"Bunny Bunny: GILDA RADNER: A Sort of Love Story" by Alan Zweibel
"Flawlessly performed ... Kagan is mesmerizing ... Bunny Bunny is a gorgeous tribute to one of the most beloved comedic performers of all-time." - bloodyunderrated.net "An entirely relatable experience made remarkable and special... I was watching Gilda herself for a spell." - charpo-canada.com "Radner and Zweibel’s relationship plays out like your favourite song." - marblevictoria.com  a new theatrical abridgement of the book
Starring Rosaruby Kagan Directed by Tanner Harvey
A solo performance of Zweibel’s tribute to Gilda;
recounting the friendship of two comics
who shared more than just a few good laughs. Upcoming Performances: Segal Centre for the Arts, Montréal, QC: November 20th - 30thAn homage to his long-time friend Gilda Radner, Zweibel's book recounts his "most cherished memories" in a melange of vignettes sketched in dialogue.
From 'complicated' beginnings during their Saturday Night Live heyday, to Gilda's battle against cancer, this new production tackles Zweibel's intimate memoir with a compassion and foolhardiness that's sure to affirm that, "the love and loyalty of a true friend may be the best kind of love there is." (Glenn Close, on Zweibel's original "Bunny Bunny")
 In 1975, comedy writer Alan Zweibel got his big break with a new sketch comedy show to be called Saturday Night Live; he was 25 years old. During the show's first five seasons he collaborated with, and grew very close to, comedienne, Gilda Radner. "Bunny Bunny: GILDA RADNER: A Sort of Love Story" is Zwiebel's 1994 sort-of-memoir of his friendship with Gilda; presenting moments from their fourteen year relationship in a series of 65 dialogues and illustrations.
In its foreword Zwiebel disclaims that, "this book was never meant to be read," and describes it as, "very personal. The kind of thing that one keeps to himself." Nonetheless, he explains that, "the sense of loss that everyone, including those who never met Gilda, felt when she passed away," left him wondering if sharing it might help, "pay appropriate tribute to Gilda's time on this planet". In 2013, actor and long time Gilda fan, Rosaruby Kagan, was so touched by Zwiebel's tribute that she approached director, Tanner Harvey, regarding its adaptation for the stage. Tanner recognized Rosaruby's affinity with Radner straight away, and upon reading "Bunny Bunny", was equally moved by its candid humour, tenderness, and melancholy. Thus we embarked on six months of working and reworking Zwiebel's 189 pages of memories-sketched-in-dialogue into a 75 minute, single-act, two-character, solo performance. Zweibel's book, though composed primarily of dialogue, is not exactly a play. While its chapters present scenarios patent of its comedy-writer's hand, at times it reads more as diary. It was its intimacy and nostalgia that captured us: its wistful drawings, ironic diagrams, letters, a eulogy. More than a biography of a relationship, “Bunny Bunny” is a love letter from the bereaved. We think that Tanner's austere staging, teamed with Rosaruby's propensity for physicality, have culminated in an elegant and immediate medley of the friendship shared by two comics, who, from the high times to low, always knew that love and laughter would save them. bunnybunny@freestandingroom.com
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