Like Frasier with
a twist of Reality Bites, The Last Schwartz is a two-hour sitcom,
without commercial interruption.The
play welcomes its audience into the home of the Schwartz family as they
celebrate their papa’s unveiling, the tradition of honoring the dead and
unveiling the tombstone. Doesn’t seem like a terribly funny situation, right?
But it’s when Gene (Ross Amstey), a Schwartz brother,
arrives with his definitively shiksa girlfriend that
the hilarity ensues.
The show opens with Bonnie (Tamara Farias
Kraus) relating an episode of Oprah that featured conjoined twins. Her demeanor initially saccharin sweet, Bonnie
illustrates the hopefulness of these women who will forever drag each other
around by the skull. As she describes the twins’ desire to be mothers, Bonnie
begins to spin into a manic tantrum of epic proportions, screaming that she is
“totally normal” and deserves to have a baby, not those Siamese “freaks.” You
see, Bonnie and her husband, Herb, the eldest Schwartz boy, have been
reproductively unsuccessful. Kraus plays this scene to the hilt, beautifully
building the energy to a frenetic pace.
Desperate for attention, Bonnie is completely ignored,
especially by her sister-in-law, Norma. Played by Davita
Bloom, Norma is a stern, formidable woman who has taken on the role as Schwartz
matriarch. Her stringent beliefs have cost her dearly: “When you do what you
know is right, sometimes there’s a very heavy price to pay,” Norma explains.
Norma bosses her brother Simon about as if he is a child,
not an accomplished astronomer. David Jason Kyle takes on the difficult role of
Simon, a high-functioning autistic man who is quickly
losing his vision. Simon is physically separate from the family, his eye
slammed against a telescope lens, replaying the star clusters of his youth and
contemplating man’s inhumanity toward Mother Earth. Kyle touches the character
with a Rain Man quality, hesitant speech and stiff physicality. His Ferris Bueller-style monologues add poignancy to the mirth.
The star of the show is Elizabeth Winslow as Kia, the aforementioned shiksa. Kia is comparable to Anna Nicole Smith, without the dead
billionaire octogenarian hubby. As the “Fat No More” campaign girl, Kia is famous for her newly transformed body. Winslow lives
up to Anna Nicole’s post Trimspa looks, but Marilyn
Goldberg, the show’s wardrobe manager, dresses Winslow in an unflattering
empire-waisted shirt, forcing the audience to
question the authenticity of her lauded bod.
Ironically, it’s when the play digs in to serious issues
such as divorce, drug use, abortion, and miscarriage that the hilarity grows. Kia, having been raised by members of a hippy commune, is
completely without history or boundaries and, at times, completely
inappropriate. In the second act, Kia runs the show,
taking on each member of the Schwartz family in turn, forcing each to step out
of his or her circle of comfort and face complicated issues.
Despite the fact that it was opening night, Director Ruth
Childs had her cast working like a well oiled machine. And even with the heavy
topics tackled by playwright Deborah ZoeLaufer, the audience never feels overwhelmed.
The set, designed by David Meyer and equal in quality to any
at Geva, is filled with family pictures and
heirlooms. Well worn rugs and a beautiful bay window turn the set into a home.
The audience is left without a clear message or moral. Is
this a play about family traditions clashing with a changing world? There may
be some hidden message about the consequences of choices made, but the theme
isn’t clear. After two hours of laughter, who cares?
The Last Schwartz through May 20 | JCCentersage,
Jewish Community Center, 1200 Edgewood Avenue
| $22 | 461-2000 ext. 235, www.jccrochester.org
This article appears in May 10-16, 2006.
