Theater Review: “Bad Jews” at JCC CenterStage

You don’t have to be Jewish, or even particularly bad, to
love Joshua Harmon’s corrosive comedy “Bad Jews.” An Off-Broadway hit last
year, it is receiving its first regional theater production at the JCC CenterStage. Artistic Director Ralph Meranto
was eager to get the rights for this play, and with good reason: as the title
suggests, “Bad Jews” is extremely funny, extremely rude, and extremely
thought-provoking. And best of all, it’s exceptionally well directed and acted.

“Bad Jews” takes place in an upper West Side apartment
occupied by two brothers from a well-to-do Jewish family, Liam (Carl Del Buono) and Jonah (Justin Borak),
who are hosting their cousin Daphna (Janine Mercandetti)
after the funeral of their grandfather. (Most of the claustrophobic set is taken
up by fold-up beds.) Liam has missed the funeral — he dropped the iPhone with
the call about his grandfather’s death while on a ski lift at Vail — and is
just arriving with his girlfriend Melody (Samantha Buckman),
who is not Jewish (when questioned about her ethnic origin by Daphna, she
replies “Delaware”).

All the above is enough to give Daphna an epic case of shpilkes, but there’s more: She is determined to leave with
a family heirloom, a gold chai (a Hebrew symbol and
the word for “life”). The grandfather kept this ornament hidden throughout the
Holocaust and gave it to their grandmother instead of an engagement ring. Liam
is equally determined to have it as an engagement gift for Melody, and in fact
received it from his grandfather just before he died. Daphna, however, thinks
that as the family’s “good Jew,” she has it coming to her. The ensuing struggle
for “life” is, to put it mildly, ferocious.

If you find it amusing, or perhaps distressing, that one of
the characters in “Bad Jews” is a Jewish man with a Celtic first name, you are
probably on this play’s wavelength. Harmon pits a so-called “SuperJew”, the super-observant, politically abrasive
Daphna, against the more easygoing cultural Jewishness of the “bad Jews,” Liam
and Jonah. Harmon touches on questions about Jewish identity, family
relationships and sense of entitlement, a close-knit group’s treatment of
outsiders, and quite a lot more.

The arguments are fascinating (and
occasionally jaw-dropping) to watch and to hear, as the characters pace and
circle each other like tigers in the tiny apartment. Ralph Meranto
has cast “Bad Jews” astutely, and his direction reflects his enthusiasm for the
play; it has a tremendous, focused energy throughout that suits the script
perfectly. Harmon has thrown these tigers some tasty red meat, and the actors
in the CenterStage cast attack it like they haven’t
eaten in a week.

Mercandetti almost runs away with
the show as Daphna. This character is loudmouthed, ever-grudging, nagging,
unendingly self-righteous, and just plain mean, and Mercandetti
gives it all she’s got; yet she also manages to find just a bit of sympathy and
understanding for this character, giving a performance that is much more than a
caricature. Daphna’s spectacular mop of hair (much commented on by Liam) is
practically the play’s fifth character.

Mercandetti and Carl Del Buono have performed together so often lately that
audiences might be forgiven for thinking they’re actually one (very talented)
performer. They certainly work together as one here, giving full-out, but
precisely detailed performances. For example, Del Buono
gets a rage-filled aria soon after his entrance, and he nails every laugh in
it, but he also subtly echoes Daphna in his body language — showing that
despite their mutual disdain, Liam and Daphna are indeed related. This is
impressive acting and directing.

Daphna and Liam have the showy parts in “Bad Jews,” but
Justin Borak and Samantha Buckman
more than hold their own. The character of Melody at first seems brought in
simply so Daphna can make some easy jokes about WASPs. Buckman
is cute and clueless here, the pussycat in the tigers’ den; but as the play
gets nastier, Buckman shows Melody’s stiffening spine
convincingly. In fact, her insistence on hearing Daphna’s side of the story
leads to the play’s violent climax.

As Jonah, Borak brings genuine presence to what at first
seems like a non-role, consisting of single-word answers, evasive replies, and
frustrated silences. (The opening scene, an endless monologue by Daphna with
random replies from Jonah, sounds almost like a parody of the beginning of “Cat
on a Hot Tin Roof.”) But it turns out this placid character has a genuinely
surprising trick up his sleeve, which Harmon reserves for the end.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been corrected. Chai is made up of two letters from the Hebrew alphabet.

This article appears in Oct 15-21, 2014.