In her first New York stage appearance since The Rose Tattoo at Circle In The Square, Mercedes Ruehl will appear in Peter Hedges new drama, Good As New, at Off-Broadway's Manhattan Class Company, Feb. 14-March 9.

Jennifer Dundas will play 16-year-old Maggie who confronts her mother (Ruehl) about mom's new face. In Good As New, "a nuclear family discovers love may still be possible even after you tell the truth." Filling out the cast is John Spencer, best known for playing Tommy Mullaney on TV's "L.A. Law."

A Tony winner for Lost In Yonkers and a Tony nominee for Tattoo and The Shadow Box, Ruehl burst onto the NY theatre scene as the lawyer who fights Larry The Liquidator in the Off-Broadway hit, Other People's Money. Dundas, who starred in Arcadia at Lincoln Center, will return to that theatre in April in a revival of The Little Foxes with Stockard Channing and Brian Murray.

Peter Hedges' previous plays include Imagining Brad, Oregon and Champions Of The Average Joe. His novel, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, was adapted into a feature film.

David Van Tieghem provides original music for Good As New, which will have sets by Rob Odorisio, costumes by Sharon Sprague and lighting by Blake Burba. Now in its 11th season, Manhattan Class Company has produced such works as Nixon's Nixon; Three In The Back, Two In The Head; The Grey Zone and A Snake In The Vein. For tickets ($25-$20) and information on Good As New, which opens Feb. 23 at the MCC Space on West 28th St., call (212) 727-7765.

--By David Lefkowitz