Glendale Centre Theatre Presents Beau Jest

Beau Jest/by James Sherman/directed by Martin Lang/Glendale Centre Theatre/through September 24

(photo credit: Tim Dietlein)

"I've created a monster!" proclaims Sarah Goldman (Alison Robertson) in James Sherman's audience-pleasing comedy Beau Jest, currently receiving a first-class production at the Glendale Centre Theatre. With fast one-line zingers, the farce is the perfect summer stock vehicle and boasts a sparkling cast under Martin Lang's quickly-paced direction.

What is this monster? Well, Sarah hires an actor to play her new Jewish boyfriend David (Kelly Flynn) who claims to be a doctor - a heart and brain surgeon no less - simply to please her parents Miriam and Abe (Elaine Rose and Mario Digregorio). It takes a while but eventually Sarah's therapist brother Joel (Danny Michaels) sees through the fraud, and caring good brother that he is, tries to convince her to take responsibility for her own life. The actor playing David, Bob Schroeder (Flynn) of course little by little falls head over heals in love with Sarah, but they're still stuck with the same problem at the end of Act II - He's "not Jewish"! Ethnic families! Remember My Big Fat Greek Wedding? Children live to make their parents happy, but never themselves. Will Sarah be different and get up the gumption to tell her parents the truth? The plot here is much like a sitcom, but terribly, terribly funny. Oh, and there is another boyfriend, Chris Cringle (Shawn Cahill) - can you believe the name? - but he's not Jewish either, the parents wouldn't accept him, and that's the reason Sarah hired Bob to begin with. Oy!!

The ensemble do wonderfully zany work especially Flynn who makes hardly a false move as he fumbles and bumbles his way through the doctor disguise. Robertson is perky, pretty and full of energy; Rose and Digregorio are the perfect Jewish parents - he, all business and she, into everyone else's. Michaels is believably nerdy as the brother and has a fab scene in Act III where the therapist take over and attempts to alter Sarah's inane behavior.

If three acts make it seem that the play is long, it is not. It all flies by within two hours including intermission, as director Lang's wise pacing moves it along with the speed of a locomotive. There's plenty of ethnic humor in Beau Jest replete with an entire scene devoted to a seder.(see photo above) In fact, several scenes take place at the dining room table. There's something about a big family at the dinner table eating and kvetching. If you remember, it was a highlight in Jewtopia and in August Osage County. The comedic possibilities are limitless. Go to Beau Jest; you're bound to have a ball!