Review by Jaiden van Bork
A few years ago, when drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy emerged as pharmaceutical solutions for obesity, the American public seemed to go nuts. Suddenly it was as if everyone from major celebrities to your grandparents were taking drugs to rapidly lose weight, leading many to wonder if we will soon be living in an era in which there is, indeed, a pill for everything. And Miss Richfield 1981, Provincetown’s favorite midwestern beauty queen, couldn’t be happier about this.
In her new show, There’s a Pill for That! at the Post Office Cafe & Cabaret, she dives headfirst into the wonderful world of pharmaceuticals with perfect deadpan hilarity and expert delivery.
If you avoided being bullied in school, you will love this show. If you didn’t, you’ll likely come out with some battle scars—but it will still be worth it, don’t worry. Richfield (who is now in her 23rd season) is pleasantly mean as ever, harassing her audience about their medical histories with just enough charisma to keep the crowd on her side while still pushing everyone’s buttons.
Richfield’s on-theme looks and irreverent musical numbers about prescription drugs and medical conditions add to the spectacle, as do her interactive antics that culminate in an absurd kind of game-show routine, combining medical trivia with Richfield’s knack for crude humor.
In a world where so many comedians claim to be waging a war on political correctness, despite having very little of anything actually boundary-pushing to say—performers like Miss Richfield are the real free speech warriors, bringing genuine edge to comedy that doesn’t feel offensive for the sake of offensiveness. Andy Warhol is famously quoted as saying that “Art is getting away with it”—a quote that comedian Anthony Jeselnik recently applied to comedy—and Miss Richfield gets away with it every single time.
While the show is full of laughs, Richfield is clever enough to subtly point to the legitimate irony of the prescription drug industry, which is riddled with issues of overprescription and corporate greed that have repeatedly led to various crises of addiction and misuse. She also invites consideration of our relationship to medication as a society. In a world where there’s a pill for everything, do we risk overlooking non-pharmaceutical solutions—especially for things like mental illness and obesity? Do we risk medicalizing problems that are in fact, not necessarily medical? There’s A Pill for That! may be just the remedy you need.
Miss Richfield 1981 performs inThere’s a Pill for That! at Post Office Cabaret, 303 Commercial St., Provincetown, several nights a week at 8:30 p.m. through September 13. For tickets ($40/$50) and specific show dates call 508.487.0006 or visit postofficecafe.net.
