[NEohioPAL]Berko review: FROM DOOR TO DOOR (JCC)

[Roy Berko]

‘FROM DOOR TO DOOR’ fits JCC mission

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	

James Sherman, whose play ‘DOOR TO DOOR,’ is presently
being produced by the Jewish Community Center, is also
the author of ‘’BEAU JEST, the off-Broadway hit.  

The title of the play, ‘DOOR TO DOOR, is based on  a
phrase in the Hebrew prayer book, "l'dor v'dor," which
means "from generation to generation."   And, from
generation to generation is exactly what the play
illustrates.  The plot focuses on three generations of
the same family."  Sherman explains, "There's no
secret this play is inspired by my mother.  She knows
it, she's seen it. The play is to honor her and the
women of her generation."  He continues, "One woman of
my grandmother's generation, one woman of my mother's
generation and one woman of our generation.”  To
accomplish the task, the play covers 65 years, from
1935 to just about the present.

It is written in memory format.  It begins in the
present.  Mary, who represents Sherman’s mother, is
sitting shiva for her husband.  (Shiva is the
seven-day mourning period which begins after burial. 
Survivors concentrate on their inner feelings to begin
the healing process and take the first step into
re-entering normal life without the deceased.)   She
is there with her daughter and, as the play develops,
we flashback to various incidents in Mary’s life.  

Sherman has used the script as a means of personal
awareness.  "When I was working on the play, it gave
me an excuse for my mother to sit down and talk about
herself, which is not something she loves to do,"
Sherman said. "I also talked to a number of women of
her generation, and women like my sister, and what
started to interest me about these mothers and
daughters is how we take what we get from our parents
and then make choices about what we will pass on to
our children and not pass onto our children." 

The play, which premiered in Chicago in 1999, showed
regionally and then was produced off-Broadway in 2004
.  It played nine previews and had a respectable 110
performance run in the Big Apple.

‘FROM DOOR TO DOOR’ fits well into the JCC’s arts
mission of showcasing plays about Jewish topics and/or
by Jewish authors.  This concentration allows members
of the Jewish and non-Jewish community alike to be
exposed to ethnic shows that might not otherwise be
produced on local stages.

The JCC production is nicely paced by director Fred
Sternfeld.  The flashbacks and flash forwards could
get confusing as Sherman’s writing stratagem has left
little time for costume changes.  Sternfeld has
handled this potential problem very well and the time
eras are clear.

The production generally works, but a miscasting makes
for some lack of believability.  While Jeanne Task
(Mary) and Liz Conway (Deborah, the daughter) fit
their roles well, Barbara Haas just doesn’t create the
right sound or illusion as the Jewish grandmother. 
Her accent, her demeanor, her presence, lack the
needed “tam,” (the taste) and the “yiddishkeit,” (the
Jewishness).  There is a cadence that makes for a
believability to the Jewish sound.   It is not
something that one can act, it is almost something
which someone must acquire from being around, living
with, experiencing European Jewish women of that era. 
Haas lacked that quality.  She is not the first
actress who has had trouble with this.  Valerie Harper
didn’t have it in her recent Cleveland appearance as
Golda Meir.  Jessica Tandy lacked the right feel in
the film, “DRIVING MISS DAISY.’   This is a role which
is a much better fit for such local actresses as
Elaine Rembrandt and Dorothy Silver.

Jeanne Task developed the nuances of Mary.  She
clearly understands the role of mother and wife.  She
was real, natural, convincing.  Liz Conway, for the
most part, was excellent.  She was at her strength as
the young Deborah, who was willing to defy her lack of
Jewish upbringing by marrying a non-Jew (a
“shaygetz”).  She was excellent as the daughter who
has transformed into the mother to her mother.  There
were some instances in the transitional scenes,
however, in which she lost some of the
characterization.

Ben Needham’s creative set design, which consisted of
a series of interlocking doors on various levels, was
excellent.  The symbolism of the multi-doors which
could have been opened in Mary’s life, but of which
only a few were actually opened, expanded the script’s
imagery.

Richard Ingraham selected excellent music, including a
vocal version of the play’s title, ‘L’dor V’dor,” to
tie the sound to the plot.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  JCC’s ‘FROM DOOR TO DOOR’ is a
perfect fit into the theatre’s mission.  The
production is quite acceptable, but could have been
better with more appropriate casting.

‘FROM DOOR TO DOOR’ runs through May 21 in the
Performing Arts Auditorium at Cuyahoga County
Community College ‘s Eastern Campus .  For tickets
call 216-800 766-6048 or go on line to
www.tickets.com.



Roy Berko's web page can be found at www.royberko.info.  His theatre and dance reviews appear on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal.

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