Comedian Joy Behar will make you laugh out loud with her new comedy, “My First Ex-Husband,” playing at MMAC Theater (248 W. 60th Street). This play is the result of her interviewing divorced women and getting them to share their personal stories, simply changing the names.
Behar not only wrote the play, amusingly arranging the women’s stories, but performs it with three other actresses. The cast, which will rotate in the future, begins with Behar, Adrienne C. Moore, Susie Essman, and Tovah Feldshuh. These actresses do a marvelous job of telling the stories of two women as they share hilarious, ridiculous scenarios of men’s betrayal, domineering personalities, selfishness, stupidity, and so many other things that a husband can do to get a wife to become his ex. This 80 minutes of sharing one woman’s plight after another will have you engrossed and highly entertained.
Each of these actresses delivers the stories of these women with humor, heart, empathy when needed, and drama. The stories they tell let the audience into the lives of women from various racial, economic, and religious backgrounds. This is not the type of production I want to give too many hints about because the joy is in the experience firsthand.
Suffice it to say, Behar did her homework and is generous with the types of stories she presents. There’s some sex in there — some men are too quick on the draw, if you know what I mean, and some that just think of their wife as a trophy. Well, I’ve said too much!
Behar is delightful as both the playwright and the performer. Moore is hilarious and captivating as she shares the stories of her characters. Essman and Feldshuh deliver amusing and memorable performances with their two characters. One of Feldshuh’s characters is not very funny, but is revealing as someone who belongs to a religious sect in which women are completely undervalued. It’s a religious group most of us don’t know that much about, but after this, you will.
This production is very much worth your time — it’s a blast and a great time at the theater, with charming direction by Randal Myler.
The current cast will be there through Feb. 23. From Feb. 26–Mar. 23, the cast will feature Judy Gold, Susan Lucci, Cathy Moriarity, and Tonya Pinkins. The final group of actresses, from Mar. 26–Apr. 20, will feature Veanne Cox, Gina Gershon, Jackie Hoffman, and Andrea Navedo.
For tickets, visit www.myfirstexhusband.com.