Theater Review - CROSSING DELANCEY
Produced by: Theatre Three, Port Jefferson
Reviewed by: Jeb Ladouceur
;)
Elizabeth Ann Castrogiovanni & Sue Anne Dennehy The actual Delancey Street in Manhattan is an eight-lane thoroughfare that runs east and west through the heart of New York City’s predominantly Jewish ‘Lower East Side.’ The street has long been famed as the pulsing artery that gives life to the ethnic area it traverses…and for the high fatality rate incurred by the many unlucky souls who’ve failed in their attempt to cross the broad boulevard where they shouldn’t have. Indeed the parental admonition to “…be careful crossing Delancey” has rung in the ears of youngsters since the earliest days when dodging East Side motorcars and pushcarts along the street’s length presented a very real challenge.
All of this, ostensibly, has nothing to do with the plot of the delightful cluster of Jewish humor that’s being offered under the title “Crossing Delancey” thru March 29th at Theatre Three in Port Jefferson. Curiously, the phrase is never used in the romantic comedy. Of course, it’s possible playwright Susan Sandler injected something into her script that I missed (it certainly wouldn’t be the first time such a thing has happened), but I rather doubt it, because everything else Sandler has put in the mouths of her five characters came through loud and clear.
Isabelle (Elizabeth Ann Castrogiovanni) is a charming, if rather pedantic twentysomething who works in a lower Manhattan bookstore, and imagines herself in the arms of Tyler, a local author of questionable success, played by TV veteran Steve Ayle. Tyler is at least a decade too old for the smitten do-gooder, and after “Izzie” ditches her bookish eyeglasses and bunned hair, she throws herself at “Ty” once too often. He finally comes on to her inappropriately…with predictable consequences. “Izzie” may be a bit naive, after all, but she’s not stupid. She unloads “Ty” with a Yiddish expression that might be better left to the imagination in this family-sensitive review.
While author Tyler has been taking his best shot, Isabelle’s Grandmother, “Bubbie” (wonderfully played by Sue Anne Dennehy) has conspired with her lively “Matchmaker” friend Hannah (Sheila Sheffield) to hook “Izzie” up with Sam, a young, no-nonsense, East Side pickle merchant. James D. Schultz (as Sam) delivers his lines a tad too fast at times, but shows enough stage presence to make us want to watch for him in future roles. The rapid speech pattern of the likeable Delancey Street pickle maven becomes obvious largely because Castrogiovanni’s pace, volume, and diction, are just about perfect. Playing opposite her must be a far-from-easy task.
As for the many scenes featuring Dennehy and Sheffield in this episodic show (during which the sold-out audience applauded lustily after every scene) the cliche ‘well-oiled-machine’ comes to mind. Director Mary Powers surely deserves an appreciative nod for that.
The costumes (designer Chakira-Iliana Doherty won the 2013 Encore award in that category) are fair representations of 1985 New York working class attire. And Randall Parsons’ scenic design, with its superb backdrop depicting a crowded lower east side, is equally appropriate. The set also depends largely on the lighting provided by Robert W. Henderson, Jr., and the whole Megillah comes off without a hitch.
My suggestion: get your friends together and head over to Port Jeff’s delightful, 160-year-old Theatre Three before ‘Crossing Delancey’ closes on March 29th.
You’ll laugh your Tuchas off!
Award-winning Smithtown writer Jeb Ladouceur is the author of eight novels, and his theater reviews appear in several major L.I. publications. In Ladouceur’s next thriller, “Harvest” due in late summer, an American doctor is forced to perform illegal surgeries for a gang of vital organ traffickers in The Balkans.