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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><font size="3" color="#363636" face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:#363636">By
<span class="authorvcard"><a href="http://connect.cleveland.com/user/tedlarsen/posts.html">Ted Larsen, Sun News
</a></span><span class="orgfn"><span style="display:none"><span style="visibility:hidden">Sun News</span></span></span>
<br>
on June 06, 2013 at 8:09 AM, updated <span class="updated"><span title="2013-06-06T12:11:28Z">June 06, 2013 at 8:11 AM</span></span>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><strong><b><font size="3" color="#363636" face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;
color:#363636">BRECKSVILLE --
</span></font></b></strong><font color="#363636" face="Helvetica"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;color:#363636">After Neil Simon’s early success with one-liner-laced comedies like “The Odd Couple” and “The Sunshine Boys,” he began to turn his attention,
with mixed success, to more nuanced and serious comedy. “God’s Favorite,” based upon the biblical book of Job, was written during that transition.
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<p style="background:white"><font size="3" color="#363636" face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:#363636">The production currently playing at
<st1:PersonName w:st="on">Brecksville Theater on the Square</st1:PersonName> is well-done, and produces a lot of laughs from a script that is far from his best work.
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<p style="background:white"><font size="3" color="#363636" face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:#363636">“God’s Favorite” centers around Joe, a conspicuously wealthy, God-fearing businessman, whose biggest heartache lies
in the faithlessness of his son, <st1:PersonName w:st="on">David</st1:PersonName>. When Sidney Lipton, a messenger from God, arrives to test his faith, all manner of catastrophes follow, beginning with the loss of his business and all his wealth.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="background:white"><font size="3" color="#363636" face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:#363636">As Joe, veteran stage actor Steve Brown is excellent. He can transition instantly and believably from a nice slow
burn to sweet caring. It is a demanding role — he is the hub of virtually every single scene and conversation — and he is more than up to the challenge.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="background:white"><font size="3" color="#363636" face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:#363636">Jay Hill, playing Joe’s antagonist Sidney Lipton, is flat-out hilarious in a broadly chaotic role that is part Jerry
Lewis, part Groucho Marx and all funny. It’s over the top and it works. As Joe’s long-suffering wife,
<st1:PersonName w:st="on">Sally Spitz</st1:PersonName> is equally committed and funny — and she nails the Yiddish accent (the only one in the cast).
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="background:white"><font size="3" color="#363636" face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:#363636">Adam S. Leventhal (<st1:PersonName w:st="on">David</st1:PersonName>) works hard to deliver the humor in a largely
unsympathetic role, and his transition at the end, as he sweetly comes to faith, is lovely. The entire cast, including George Morgan III, Kayleigh Joyce, Beth Lee, and Marc Dusini, is strong and displays excellent (albeit sitcom-esque) timing.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="background:white"><font size="3" color="#363636" face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:#363636">Director Deb Sweat has forged a cast that works wonderfully well together, and the pacing is perfect, in a show that
might falter badly without it. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="background:white"><font size="3" color="#363636" face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:#363636">The moments that fall a little short result from Simon’s relatively weak script.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="background:white"><font size="3" color="#363636" face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:#363636">As written, Joe is not the Job of the Bible — he’s more Ralph Kramden than patient man of God — and Simon’s stretch
to make humor out of Joe’s physical pain is a slapstick more befitting Borscht Belt than Broadway.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="background:white"><font size="3" color="#363636" face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:#363636">Still, there are laughs aplenty — it’s Neil Simon, after all!
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<p style="background:white"><em><i><font size="3" color="#363636" face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:#363636">“God’s Favorite” continues through June 15 at
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Brecksville</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">
Old</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Town Hall</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>. Ticket prices are $14. For tickets, visit
<a href="http://btots.org" target="_blank">btots.org.</a> Call 440-526-3443 for more information or email
<a href="mailto:theater@btots.org" target="_blank">theater@btots.org.</a> Tickets can no longer be purchased via telephone.</span></font></i></em><font color="#363636" face="Helvetica"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;color:#363636"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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