BWW Reviews: BAD JEWS in New Haven

Family gatherings invariably carry the risk of explosions, and the one in Joshua Harmon's play "Bad Jews" is a doozy.

In a nutshell, three cousins and a girlfriend crash and clash in a New York City studio apartment shortly after their beloved grandfather's funeral. Daphna (Keilley McQuail) is a baalat teshuva (a born-again Jew) and obnoxious from birth. Now add her envious feelings towards her affluent cousins, Liam (Mike Steinmetz) and Jonah (Max Michael Miller). And Liam's intention of giving his pretty, gentle and gentile finance, Melody (Christy Escobar) their grandfather's gold chai (a pendant that symbolizes the Jewish word for life as well as the story of his survival during the Holocaust). The shoebox apartment (beautifully designed by Antjie Ellermann) becomes a tinderbox.

Harmon's story is rich and, even without the Jewish themes, is universal. The problem is that the playwright should have fleshed out the characters more and made them likeable. Jonah barely has any personality. Even right after his grandfather's funeral, he is zoning out on video games, but it's not credible as a way of coping because at the end of the play he displays a tattoo of his grandfather's number in concentration camp. Who is he? How long had he been thinking of getting a tattoo, something that is forbidden according to Jewish law? Liam is at times bombastic almost on a par with his cousin when it comes to pushing buttons. He once ate a cookie in her presence during Passover. He reminded her that not only was her given name Diana, but she used the AIM moniker of PrincessDiana88, yet he "goes ape-shit" if someone calls him by his Hebrew name, Shlomo. Worst of all, he claims that he dropped his iPhone while on a ski lift, so he didn't know that his grandfather, had died and he missed the funeral. As Daphna pointed out, why didn't he use his girlfriend's phone? Daphna is the most complex character. She is highly intelligent, but also extremely bitter, envious, hypocritical, and even a bit touched. She talks about her Israeli boyfriend, but he doesn't actually exist. She is venomous about her cousin's privileged life while she was just the daughter of two schoolteachers. The playwright is a bit stingy about her mental issues and her return to Judaism. Melody is initially sweet and pleasant, but she is a lightweight by anyone's standard. She just doesn't get how she comes across. She planned to be an opera singer, but she doesn't realize that she sings off-key, and that going on two or maybe three auditions before giving up her dreams is just not trying hard enough. She doesn't realize how silly she sounds when she says she has a rather prestigious job at the Chicago Historical Society, yet she knows nothing about architecture. Her dimwittedness gets old quite soon. She is all wide eyed at the story of the chai, but after Daphna rips it off her neck and her skin is bleeding, she goes into a full blown panic that "it was in someone's mouth." At that point, she is intolerably stupid.

Nevertheless, the cast is formidable, with great chemistry, and the direction by Oliver Butler superb. Paul Carey's costumes were perfect, and in the case of Daphna, symbolic of her hypocrisy. Dave Bova's hair and make-up design were ideal complements to the costumes. Tom Acito's fight direction was excellent, and M.I. Dogg's sound design and Stephen Strawbridge's lighting were impeccable.

You really don't have to be Jewish to like "Bad Jews." Get tickets now because the show is almost sold out. "Bad Jews" is playing through March 29 at the Long Wharf Theatre Stage II, 222 Sargent Drive in New Haven. Tickets are $40-$70. For more information, call 203-787-4282, or visit www.longwharf.org.