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Fast on the heels of last month's Tracey Ullman: Takes on New York HBO special, there's now tracey ullman: a class act (HBO, Nov. 23, 10:15 p.m.-11 p.m.), another showcase for Ullman's changeling talents. One reason this performance is better than Takes on New York is that the various sketches in A Class Act are all set in England, and Ullman seems more confident-freer to be stingingly mean-on her home turf. As the punning title implies, the unifying theme here is the class structure of Britain, and the show contains one small masterpiece: ''Hethers,'' a sketch inspired by the terrific 1989 catty-girl movie Heathers, starring Winona Ryder and Shannen Doherty. Ullman and Monty Python's Michael Palin portray dowdy, middle-class parents who sacrifice everything to send their daughter (Ullman again) to a posh English boarding school, Hetherington Hall. Once exposed to the snobbish cruelty of her wealthy classmates, the once-timid daughter remakes herself as one of them, while Mum and Dad continue to suffer financing her fierce social climbing. If that sounds like a grim downer, you won't believe how excruciatingly funny it really is. A-


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Posted Nov 19, 1993 | Published in issue #197 Nov 19, 1993 | Order Article Reprints