Comedian and actress Hazelle Goodman -- whose range of characterizations has led some critics to compare her with Whoopi Goldberg -- will perform her newest one-woman show "To the Top Top Top!" Friday and Saturday, Feb. 11 and 12, as part of the Yale Repertory Theatre's Special Events series.

Performances will take place at 8 p.m. both nights in the University Theatre, 222 York St.

Goodman, who is known for her multiple character comedy shows, named her newest work after the mantra of one its characters, a recent émigré from the Caribbean who has big plans. In the work, she plays a variety of eclectic streetwise characters, including a Puerto Rican male who rides the subway asking for financial help; a church-going mother nursing her dying son; and a woman named Big Bertha whose motto is "Big is in! To hell with being thin!" The show has been described as a "nightclub act/risqué revival meeting."

Village Voice has said of Goodman's work, "Whether sporting a straw hat or a pair of over-the-top stiletto heels, she nails her characters down."

Goodman, who emigrated from her native Trinidad at the age of 8, began her one-woman cabaret act in 1985. Claiming she couldn't find many suitable roles in films, she said, "I began facing the reality of limited work and opportunities, so I created my own." Since then she has developed such characters as a smooth-talking womanizer named Willy and a fitness freak who contradicts health and nutrition advice. In 1995, her one-woman HBO special "Hazelle!" garnered her a Cable Ace Award.

More recently seen in the Woody Allen film "Deconstructing Harry," Goodman has also appeared in two films with Al Pacino, "Heat" and "Chinese Coffee." Her television roles include the drug lord Georgia Rae Mahoney in the NBC series "Homicide." She also has performed in the New York Shakespeare in the Park production of "Cymbeline" and has been a regular at New York City's CAMI Hall, where she has been writing and performing since 1990.

Tickets for "To the Top Top Top!" range from $12 to $25. For tickets, call the Yale Rep box office at (203) 432-1234. Box office hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays and Saturdays, and until show time on performance days.

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