Jerusalem Syndrome Blog Review Now Up
Posted by on 10:56 am Sep 28th, 2008(More news)
Posted from Mephistopheles of Pancakes ("gruyere")
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http://gruyere.livejournal.com/426758.html
NYMF Roundup, Day 5
The Jerusalem Syndrome
Book and Lyrics by Laurence Holzman and Felicia Needleman
Music by Kyle Rosen
It is one of the great pleasures of attending readings and developmental productions of shows: seeing a show and thinking to oneself “this is something special, something that could really be a hit.” Such is the case with The Jerusalem Syndrome. It isn't the best show of the festival, but it's the one that feels most like a potential hit; it's one where, while watching it, I found myself imagining how great it would be in a big production, with an orchestra and real sets. (Lauren Helpern's use of folding cardboard pieces is inventive but drab and unattractive.)
What The Jerusalem Syndrome has going for it is its book. Taking its cue from a real-life psychological condition where westerners visiting Israel start to believe themselves to be Biblical personages, we end up with a host of characters who meet in a psych ward: a lit professor in an unhappy marriage becomes Sarah, a clumsy young tour guide thinks he's Moses, a gay man with daddy issues decides he's Jesus. (That last one ends up with more than he bargained for when two separate Virgin Marys argue over whose son he actually is.) The first act is mostly exposition and comedy; at intermission, the patients have escaped the ward (after a sweet, unlucky-in-love young lady who thinks she's God (literally) ties up the night nurse), and the second act is dedicated to getting everybody back in the hospital, back in their right minds, and back home safely. That the plot is thin is indisputable, but it's all solidly structured and the characterization is spot-on; more importantly, it's funny. Really funny. Spit-take funny. The score is merely okay; there are a pair of nice patter songs in Act I (the title song and “Room 17,” sung by a starstruck nurse bringing medication to a soap opera star Abraham), two amusing comedy numbers in “Daddy Loved Jesus” ad “Weirdo in a Bed Sheet,” a lovely ballad called “Is It Crazy?,” and a memorably jaunty first act closer (“You Can Lead”), but on a whole the songs aren't up to the level of the book. Not that that's a deal-breaker; they're certainly good enough.
Plus, it's got a great cast. The perennially excellent Liz Larsen and Stuart Zagnit as the professor and her workaholic husband; the big-voiced Alan H. Green as gay Jesus (he gets the nice ballad); charming Nick Verina and Felicia Ricci, as Moses and God respectively (hey, it's canon!); Austin Miller (known for his participation in the Grease reality show, but so excellent in Tully in last year's NYMF) as the actor, whose costume offers ample opportunity to show off his abs (when you got it, flaunt it); Chandra Lee Schwartz as the sweetly ditzy nurse (although how this young lady, who is obviously intended to be American, ended up in Jerusalem is never satisfactorily (or even unsatisfactorily) explained); and the nicely grounded Bruce Sabath as the doctor in charge of the psych ward. (The remaining six actors, who all play a multitude of roles, should be named as well: Vanessa Lemonides, Mary Gutzi, Ronica Reddick, Ron DeStefano, Roger DeWitt, and J.D. Webster.)
The Jerusalem Syndrome
Book and Lyrics by Laurence Holzman and Felicia Needleman
Music by Kyle Rosen
It is one of the great pleasures of attending readings and developmental productions of shows: seeing a show and thinking to oneself “this is something special, something that could really be a hit.” Such is the case with The Jerusalem Syndrome. It isn't the best show of the festival, but it's the one that feels most like a potential hit; it's one where, while watching it, I found myself imagining how great it would be in a big production, with an orchestra and real sets. (Lauren Helpern's use of folding cardboard pieces is inventive but drab and unattractive.)
What The Jerusalem Syndrome has going for it is its book. Taking its cue from a real-life psychological condition where westerners visiting Israel start to believe themselves to be Biblical personages, we end up with a host of characters who meet in a psych ward: a lit professor in an unhappy marriage becomes Sarah, a clumsy young tour guide thinks he's Moses, a gay man with daddy issues decides he's Jesus. (That last one ends up with more than he bargained for when two separate Virgin Marys argue over whose son he actually is.) The first act is mostly exposition and comedy; at intermission, the patients have escaped the ward (after a sweet, unlucky-in-love young lady who thinks she's God (literally) ties up the night nurse), and the second act is dedicated to getting everybody back in the hospital, back in their right minds, and back home safely. That the plot is thin is indisputable, but it's all solidly structured and the characterization is spot-on; more importantly, it's funny. Really funny. Spit-take funny. The score is merely okay; there are a pair of nice patter songs in Act I (the title song and “Room 17,” sung by a starstruck nurse bringing medication to a soap opera star Abraham), two amusing comedy numbers in “Daddy Loved Jesus” ad “Weirdo in a Bed Sheet,” a lovely ballad called “Is It Crazy?,” and a memorably jaunty first act closer (“You Can Lead”), but on a whole the songs aren't up to the level of the book. Not that that's a deal-breaker; they're certainly good enough.
Plus, it's got a great cast. The perennially excellent Liz Larsen and Stuart Zagnit as the professor and her workaholic husband; the big-voiced Alan H. Green as gay Jesus (he gets the nice ballad); charming Nick Verina and Felicia Ricci, as Moses and God respectively (hey, it's canon!); Austin Miller (known for his participation in the Grease reality show, but so excellent in Tully in last year's NYMF) as the actor, whose costume offers ample opportunity to show off his abs (when you got it, flaunt it); Chandra Lee Schwartz as the sweetly ditzy nurse (although how this young lady, who is obviously intended to be American, ended up in Jerusalem is never satisfactorily (or even unsatisfactorily) explained); and the nicely grounded Bruce Sabath as the doctor in charge of the psych ward. (The remaining six actors, who all play a multitude of roles, should be named as well: Vanessa Lemonides, Mary Gutzi, Ronica Reddick, Ron DeStefano, Roger DeWitt, and J.D. Webster.)
