[NEohioPAL] Review of "An Act of God" by Beck Center for the Arts

[Bob Abelman]

Beck Center’s amusing ‘An Act of God’ a bit of an Adonai-ance 



Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal

Member, American Theatre Critics Association



God does indeed move in mysterious ways.  



Take “An Act of God,” the play the Beck Center for the Arts selected as its 85th season opener. 



In it, God takes human form in order to explain a new set of commandments that better reflect His original intentions, His coming to terms with “wrath-management issues,” and His liberal position regarding fornication, child-rearing and the bearing of arms.



The play’s political leanings come as no surprise considering that its creator is David Javerbaum, the 13-time Emmy-winning former head writer and executive producer of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”  



Nor is it a surprise that, like the show, “An Act of God” is sarcastic (“I’m not blessing you anymore, so stop asking.  Tell your money to trust in someone else”), deceptively smart (Noah’s ark is casually referred to as “a phylogenetically complete nautical double bestiary”) and extremely funny. 



But the play is little more than a 90-minute stand-up comedy routine, with an impish, self-critical God delivering a steady stream of direct-address one-liners accented by percussive rims-shots, some sacrilege (less than Trey Parker’s “Book of Mormon” but more than Anat Gov’s “Oh, God”) and a whiff of sober intent.



Good thing God is being played by local stand-up comedian Mike Polk Jr.’s, whose affable personality and well-honed comic timing allow him and director William Rodebush to find an up-tempo rhythm and much needed fluidity in a script without a dramatic arc.  



For more of this article, go to www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/bob_abelman/
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