ON STAGE

March 2, 1995

* THE COMPLEAT WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR (ABRIDGED)

(Westside Theatre): The Reduced Shakespeare Company is no more, but its most famous piece lives on, performed here Off Broadway with a new cast (Adam Long, Daniel Singer, Jess Winfield). In it, all 37 of the Bard's plays are handled, in one way or another, in less than two hours. The comedies are disposed of in about 10 minutes, while ``Hamlet'' takes most of the second act.

The farcical and zany shenaningans are hit (a cooking show take-off on ``Titus Andronicus'') and miss (a rap version of ``Othello''), but theatergoers in the mood for silliness, and a lot of it, will have a good time. * HOLIDAY HEART

(Manhattan Theatre Club at City Center): Cheryl W. West's play, which has already been produced in Syracuse, N.Y., Cleveland, and Seattle, packs enough emotion and incident for a mini-series. It tells of a young black girl living on Chicago's South side, and her makeshift family: her mother (Maggie Rush), who returns to a life of drug addiction and prostitution; her mother's lover (Ron Cephas Jones), who is genuinely decent despite his criminal career; and her ``guardian angel,'' Holiday Heart (Keith Randolph Smith, in a stunning performance), the big-hearted drag queen living downstairs. The two men attempt to bring up the girl, but their efforts go sadly awry. The play is a ramshackle affair that tries to be a hard-hitting drama at one moment and a sitcom the next. It doesn't live up to its ambitions, but it has a raw power nonetheless.

* MASQUERADE

(Kaptain Banana restaurant and club): Supper club entertainment of the kind that barely exists anymore. This elegant and cavernous Soho nightspot features a live musical revue as well as excellent dining. The show, energetically produced and choreographed, features enough wigs and costumes to make Carmen Miranda seem like a demure wallflower. Here, with noisemakers on every table and confetti that rains down over your head, every night feels like New Year's Eve.