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Rating:  -
I remember the first time I saw this, back in 1973. It was cutting edge content for that era and Valerie Perrine's shower scene added to the controversy, but it was funny and entertaining. Now, if the PBS series that spun out from it would just be released, I would glady add that to my collection.
Rating:  -
The basic story has been told in many ways and also some variation. Much more popular when purgatory was a real place. This is a story of a hand full of characters that find them selves at a crossroads or a steambath in their afterlife. Seams that the deity (José Pérez) is the attendant who replaces towels and enjoys a good story.
The attraction on an esoteric level is how the people get along with each other. Then we have individuals contemplating past present. The steamy part of the play is Valerie Perrine; the first woman to show off her accoutrements on U.S. TV (4 May 1973) being in the altogether and filmed showering from the side.
The hinge point of this story is watching Tandy (Bill Bixby) who refuses to believe that the Attendant is the deity and is determent to get back to his former life. One can believe if he does not perturb the Attendant, Tandy just might pull it off.
Rating: -
This rarely seen video was first aired in the 1970s. It discusses issues that we take for granted today, but were forming at that period of time.
The comedy throughout is satirical and delivers a strong message that crosses the boundaries of races and beliefs for everyone.
I enjoyed all the performances of the cast members and would see it again on stage if presented in a theater.
Rating: -
I remember this production from my days working in the college media center, when video players were not in everyone's home yet. We had taped this show from PBS and we watched it over and over between classes and while working. I remembered it as being both hilariously funny and terribly thought provoking at the same time. When I watched it again recently I was not disappointed. If anything I liked it better than ever. The characters are mostly believable and interact in a very genuine way. The every idea of God being a puerto rican bath attendant stretches the boundaries of what is acceptable to the max but he does it so well. You almost want to believe it is all that easy...a steambath is not such a bad place to wait for eternal dispensation. Valerie Perrine and Bill Bixby are wonderful. You will enjoy this very original play.
Rating: -
This a very funny, irreverent and sharp-edged filming of the off-Broadway show written by Bruce Jay Friedman. A young guy named Tandy (Bill Bixby) wakes up in a steambath. He doesn't know how he got there, and neither do any of the people around him -- an old taxi driver, a gorgeous, somewhat dim-witted young woman (Valerie Perrine), a couple of aging gays, a slob, a gambler who is also a stock broker. The only person in the place who seems to know what's going on is the skinny, Puerto Rican bath attendent (Jose Perez). It slowly dawns on Tandy that he's dead and so is everyone else, except the attendent. Turns out the attendent is God, and the steambath is a holding room while God decides where to send them. He doesn't have a lot of time because there's always new people due to show up.
God turns out to specialize in lame magic tricks and philosophical chatter. He likes the people to tell about their lives and explain why they shouldn't be dead. Perez is great as God who is skeptical of good intentions, has a load of disbelieving come-backs, and who has to keep things moving. Bixby does a first-rate job as a guy who has never done much with his life but who always intended to. And Valerie Perinne does an outstanding job as a sexy young lady sort of unaware of her effect on people. Other excellent actors are in the cast...some of them are Herb Edelman, Kenneth Mars, Stephen Elliot.
Steambath is a dialogue-driven play, and the dialogue is very, very funy. This production was broadcast once by PBS and as far as I know was never repeated. I think it's highly unlikely that the PBS of today would ever take a chance on something like this. It has some nudity and some funny but strong situations. Mostly, it's food for thought while being irreverent...God as a Puerto Rican steambath attendent?
If you're interested in American theater, the American Theater Archive is the place to look. They're saving a number of plays that appeared on television years ago. This is the only place to go if you're interested in seeing how gripping and sad Lee J. Cobb and Mildred Natwick were in Death of a Salesman (they recreate their stage roles), the incredible performances of Jason Robards and Colleen Dewhurst in A Moon for the Misbegotten, or why Robards was one of the great American actors as he stars in The Iceman Cometh. Most of the Archive is now available on DVDs and you can probably get them, among other places, at Amazon.
The DVD is in color and is a respectable transfer.
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