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Every night on Broadway right now, you have your choice of hearing some of the greatest dramatic texts ever written, by writers from Arthur Miller<\/a> to August Wilson<\/a> and even T.S. Eliot. Or, you could head to Celebrity Autobiography<\/a><\/em> at the Shubert to take in a poignant passage by esteemed wordsmith Khlo\u00e9 Kardashian, recounting an emotionally wrought moment in her life in which a bout of depression ended up giving her a life-changing inspiration: to go to the gym.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the kind of\u2026 fascinating<\/em>\u2026 anecdote that makes perfect fodder for Celebrity Autobiography<\/em>, the brainchild of Eugene Pack<\/a> and Dayle Reyfel<\/a>. When they started creating the play more than two decades ago, it was just Pack and Reyfel reading some choice passages from a celebrity memoir in the back of a Los Angeles bookstore. \u201cWe were just doing it for fun, to get beers afterwards,\u201d Reyfel remembers. \u201cThen one day, Steve Martin<\/a> walked in with Eugene Levy, and we started adding celebrities to the show.\u201d That kicked the show into another gear, taking it to all sorts of venues from Off-Broadway\u2019s Triad Theatre to Sydney Opera House and, now, Broadway.\u00a0<\/p>\n On any given night, the show might feature not only Pack and Reyfel but such notables as Andrea Martin<\/a>, Nia Vardalos<\/a>, Gayle King<\/a>, Paula Abdul<\/a>, or Bob Costas\u2014each performance unique from the last. You might think those A-listers would be reticent to publicly make fun of their fellow famouses.<\/p>\n Think again, says Pack. \u201cWhen they see it, they immediately get it, because it has nothing to do with mean-spiritedness. We aren\u2019t making fun of people. We\u2019re making fun of the idea that if you\u2019re a celebrity, you should write a memoir and let us all know the way you stack your clothes up at night before work, or extensive details about what you eat at every restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s a certain kind of memoir that works perfectly for the show, and it isn\u2019t the kind that\u2019s written with lots of care, let\u2019s say. This team looks for books written about massively huge stars at the peak of their fame, when there does seem to be a certain rabid thirst for even the most insignificant details of their lives.<\/p>\n