Who's Holiday, by Matthew Lombardo, at the Westside Theatre, is a sixty-minute one woman show starring Lesli Margherita, directed by Carl Andress. It is Christmas Eve and she is living in a trailer,  awaiting her guests to arrive. She entertains the audience by relating her tough life, and invites one member to join her on stage for a drink. She passes out hors d'oeuvres and persuades the audience to sing a Christmas song with her. She is very funny, very talented, and has wonderful charisma. The audience loves her, and they rose to give her a tremendous ovation at the conclusion of her terrific performance. The opening night party took place at Southern Hospitality, 645 Ninth Ave, with a multitude of guests like Jim Caruso, Julie Halston, Alison Fraser and Charles Busch. It was again a lovely party

A Deal, by Zhu Yi, at the Urban Stages, is a play about a 25-year-0ld Chinese young lady (Wei-Yi Lin), who receives a degree from Columbia University and wants to be an actress. Her parents  (Alan Ariano and Lydia Gaston) arrive from China, and a generational conflict ensues. The six member cast are fine, under John Giampietro's expert direction. It's an interesting play about Chinese with lots of money who want to buy homes in New York.
 

On Broadway, Meteor Shower, by Steve Martin, at the Booth Theatre, is a funny comedy about a couple (Amy Schumer and Jeremy Shamos) who entertain a bizarre couple (Laura Benanti and Keegan-Michael Key) one night in their home in Ojai, California, with disastrous results. All four actors are directed expertly by Jerry Zaks. Amy Schumer is a well known comedienne in her debut on Broadway, and she rose to the occasion. Jeremy Shamos, Laura Benanti and Keegan-Michael Key, also in  his Broadway debut, contributed to the success of the 80-minute play to the delight of the audience which gave them a standing ovation at the curtain call. Then we all went to the opening night party at La Sirena, 88 Ninth Avenue, where we congratulated the cast and creative team. Among the many guests, I enjoyed talking to some of my favorite actors like Goldie Hawn, Martin Short, Victor Garber and Marsha Mason, while we dined on delicious food and drank from a magnificent selection of fine wines and cocktails. It was a night to remember.

The Parisian Woman, by Beau Willimon, at the Hudson Theatre, stars Uma Thurman. It is a play about politics in Washington D.C. Uma Thurman has an open marriage with a tax lawyer (Josh Lucas), who wants to be nominated as a federal judge. It is a play full of cliches about modern day Washington. The cast of five actors work hard, under the direction of Pam MacKinnon. The other three actors are Blair Brown, who steals every scene in which she appears as a Washington insider, Phillipa Soo as her ambitious daughter, and Marton Csokas, in his Broadway debut, as a powerful, wealthy manipulator, who is also very good in the final scene. Thurman is the weakest on stage, in an unbelievable role, and her costumes, for a movie star, are dreadful.

 

Downtown Race Riot, by Seth Zvi Rosenfeld, opens on Sunday, December 3, at the Pershing Square Signature Center. The seven member cast, headed by Chloe Sevigny, and directed by Scott Elliott, is a production of the New Group. My review will appear in next week's column.