Review: Boulevard Celebrates Life and Love at Charming HANDLE WITH CARE

Boulevard Ensemble Theatre opened their 30th season at the East Side Plymouth Church presenting an absolutely charming romance Handle with Care. Award-winning author and playwright Jason Odell Williams wrote a heartwarming comedy and intertwines several religious traditions when a young Jewish woman, Ayelet, travels from Israel to America with her Grandmother Edna to rural Virginia, and tonight of all nights, Christmas Eve, they land in the small town of Goodview.

These unconventional circumstances unfold over two days in two small hotel rooms with Ayelot speaking primarily in Hebrew. Artistic Director, and also Production Director, Mark Bucher assembles an amazing cast of young actors--three recently graduated from Milwaukee University theater programs--to stage this redemptive play on recovering after loss and then renewing life.

Ayelet, an utterly engaging and luminous Zoe Schwartz, has been quizzing her Grandmother, who she calls Safta, an equally effervescent Christine Lathrop Morgan, on why they crossed an ocean to take this trip only to stay in dinky motels found in tiny towns throughout Virginia. Together Safta says, they have traveled to America searching for their "beshert"--in Jewish this means 'soulmate' or 'destiny,' which many traditional Jewish people still believe in, and also to discover redemption after their own personal losses. Safta's intuition believed both women needed to find themselves on this journey to America.

When Safta. dies unexpectedly, Ayelet discovers herself in the hands of a delivery man Terrence, a comic and sincere Hugh Blewett, who has lost Safta's body in transit to the airport to be sent back to Israel. Terrence calls his old friend Josh, a disillusioned Mitch Weindorf, because Terrence is unable to understand anything Ayelet says,. He needs to tell her Edna's casket is lost. While Josh is Jewish, he speaks only a little Hebrew, yet realizes according to Jewish tradition a body must be buried within 24 hours and watched the entire time or their soul will not rest once in the ground. As the significant events unfold throughout the 100 minute, no intermission production, destinies collide between Ayelet, Safta, Josh, and Terrence.

The scenes in the play's Christmas Eve hotel room require Schwartz to speak completely in Hebrew, which Schwartz quickly learned for this production. When listening to this fresh talent recite these lines, her words transform into lyrical poetry, a joy to listen to. While Josh tries to understand them (and in doing so translates their meaning for the audience), the language and this couple reveal a marvel of theater to appreciate on stage.

Schwartz and Weindorf, who upholds the Jewish tradition of wearing a beard and not shaving, light a magical candle of chemistry of stage---especially in a tender scene where the wayward Jewish man Josh helps the fervent Ayelet perform the Shabbot, or Sabbath, on a Friday evening. Together they hover close to two candles burning while saying prayers over a cup of red wine. Afterward their Christmas Eve meeting, Terrence, who believes he is worthless and will be fired for losing Safta's body, eventually renews his faith in his own destiny. Since a sneak preview was viewed before opening night, the play's run will develop even more emotional momentum over the next few weeks.

Plymouth Church presents the perfect venue for Wiliams' intimate play that really requires little more than the few chairs and tables Boulevard uses in their lower level assembly room. The rest of the setting can be easily imagined by the audience if they can take their eyes away from the cast. Bucher has jump started numerous acting careers in Milwaukee, including Ericka Wade's career, who is currently mesmerizing audiences in The Ballad of Emmett Hill on the Studio Theater stage at Renaissance Theaterworks. Watch these three young actors transform in the future, because Bucher on a minimal budget and with small technical assistance, produces quality, relevant professional theater. His 30 years of production experience continually requires additional board members, cash flow, funding and volunteers, a never ending necessity for working in the arts.

Honor the holiday season ahead and Boulevard's 30 year tradition along with the vulnerable heart found inside each person that might be stamped: Fragile, handle with care. Do so by reaffirming as human beings, whatever our spiritual beliefs, that to discover love along with our destinies, delights the days on this earth. Be sure to see this endearing production, full of surprises that slowly open over the evening like a Christmas or Hanukah package..Together the Boulevard's charming quartet of actors, a few stage technicians and Bucher present an end of year theatrical gift by reaffirming that as Safta reminds her devoted granddaughter Ayelet, instead of celebrating only on the high holidays, she needs to "Celebrate life and family every week, every month, and all through the entire year."

Boulevard Ensemble Theatre presents Handle with Care at Plymouth Church, 2717 East Hampshire, Milwaukee, through November 22. For tickets, please visit http:handlewithcare..brownpapertickets.com or for information: www.boulevardtheatre.com.

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