Cher is happy that the upcoming Broadway show based on her life, “The Cher Show,” doesn’t portray her as “a Mother Teresa,” but that doesn’t mean she’s happy with the rest of the production.
“Some parts of it are really fabulous. We’re going to work on the other parts,” Cher, 72, told The Chicago Tribune on Sunday.
“It needs work. I’m not supposed to say that but I don’t care,” she said. “But you know, I was really very surprised by how close to real these people feel.”
She added, “In many parts, it was much, much better than I thought it would be. And there were no parts where I wanted to gouge my eyes out.”
Cher particularly appreciated the show’s portrayal of her relationships and breakups with Sonny Bono, Gregg Allman and “Bagel Boy” Robert Camilletti.
“Some of the boys are so on the mark, it’s creepy,” she said.
Calling herself “the most critical person who ever drew breath,” she also praised the actress playing her mother.
What Cher has taken issue with aren’t the performances, but the script, which she found herself giving notes to director Jason Moore on during the performances she watched.
“There are lines in the show that sound like quotes but aren’t quite right,” she revealed. “I’ve been telling him the real quotes. I have a lot to say. And I am pushing them to do three dance songs in a concert-style way at the end, a bit like they do in ‘Mamma Mia.’ I think the audience would like that.” (Incidentally, Cher appears in “Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again” in July.)
She admitted that her mind wandered during certain scenes, but that others were riveting — and that those parts were likely the most difficult for the cast and crew to really nail.
“The fights. The breakups. The people who are lost. Everything that was hard in real life [was hard onstage],” she said. “But I really love it when all the girls are together. In art you are talented or you’re not, so people are either talented or they’re not, and these people are all really talented. And those songs are hard.”