"Jewish Thighs on Broadway" Opens March 18 at the Clurman Theatre

This is not a pretty show.

It's not about being Jewish. Although the author, Penny Orloff, is of that persuasion.

It's not about thighs. Although Miss Orloff has the usual allotted two.

And it's not about Broadway. Although Miss Orloff has been there as well.

It is a show about the inexplicable obsession that propels a seemingly sane and talented human being towards a career on the stage.

It is a story about one of those obsessed, sane and talented people who, when that goal is realized, changes her mind and wants - OUT OF SHOW BUSINESS.

HER NAME IS ABIGAIL PAINE. AND. SHE WANTS OUT.

In Abigail's words, "Breaking into Show Business is like breaking into Fort Knox. Breaking out, we're talking Alcatraz."

Based on Miss Orloff's best-selling novel, the show also examines the heroine's oddball immigrant family, her 30-year diet, a Rogues' Gallery of semi-boyfriends, a mother from another planet, the eternal sadism of rejection, high-stakes treason, self-imposed loneliness and her ultimate survival of a German Opera director. Also complicating her life is her primitive alter-ego —The Beast. This creature can kill, dismember and devour an entire cheesecake; wreak havoc upon an unsuspecting Gilbert and Sullivan troupe; and beat the crap out of smaller muggers on the sidewalks of New York.

Miss Orloff's relationship to Abigail Paine is a substantial one, as she created her in her own likeness.

Penny Orloff knows from which she writes. She has been exactly where Abigail is going. Or. She is going where Abigail has been.

Her show is riveting in its brutal honesty and its unapologetic humor.

"JEWISH THIGHS ON BROADWAY" has sold-out in 42 cities.

March 16th marks this tour's final stop - OFF-BROADWAY.

Penny Orloff has been an actor since childhood, having scored successes while still a teenager in such roles as Anne Frank and Juliet in Los Angeles. Relocating to New York City on a Juilliard School opera scholarship, she subsequently played lead and featured parts on and off Broadway, working opposite Peter Gallagher, George Hearn, Joel Grey and Wallace Shawn under such directors as Harold Prince and Joseph Papp. During that same period, Orloff sang more than 20 Principal Soprano roles for New York City Opera.Her theater performances have run the gamut from Shakespeare's Katherina and Cleopatra to Neil Simon and John Guare; and from leads in classic musicals to original casts. Orloff's solo show, JEWISH THIGHS ON BROADWAY, based on her novel of the same name, earned rave reviews when it premiered at the Seattle Fringe Theater Festival in March, 2000.

THEATRE

CLURMAN THEATRE
410 West 42nd Street
(btwn 9th & 10th Avenues)

PLAYING SCHEDULE
Mondays - Saturdays 8:00pm
Wednesday matinee 2:00pm
Saturday matinee 2:00pm
Sunday Matinee 2:00pm

TICKETS
Regular - $25
Seniors/AEA/Students - $20

RESERVATIONS
212-279-4200