Up close and very personal

Coping with the pains and pangs of love in a new comedy-musical called Personals are three young actresses, Carmen Cusack, Christina Fry and Vicki Simon.

They open at the Apollo Theatre tonight in a show written by the creators of Friends, David Crane and Marta Kauffman, together with Seth Friedman.

With those credentials, Personals must be said to have a good chance of being as "sophisticated, witty and sardonic" about the New York world of singles bars and lonely hearts columns it depicts as its publicity suggests. Playing Claire, who conceals her vulnerability behind a sharp tongue, is New Yorker Vicki Sharp. "Claire has been massively dumped - big time," she explains. "Is she like me? Well, let's say I have enough experience to play the role."

British actress Christina Fry plays eight different characters in search of love, while Texas-born Carmen Cusack as Kim aims to remarry her husband having failed to find anyone more interesting since divorcing him.