When is a play not really a play? When it’s chatty dialogue written for four actresses while they sit around enacting a birthday brunch. That’s not to say that Sandra Tsing Loh’s Madwomen of the West isn’t enjoyable to sit through: it is, but it’s almost entirely due to the performers onstage, pros all, who know how to interact and toss off Loh’s one-liners—some good, some not so good—with aplomb.

 

Marilyn throws a brunch at Jules’ L.A. (actually, Brentwood) home for Claudia’s birthday, who’s down in the dumps recently. Another of the women’s college friends, Zoey, who has earned fame and fortune onscreen and as an international wellness guru, was invited by Jules, and they are shocked when she shows up. The bulk of the show features verbal sparring as well as attempts to cheer up and empower each other through the difficult paths their lives have taken, both personally and professionally.

 

Loh’s script provides some good-natured and acidic jibes, though a few moments (like a tired Hillary Clinton argument between Marilyn and Jules, for example) could have been dropped. But it’s an entertaining 90 minutes thanks to the formidable cast, which director Thomas Caruso is canny enough to leave to their own devices. Caroline Aaron is her usual feisty self as the feisty Marilyn, while Brooke Adams is an elegant and refined Jules and Melanie Mayron’s matter-of-fact delivery works well for Claudia. Then there’s ageless wonder Marilu Henner enlivening the show with her flair and ceaseless energy as the zesty Zoey, who has a prodigious memory, just like the real Marilu.

 

Are these actresses simply playing thinly disguised versions of themselves? Henner and her memory are one thing, but I hope for their sake that Aaron never shot her husband, Adams never fell for the streaming Peleton trainer and Mayron never had a dysfunctional relationship with her transitioning teenage child. Either way, it’s a real hoot watching this quartet having fun onstage.