two continents. Earlier this summer, the team produced My First-Ex Husband with Behar in London.

“It was a big hit,” says Behar. “Apparently women all over the world hate their first ex husbands.” She says the show is now being booked around England.

“I always admire women that build their career as female entrepreneurs, that accomplish very significant goals, as Joy has done in her life,” Caiola said. “She’s definitely an inspiration to me. And I love creating opportunities for other women.”

Behar values something Caiola continues to bring to the room.

“The fact that Rose is so enthusiastic as a producer I feel is such a gift,” Behar said. “She appreciates it. She still laughs at it.”

For Behar and Esposito, the production also marks a professional reunion.

“It’s been a pleasure. Cyrene is one of these people that you just want to have around because she’s such an upbeat personality,” Behar said. “She was my first agent. We’ve come full circle.”

Bay Street carries special meaning for Caiola as well. Her late brother and longtime producing partner, Luigi Caiola, was a supporter of the theater. Together, the siblings produced close to 60 Broadway shows, and his foundation has helped make Bonkers in the Boroughs possible.

“It’s in honor of his career and his life,” Caiola said, “as well as giving the opportunity to Joy to create new work and for Bay Street to explore the talents of the artists in their local community.”

“He would have liked this production.”

Could ‘Bonkers’ go beyond Sag Harbor?

Caiola believes the show has a life beyond Bay Street.

“Absolutely,” she said. “First of all, we have a stellar cast.”

She said the producers have been talking with venues in other cities about potentially bringing Bonkers there, with a possible limited New York engagement also in the mix.

Behar would like to see other theatrical venues eventually take on the plays as well.

“I’m just really having fun with these people and these plots,” Behar said. “I hope people see themselves and people that they know in it. I hope that people have fun.”

And if some of those people seem a little out there, that was always part of the fun,.

“That’s why I called it Bonkers,” Behar said. “Because it is bonkers.”

If You Go

What: Bonkers in the Boroughs, the world premiere of four original short comedies written by Joy Behar
When: Sept. 2-6 (Wed – Sun)
Where: Bay Street Theater, 1 Long Wharf, Sag Harbor
Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission
Cast: Joy Behar, Bob Ari, Craig Bierko, Veanne Cox, Robert Cuccioli, Illeana Douglas, Lou Liberatore and Ammiel Sobey
Director: Randal Myler
Tickets: Bay Street Theater box office, 631-725-9500, baystreet.org

Angela LaGreca

Editor, Co-Founder/Publisher

Angela LaGreca, Editor-in-chief and co-Founder/Publisher of Spark Hamptons, is a four-time Emmy Award-winning journalist, producer, writer and comedian/host. Her TV credits include NBC’s “Today,” ABC’s “The View,” and, most recently, the primetime cable news program “Cuomo” on NewsNation. On the East End, she was the Creative Director at LTV, VP Features/Events/Photo Editor at Dan’s Papers, and has performed at Guild Hall, Bay Street Theater and the WHBPAC. Her publishing career began at Modern Photography, where she was managing editor. LaGreca lives in Manhattan and East Hampton and can be reached at angelatvmedia@gmail.com and angela@sparkhamptons.com .