The play is a comedy on a horrifying subject. A young couple has a baby, who is horribly deformed, and we observe their attempts to cope with this terrible situation. Nick does it by pretending there is nothing wrong; whereas Colby copes by pretending that there is no monster baby in her home. Gradually, both go rather bonkers, before retreating into imaginative ruminations about the future life of their daughter.

Cassie Beck and Greg Keller are tremendously compelling as Mommy and Daddy, and Brian Spambati contributes several hilarious turns as Nick's bombastic brother, Pete.

If you can take the subject matter, this one is worth checking out.

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Love, Loss, and What I Wore has been running a while at the Westside Theatre. I finally caught up with it last week, and had a very good time. Nora and Delia Ephron have adapted Ilene Beckerman's book of interviews with women about their struggles with fashion. Five women sit on stools with scripts on stands, performing various roles. I was one of the few men in the audience. I felt like a spy.

As for said audience, it was yucking it up with guffaws of recognition as Katie Finneran, Michele Lee, Debra Monk, Ellis Ross and Casey Wilson enlightened us about the various travails women experience in their quest to find the right shoes, handbag, dress, etc. If you're a guy you surely have experienced this with the women in your life, so you might find the show even funnier than did the ladies in the audience.

The above fivesome are in the show through 31 January, to be replaced by Carol Kane, Janeane Garofalo, Caroline Rhea and others.

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Zero Hour has also been running a while, at the Theatre at St. Clement's, and I finally caught up with this, too. It's a one-man show, written and performed by Jim Brochu, who looks and sounds astonishingly like Zero Mostel. We are in Z's studio, his sanctum sanctorum where he engages in his first love, painting, when an interviewer (unseen) from the New York Times arrives. Z proceeds to tell the guy his life story, much of which focuses on his travails when he was black-listed. He gets pretty worked up about this, and a lot of shouting goes on – but that's the way Mostel was, always larger than life.

We also get wonderful anecdotes about A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Fiddler on the Roof, even as we learn to our surprise and dismay that Mostel hated The Producers; though why, he doesn't say.

Brochu is absolutely wonderful in the show. Highly recommended!

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Elaine Murphy's Little Gem, at the Flea Theatre, is an import from last year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Carol Tambor, an American producer, has made it an annual rite to import what she feels was the best Fringe production. Here, she presents Ireland's Guna Nua Theatre Company in the play, which consists of interlocking monologues by three generations of women – a grandmother, her daughter and the daughter's daughter. These stories are most compelling; but they are just that – stories. I am starting to get a bit concerned that I am seeing so many plays these days which are narrated. This seems to be a genre particularly popular with Irish writers (Conor McPherson comes to mind). What usually makes these narrative plays work is the acting, and the actors here do not disappoint. They are simply wonderful.

Little Gem appears to be something of a hard-to-get ticket. It's worth the extra effort, though.

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Finally, I quite enjoyed Roundabout's revival of Noël Coward's Present Laughter, at the American Airlines Theatre. In fact, of the three productions I have seen of this show-biz comedy, this one is much the best.

Victor Garber stars as Garry Essendine, an aging London matinee idol. Garry is always "on" – even when he is at home, and as he prepares to go off on a tour of Africa he must contend with a feisty secretary, his devoted ex-wife, an ingénue who is in love with him, the wife of his producer who throws herself at him and an almost demented playwright who is a fanatic fan.

Nicholas Martin, the director, keeps this craziness running along smoothly and wittily, and the cast is just great; starting with Garber, who is having great fun with this role of an actor who is always acting. Also wonderful is Harriet Harris as his secretary, and Brooks Ashmanskas is hilarious as the demented playwright/fan.

Present Laughter is great fun. Don't miss it!

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SMUDGE. Julia Miles Theatre, 424 W. 55^th St.
TICKETS: 212-757-3900.

LOVE, LOSS AND WHAT I WORE. Westside Theatre, 407 W. 43^rd St.
TICKETS: www.telecharge.com 212-239-6200.

ZERO HOUR. Theatre at St. Clement's, 423 W. 46^th St.
TICKETS: www.telecharge.com 212-239-6200.

LITTLE GEM. Flea Theatre, 41 White St.
TICKETS: 212-352-3101.

PRESENT LAUGHTER. American Airlines Theatre, 227 W. 42^nd St.
TICKETS: 212-719-1300.

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For over thirty years Lawrence Harbison was in charge of new play acquisition for Samuel French, Inc., during which time his work on behalf of playwrights resulted in the first publication of such subsequent luminaries as Jane Martin, Don Nigro, Tina Howe, Theresa Rebeck, José Rivera, William Mastrosimone, Charles Fuller, and Ken Ludwig, among many others; and the acquisition of musicals such as Smoke of the Mountain, A…My Name Is Alice, Little Shop of Horrors and Three Guys Naked from the Waist Down. He is a now a free-lance editor, primarily for Smith and Kraus, Inc., for whom he edits annual anthologies of best plays by new playwrights and women playwrights, best ten-minute plays and best monologues and scenes for men and for women. For many years he wrote a weekly column on his adventures in the theater for two Manhattan Newspapers, the Chelsea Clinton News and The Westsider. His new column, “On the Aisle with Larry,” is a weekly feature at www.smithandkraus.com.

He works with individual playwrights to help them develop their plays (see his website, www.playfixer.com). He has also served as literary manager or literary consultant for several theatres, such as Urban Stages and American Jewish Theatre. He is a member of both the Outer Critics Circle and the Drama Desk. He has served many times over the years as a judge and commentator for various national play contests and lectures regularly at colleges and universities. He holds a B.A. from Kenyon College and an M.A. from the University of Michigan.

He is currently working on a book, Masters of the Contemporary American Drama.

The theme for today is "Commitment" and to begin, I want you to read the following from Goethe:

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too."

"All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issue from the decision raising in one�s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would come his way."

"Whatever you can do or dream, you can begin it, boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now."

So, what is "commitment", what is it and what meaning does this concept have in your life today? Please take out some paper and write down your response. I want you to give careful consideration to this most crucial acting term. Yes, I did say acting term because, in every respect, acting is an act of commitment. What do you think I mean by that? Write your thoughts about that.

I want you to look carefully at your own life. When did you say you were committed to something but you gave up on it before you followed through. Did you give up when things got tough? Also look at the times when you gave your word and you lived up to your promise. How did the accomplishment of your commitment make you feel? And what about when other people have committed to you. Did they do what they said they would do? How many times have you been disappointed by people not living up to their commitments? Please write about all of these things.

If you are going to act then you must face the fact that every character in every play is a person who is committed to something. This "something" that they are committed to is absolutely specific, urgent, vital and most intimate to that particular character. As the play progresses, you will see very clearly how the character responds to this commitment, how they deal with events and other characters who make fulfilling this commitment more difficult and if they get to the other side of these obstacles and reap the rewards of achieving the thing they were after all along. You see, if you have to understand what commitment is when you are going to play a part in a play, then you must first understand how commitment relates to the way you live your own life!

To conclude our first meeting, I want you to write about what you are committed to right now, what are the difficulties in living up to your commitment and how are you dealing with these pressures?

Please send me your emails with your responses and questions. I will post your comments and you will truly take our conversation to where we will be going next. I am depending on you! Also, the first three teen actors to email me with a response to "how you understand commitment in your own life", will win a copy of my new book, Meisner for Teens: A Life of True Acting as soon as it is available from Smith & Kraus! Again, my email is trueacting@actorscraft.com and you can visit me on my website at www.meisnerteacher.com.