BWW Reviews: Colony Theatre's MIRACLE ON SOUTH DIVISION STREET A Deliciously Amusing, Thought-Provoking Holiday Diversion

Miracle on South Division Street/by Tom Dudzick/directed by Brian Shnipper/Colony Theatre/through December 15

Tom Dudzick's Miracle on South Division Street is an eclectically funny holiday comedy whose characters could easily be your next door neighbors, if you live in a small city like Buffalo, NY on the East Coast, where in a cockeyed way it seems almost politically correct to be ethnic, intolerant, and behind the times. Locked into their religious beliefs, the Nowaks are Roman Catholics, and their barber grandfather built a shrine in honor of the Virgin Mary. In fact, he had a statue sculpted of her, having claimed that she appeared to him on the spot. That was 1943. Grandpa has passed on -so has grandma, and the barber shop is now a soup kitchen where the needy of the community are fed twice a week.

It's Christmas Eve, 2010 and Ruth (Karianne Flaathen) has called a meeting of her siblings Beverly (Meghan Andrews) and Jimmy (Brian Ibsen) and her mother Clara (Ellen Crawford) to talk about the future of the shrine. What she is about to tell them will shock them into a state of disbelief. Clara is a sterling Catholic mother; Ruth, on the other hand, has been missing mass and is not as devout as she once was. Their relationship is more than strained. Son Jimmy has just bought a ring for a Jewish girl he is dating, but he has not told mother, for fear that all hell will break loose. Why? Well, the Nowaks are a typical upstanding, clean-living Catholic family that everyone admires, because they are Catholic and do not hold back their intolerance of other religious beliefs. Community members have been visiting the shrine for years and dropping donations in the box near the Virgin statue. What is the money to be used for? Even Clara cannot figure that one out, and has been saving it in an account for years.

Ruth's news starts with a story that she claims her grandma told her years before on her hospital death bed...that the statue was not to honor the Virgin Mary, but a woman named Isabel, who, she claims, was grandpa's girlfriend, out of wedlock. But this is only the beginning...there's more and what started as a simple Christmas Eve leading up to midnight mass is turned upside down, especially to the dismay of Clara, whose very roots come undone.

This is one of those stories... if I divulge any more of the secret message, I will ruin the play for the enjoyment of those who have not yet seen it. And it is most definitely worth seeing. Just keep in mind that by its very definition Christmas means the birth of Jesus, who was born to save the world, to bring peoples of all faiths and beliefs together, to live as one. This means change... so who wants change? Change requires tolerance and maybe even living with truths you never knew you would have to face. Are they up to it?

Brian Shnipper has evenly directed a superb cast of four actors. Crawford is the demanding, indomitable spitfire Clara, the Catholic woman for all ages, who stands firm in her loyalty to her religion and family name. It's a riveting performance full of passion, obstinance yet unexpected grace under fire. Flaathen is absolutely stunning as Ruth, the rebel, the actress, desperately hopeful for a future filled with new perspectives. Beverly is the quiet, unwilling participant in the game, the less rebellious daughter, a difficult role to play, and Andrews handles its complexities beautifully. Ibsen is fun-loving as the loose, flexible Jimmy, ready and eager like Ruth, to move down another path.

For some, who dislike religious dogma thrown at them, Miracle on South Division Street may prove somewhat tedious in the beginning, causing restlessness, but once Ruth starts revealing her truths, you will not hear a pin drop in the audience. The play's array of surprises and bold spurts of humor will intrigue, stimulate and titillate.

For more information, visit colonytheatre.org.

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