By David J. Glenn
Of course, Jennifer Macaluso's friends and family in Douglaston know her as simply the nice girl next door.
But her latest one-woman show – an updated version of her 1998 “Dysfunctional Love Stories” – is perhaps a little more naughty than nice.
An off-Broadway show both theatrically and geographically at the cozy cabaret Danny's at 346 West 46th St., “Love Stories” is a truly entertaining, acting, singing, dancing romp through the 28-year-old's dating experiences – perhaps with a little hyperbole thrown in here and there, but that's her literary license, especially since she wrote all the material.
Her tales of love won and love lost are punctuated with her own lyrics to the tunes of “Making Whoopee,” “Almost Like Being in Love” (from “Brigadoon”) and other popular songs.
Macaluso bares all her scars from the love wars, everything from lamenting “making love alone” to extolling the virtues of a date who really knows how to, euphemistically speaking, “foxtrot,” to dreaming of being a bride.
Macaluso concluded (before her encore, which she jokingly said she didn't feel like doing) her hour-long show opening show Sunday with a rendition of the 1970s women's call to self-confidence, “I Will Survive.”
This was fitting. Macaluso has shown herself to be quite a survivor, truly “Making the Best of It” (as she titled another show last year at the Trilogy Theatre in Manhattan) – coping with the loss to disease of her mother, her best friend, and her singing teacher just months apart in 1999 as she struggled in a business that eats all but the most resilient for lunch.
She also is trying to help other women survive – literally. As well-wishers gathered around the aspiring – and evidently rising – star after the opening show, several bought $25 calendars as a fund-raiser to help fight “honor killings” in some Third World countries. Husbands, fathers, or brothers murder girls or women who have been raped because the young women have “disgraced” the family. The killers not only go unpunished, they are regarded as local heroes.
As for her, Macaluso told the audience that her dysfunctional love story is “approaching the functional” since she now has a boyfriend, her career is on the upswing, and she's even finally getting health insurance.
Remaining performances of “Dysfunctional Love Stories” are at 4 p.m. Sundays, Jan. 14, Feb. 4 and 11, March 4 and 11, and 7 p.m. Wednesdays, Jan. 17, Feb. 21, and March 21 in the Skylight Room of Danny's Grand Sea Palace, 346 West 46th St. on “Restaurant Row” between 8th and 9th avenues. Reservations are required at 212-726-2007.
