Review: CROSSING DELANCEY Projects Cozy Warmth

Lewiston's Public Theatre's closing play of the 2015-2016 season, Susan Sandler's Crossing Delancey is the perfect Mother's Day offering, projecting cozy warmth and fond memories of an unforgettable Jewish grandmother. The 1985 play, which takes a bemused look at the clash between traditional Jewish- American immigrant culture and the more modern aspirations of the next generations, serves up a quintet of characters one cannot fail to embrace.

Indeed, it is these characters - the grandmother Bubbie, Isabelle, Isabelle's two suitors Sam and Tyler, and Hannah the redoubtable matchmaker - whose colorful quirkiness conjures up parallel memories of zany but loveable relationships with relatives so many of us have. Sandler etches these characters with precision and affection, pushing them to the edge - but never crossing it - of caricature. Especially Hannah and Bubbie are prototypically funny, yet retain that ring of truth, while the contrast between suitors cannot fail to shape Isabelle's own choice in marriage. That she chooses the more genuine man makes for a happy ending.

The Public Theatre's has cast from strength with Carole Schweid as a touching, outspoken, winning grandmother Bubbie; Marina Re a boisterously amusing Hannah, and Deanna McGovern a romantic Isabelle, who is desperately trying to "cross Delancey" street into a new world only to find herself curiously at home in the old. Ben Rosenblatt strikes the right mix of homey charm and engaging substance as Sam, the "pickle man," who actually knows a thing or two about literature and romance, while Peter Simon Hilton is appropriately smarmy as the narcissistic writer Tyler Moss.

Christopher Schario directs with skillful hand, giving the comedy a swift, yet relaxed pace and gentle emotional halo. Judy Staicer's divided unit set - Lower East Side apartment on one and Upper Manhattan bookstore on the other - perfectly suggests the polarized cultural worlds. Bart Garvey smooths the transitions with his effective lighting design that helps the play not only move across the geographic-cultural divide of Delancey Street, but also in and out of Isabelle's fantasy and reality. Kathleen P. Brown's costumes, especially the assortment of purple-hued garments for Hannah, help define the characters, and the uncredited sound design adds the flavor of Yiddish songs and heritage.

Crossing Delancey is a deft, heartwarming valentine designed to conjure invoke the audience's tender memories and make them yearn for a simpler past with more genuine values. As such, it proves to be a delightful, affirming conclusion to an artistic season.

Photograph courtesy Public Theatre

Crossing Delancey runs from May 6-15, 2016 at the Public Theatre, 78 Maple St., Lewiston, ME 207-782-2211 www.thepublictheatre.org