'Cat Is Dead' enlivened

by new new cast, revisions

By William Glover

AP drama critic

P

NEW YORK A couple of actors and rewrites later, "P.S. Your Cat Is Dead!" works much better. Most of the unpleasant smirk has gone, comic smiles are in.

A

The play at the Promenade Theater a mile up Broadway from the main theatrical district tried and flopped three years ago under more elaborate Main Stem auspices.

James Kirkwood, an actor turned: playwright who co-authored "A Chorus Line," has shifted focus in this comeback effort, although the central situation is unaltered.

The story concerns a washed-up performer whose New Year's Eve frustrations are interrupted by the arrival, through a skylight of his Greenwich Village digs, by a burglar. An essentially nice but weak character is suddenly confronted by a street tough with homosexual itch.

Kirkwood pays more attention now

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R] In Review

to actor Jimmy's pileup of dismay, somewhat subdues gay life innuendos and settles for a fadeout that needn't upset Tillie. The dialog is raunchly picturesque and frequently funny.

Robert Nigro's direction is brisk and bright. Peter Simon does a lively representation of thespic tribulations, and Vasili Bogazianos vividly enacts the irrepressible intruder. He spends much of the second act strapped prone and semi-nude atop a kitchen sink, though at a discreet audience angle.

Claire Malis, Simon's departing roommate, and John John Shearin, her startled new escort, fit neatly into the upbeat tempo. Judie Juracek's setting converts the awkward stage area into an impressive representation of current bohemian domesticity.

"P.S. Your Cat Is Dead!" won't win any prizes, but its earthy contemporaneity is engaging.