Is divorce entertaining? Anyone who has been through one will likely reply with a resounding “no.” But Hollywood is taking a stab at making one of the most painful experiences in a person’s life a little funny – and if perhaps a little cathartic.
Tony Award-winning Broadway producer Mark Schwartz has collaborated with divorce coach Amy Botwinick to write and produce “Divorce Party: A Musical,” which is currently running onstage in North Hollywood.
The play centers on a woman who discovers that her husband is leaving her for another man. It chronicles her depression and journey to heal from the pain of the split – emotions derived, according to Botwinick, from her own experience of divorce 12 years ago.
According to Jewish Journal.com, it’s a concept that theater fans have embraced. The musical “broke every box office for the last 20 years” when it premiered in West Palm Beach, Fla., earlier this year, and 20,000 tickets were sold for shows in Toronto, Schwartz said.
But it appears that comedies about divorce are not limited to the stage. ABC just greenlit a pilot for a sitcom called “Divorce: A Love Story.” Actress Andrea Anders and Daily Show correspondent Jason Jones will play a recently divorced couple who turn out to be worse off when they are divorced than when they were married.
And let’s not forget reality TV. The Fox network is working on “Divorce Hotel,” a program that will allow couples to check into a luxury hotel on Friday and spend the weekend getting divorced with the help of attorneys and mediators.
Although each show is different, they all focus on one of the toughest aspects of divorce – figuring out how to sort out your life once the marriage is over. There is no recipe for success on that one. But finding a competent divorce and separation attorney can make the legal process more manageable for you and your family.
