Review: BAR MITZVAH BOY, Upstairs at the Gatehouse, March 25 2016

It's 1970, we're in North London and Eliot Green is looking forward to his Bar Mitzvah when he will, as all Jewish boys do, recite a prayer and pass from boy to man. The problem is that the specimens of Jewish manhood in his family give him no confidence that it's a destination worth reaching and, to his parents' horror, he does a runner and plunges his family into crisis.

This musical (based on Jack Rosenthal's award-winning play) ran for just seventy-odd performances on Broadway in 1978, not catching the Studio 54 vibe of the time. Despite the blue chip pairing of Jule Styne's music and Don Black's lyrics, it stayed off the stage for many years until David Thompson re-worked the book and Stewart Nicholls re-conceived its staging for an intimate domestic scale production, which is now showing at the well-appointed Upstairs at the Gatehouse venue in Highgate.

So - is it any good? At its best, it is superb - the wit of the lyrics and the Jewish rhythms weaving in and out of the melodies are a delight, the standouts probably the showstopper, "The Bar Mitzvah of Eliot Green" and the plaintive "The Harolds of this World", but all the songs show Styne's pedigree (which includes Gypsy and Funny Girl). There's some West End standard singing too, especially from the crystal clear voice of Lara Stubbs as Eliot's sister Lesley, and the expressive Sue Kelvin as his mother Rita. A word too for Adam Bregman, who is seldom off stage and, just a few months after his own Bar Mitzvah, sings sweetly and gets his fair share of laughs. He's well up to a big challenge for a 13-year-old.

What's not to like? Well, the stereotype Jewish mother comes across as controlling to the point of bullying - I started to actively dislike her which is not a good sign in a comedy-musical. And the schmaltz is trowelled on so thick in Act Two that one begins to feel just a little nauseous, as things, as you knew they would, work out for the best. Both these faults are probably of their time, the 70s more forgiving of such indulgences - as that time was of a little casual racism that jars unnecessarily on the ears today.

But you pays your money and you takes your chance and nobody is expecting Cathy Come Home, so sit back and let the entertainment and the feelgood tale of the rough and smooth of family life wash over you. Sure it's firmly located in the Jewish faith (and that wonderful Jewish argot that enhances any text written, spoken or sung) but this is a universal story of parents and kids, men and women, hopes and fears. There's plenty of successes and failures in the Green Family that Gentiles will recognise in their own - imperfect people being imperfect people, no matter what their religion, after all.

Bar Mitzvah Boy The Musical continues Upstairs at The Gatehouse until 17 April.

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