When people in the UN can't agree, they should just start a mother-in-law conversation.

So I'm in Philly visiting Aunt Linda and Uncle Giz this week, and yesterday Melis, Kris, Lex, Mom, and I took a side trip to Manhattan. It was fabulous. I saw two shows that I've been dying to see, got some John's pizza, and saw a used-to-be-famous person on the street. (It was Greg Germann, who played the quirky Richard Fish on Ally MacBeal.)

In the morning Kris used her student ID to obtain a ticket for Gypsy for me while everyone else got tickets for Legally Blonde. We had lunch at Junior's and then rushed off to our shows. Gypsy is amazing and Patty Lupone must be on steroids for the amount of energy and emotion she puts into that show. She is a Broadway legend and it was such a thrill to see her in that amazing role. Go see it!

We met up for dinner at John's and then split again. The others saw Xanadu and sat in the on-stage seats. Whoopie Goldberg was guesting in one of the roles and she touched Lex and my Mom during the "Strange Magic" number. That squeal of jealousy you just heard came from Harrisburg, PA, from the mouth of my friend Chris.

While all this was going on, I was uptown having the theater experience of my life. I got a second row, dead center seat for The 39 Steps and I cannot even come up with an adjective powerful enough to describe how fabulous this show is. Every once in a while you see something on stage that you know is special and amazing and could never be recreated by someone else, and that is what I saw on the stage of the Cort Theater. Go see this show, go see it now, get in your car and drive to New York, but first stop in Johnstown to pick me up because I need to see it again.

Even my restroom experience in the Cort Theater was entertaining. There was a woman in the Ladies' Lounge complaining about her mother-in-law, and this must be the topic that crosses all cultural divides because total strangers started joining in, and here's what I heard:

"I hated my mother-in-law. My word, she was vicious."

"I hated my mother. Now, she was vicious."

"My first mother-in-law opened all my wedding gifts!"

"No wonder she was your first mother-in-law."

"I always referred to my son's first wife as 'my son's first wife,' even when they were still married."

I just love it when women get catty in the Ladies' Room!