The pressure to fit in can be maddening, especially when that pressure comes from family.
That’s the main comedic tenet at work in the Spotlight Theatre Company’s production of “Beau Jest,” James Sherman’s comedy that feels like it’s part British farce and part Woody Allen routine. The plot is seeped in references to Jewish culture, rituals and family dynamics – jokes about Seders and yarmulkes abound. Happily, that doesn’t keep director Katie Mangett and the talented cast from fully exploiting the genuinely funny and universal moments in Sherman’s text, insights about family, faith and love that keep the comedy accessible.
The action revolves around Sarah Goldman (Johanna Jaquith), a Jewish girl whose frantic desire is to appease her parents’ deep-seated wish that she marry a “nice Jewish boy,” a wish she strives to keep even as she’s dating a WASPy executive named Chris Kringle (Dan Bray).
The plot thickens when Goldman hires Bob Schroeder (Ben Cowhick), an out-of-work actor moonlighting for an escort service, to play “Dr. Steinberg,” a fictional Jewish doctor she created to satisfy her parents’ queries. Schroeder, an actor whose knowledge of Jewish rites and culture comes largely from his stint as a cast member in “Fiddler on the Roof,” must play the role of the dutiful Jewish fiancé for Sarah’s parents Miriam (Emma Messenger) and Abe (Dell Dominik), as well as her sister Joan (Bonnie Greene).
The deepest laughs come from the dinner conversations, as Schroeder plays his best Dr. Steinberg during a Passover Seder and a Friday night meal. He blesses the wine with a Hebrew prayer, fakes some Yiddish and fields a fake emergency call from his beeper. As Schroeder, Cowhick offers a well-honed sense of comedic timing, a skill that makes the balancing act ring true. In a role that seems designed for caricature, Messenger balances the comedic qualities of an overbearing Jewish mother with real heart, and Jaquith’s offers convincing degrees of torment as Sarah starts to fall for Schroeder.
Sherman’s premise veers from the unlikely to the ridiculous over the course of the three-act comedy, and the Spotlight troupe manages to find the full comedic potential of a script that runs the risk of being overly simple and hackneyed. Happily, Mangett and the cast treat the more cartoonish moments with enough subtlety and sensitivity that a real sense of family emerges from the zaniness.
“Beau Jest”
Runs until June 30 at the John Hand Theatre, 7653 E. 1st Place in Lowry. Tickets start at $20. Information: 720-880-8727 or thisisspotlight.org.
THREE STARS OUT OF FOUR