NEW YORK _ Before BBC and Amazon turned it into a cult hit with a rabid fan base _ making writer-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge a media sensation in the process _ "Fleabag" was an intense, very funny 65-minute mashup of pleasure and pathos.
And so it remains. But Waller-Bridge's star is rising in the entertainment world, what with the second season of the streaming series just launching on the BBC (Amazon viewers have to wait until May), the raves for her second TV hit "Killing Eve" (she's writer and showrunner), along with her roles in "Solo: A Star Wars Story" and the second season of "Broadchurch." So taking full advantage of all this, Waller-Bridge has brought the bare-bones monologue she first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2013 to the SoHo Playhouse for a limited six-week run.
Minus the slick production values and expanded cast on TV (Oscar winner Olivia Colman plays her stepmother, and Kristin Scott Thomas and Fiona Shaw are set to guest star in season 2), the stage version is Waller-Bridge by herself, perched but always ready to take flight on a deep red stool that almost matches her casual pullover.
