Penny Orloff

Jewish Thighs on Broadway: Misadventures of a Little Trouper Penny Orloff

Based on her hilarious solo show, Penny Orloff's novel is populated by an oddball immigrant family, on-again-off-again lovers, diets from Hell, and a Rogue's Gallery from the Showbiz underworld; and every scene has readers laughing out loud. Abigail Paine, born Miriam Rosen, has been in love with Show Business since childhood, perpetually fantasizing herself as the Little Trouper Who Finds Stardom and True Love by the end of the movie. After a hundred shows and a hundred one-night stands, love and fame still elude her, and she'd rather suck a tailpipe than face another audition. Complicating her search for the Busby Berkeley ending is her primitive alter-ego ¿ The Beast. This creature can track, kill, dismember and devour an entire cheesecake; can kick the sh-- out of smaller muggers on the sidewalks of New York; and can't say no to recreational sex with a famous director on the Third Ring of the New York State Theater while a public tour is in progress. When Abigail finds love at long last, she is faced with an agonizing choice: Showbiz or The Guy. As she laments, 'Breaking into this Business is like breaking into Fort Knox; breaking out, we're talking Alcatraz.'