CROSSING DELANCY—at Ross Valley Players
The Crossing from Lower to Upper East Side is ZERE GUT!!
By Susan Dunn, September 21, 2024
Sometimes we need a simple story with archetypal and eccentric characters to raise our spirits and whisk us from those pesky daily issues. Crossing Delancey is that perfect vehicle. It surrounds us with a New York Jewish world where home cooking, kugel and tagelach, and occasional bottled spirits, put better faces on loneliness and bonding. Its mission is to solve Grandma Bubbie’s dilemma. How can she lead her reluctant granddaughter Isabel, who has left the lower east side for the more upscale and cosmopolitan atmosphere of uptown, into a normal Jewish marriage? Bubbie and henchmen Matchmaker Hannah and Sam, the Pickle Vender, are up to the task.
As stage lights come up, Isabel is performing a comedic hair-plucking surgery on her grousing Bubbie, with inspired acting by Tamar Cohen. Ever the theatrical, with a vanity that emerges and re-emerges through the play, Bubbie continues to entertain us through the scene, initially to the detriment of her subdued, intellectual and more prosaically attired granddaughter. Bubbie’s wiles and maneuvers are well-intended, but romantically cool Isabel has visions of a different and more culturally independent life, which we quickly learn is based only on fantasy. Isabel, well played and embodied by Lisa Morse, lives alone and works for an uptown bookstore where her day dreams can explode on desirable-looking local authors who have a stake in visiting the bookstore. The more Bussie and Hannah scheme and push, the more Isabel becomes entrenched in her author du jour.
In a stand-out scene, Isabel greets her current author and would-be love, Tyler, a hilariously affected, pseudo British Accented Steve Price, who is stopping by the bookstore. He finds she has read his latest book three times and is flattered. The narrative morphs from their casual banter into a lights-dimmed fantasy world where Isabel is suddenly the object of Tyler’s affections. As the scene returns to normalcy, Isabel is inspired to pursue Tyler with her own schemes for winning this impressive man.
Meanwhile Hannah is pushing another romantic candidate, Sam, who has inherited his father’s Pickle Vending business. In a first meeting with Isabel, Sam is ignored or outright put down by Isabel despite his attempts to soften her resistance. The pickles are a downer in Isabel’s hierarchical world, but Sam has outstanding charm, patience and attractiveness that win everyone over. He also gives her advice on changing her perspective, and despite rejections, gifts her with the ability to see her world from a broader perspective
I worried that the extensive program glossary for Jewish Words and Phrases meant the dialogue was going to leave me in an ethnic lurch, but the story unfolds through the impeccable acting, gestures, props, songs and the occasional breaking of the 4th wall narrative. And the Jewishness of the characters comes across with a real authenticity leavened with humor. The set is ingeniously used for swapping scenes between Bubbies house, the bookstore and side scenes of engagement, with choreography that keeps the action fluid and cogent. Costuming changes are continuous and keep the action lively with each character defined by clothes, especially Isabel, who wears the same rather dowdy outfit into Act 2 and verges on tempting us to run up and rip it off her. High marks go to Hannah’s mod-Jewish Matchmaker ensembles which echo her brassy voice and in-your-face personality. Lighting helps change scene moods, and spontaneous Jewish songs and other background standards help pave the way for love to flower.
With superb acting all around, and exceptional range, force and truth in lead character Buddie, this is a comedy to treasure. From start to end, Director Adrian Effenbaum has crafted a marvelously oiled feel-good machine in Crossing Delancy.
Production | CROSSING DELANCY |
Playwright | Susan Sandler |
Directed by | Adrian Effenbaum |
Producing Company | Ross Valley Players |
Production Dates | Through October 13 |
Venue | Ross Valley Players"The Barn"30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, Greenbrae, CA 94904 |
https:// | |
Telephone | (415) 456-9555 |
Tickets | $21.60 - $37.80 |
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