Cory Kahaney has created a winner with The J.A.P. Show. Part tribute, part clip show, part standup comedy, it showcases funny ladies of today and opens a window into legendary entertainers of the past. Contemporary comics Cathy Ladman, Jessica Kirson, Jackie Hoffman, and Kahaney (Sherry Davey and Julie Goldman are swings) call themselves Jewish-American princesses. Their inspiration is the work of women they dub "the queens of comedy": brassy Jewish comics Belle Barth, Jean Carroll, Totie Fields, Betty Walker, and Pearl Williams. We meet them in film clips shown on two circles hanging over the stage (Aaron Rhyne is the video designer, Jo Winiarski the scenic designer). The Actors Temple, founded in 1917 -- synagogue by day, theatre by night -- brings history to the exploration of the outrageous. You don't often hear blue jokes -- "Why don't Jewish-American princesses like blow jobs? They don't like any jobs!" -- delivered in shul.
The women present variations of middle-class tsuris. Ladman performs a haphtarah -- that's a selection from the Prophets read in synagogue services on the Sabbath following each lesson from the Torah -- in the form of a song about a kid wondering about the deluge of Cross pen sets. It's an old joke but appealing. Kirson, a large woman with long black hair, heckles the audience -- "You look like you're watching the Weather Channel waiting for your city to come up" -- and surreally says she's happy to be back in Jerusalem. Jackie Hoffman, formerly of Hairspray, sings "West Side Woman": "I wear chips, baked not fried/Wore Vera Wang when I was a bride/Could get a job, but I've never tried.... Everything comes easily to me." Her comic screeches stand out. Kahaney adds a new element to Jewish guilt when describing her father comparing her unfavorably to the African baby he sponsors.
These broads are funny company. As for The J.A.P. Show, what's not to like?
Presented by Foster Entertainment, Maximum Entertainment, Avalon Entertainment, and Judith Marinoff Cohn
at the Actors Temple Theatre, 339 W. 47th St., NYC.
Opened April 18 for an open run. Tue.-Thu., Sat., 8 p.m.; Wed., 3 p.m.; Sun., 5 p.m.
(212) 239-6200 or (800) 432-7250 or www.telecharge.com.