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A CurtainUp Review
The Marriage Contract
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A woman has to marry her husband.
It's the law.
—- Elimeylekh Borozovski
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Dany Marcus and Eyal Sher
(Photo: Scott Wynn) |
But if the location has changed, so has the audience. Folksbiene's current offering, Israeli playwright Ephraim Kishon's Di Ksube or The Marriage Contract, plays to an audience that, for the most part, doesn't speak Yiddish. Making a virtue of necessity this show, like all of Folksbiene's Yiddish presentations, is enhanced with English (and Russian) supertitles.
Some people may find the constant shifting from screen to stage distracting, but for anyone willing to work just a little harder The Marriage Contract is a treasure trove of broad comedy, gentle irony and melodic, upbeat songs. Those who think it doesn't match Broadway glitz should remember that Yiddish theater was where many of Broadway's greatest artists first cut their teeth.
Folksbiene associate artistic director Motl Didner directs the show with an innate understanding of what made Yiddish theater so enjoyable — it's warmth, it's compassion, its sense of the absurd. His love for this material is evident in his tender treatment of even the most ridiculous characters.
The Marriage Contract, one of the longest running plays ever staged in Israel, is infused with the well-established Jewish penchant for laughing in the midst of trying times. Shifre (Suzanne Toren)) and Elimeylekh (Itzy Firestone) Borozovski, two former kibbutzniks, have been married twenty-five years. Their marriage isn't perfect (Elimeylekh wipes his mouth on the tablecloth) but it is stable and loving.
The Borozovskis have certainly never even thought of where they put their marriage contract until their daughter, Ayala (Dani Marcus) tells them that her future husband, Robert (Eyal Sherf), a nerdy mamma's boy (one of the Yiddish stage's favorite characters) will not marry her until his mother check's out her parents' marriage contract to make sure everything is kosher.
When the Borozovskis realize they don't know where the marriage contract is, Elimeylekh, a modern Tevya who left the cows back at the kibbutz, decides the only solution is to get married again. But Shifre says not so fast. In the first place she'd like to be wooed and in the second place, she's not so sure she wants to marry Elimeylekh, who over the years has developed numerous habits she finds offensive.
Desperate to find a solution to his predicament, Elimeylekh gets in touch with the kibbutz where he and Shifre were married. Help arrives in the person of a man who is everything Robert is not – another staple of the Yiddish stage – a brash young wisecracker named Buki (Ilan Kwittken). All business, Buki is anxious to get out of the Borozovski household and make a bank deposit — until he sets eyes on Ayala.
Yafa Birnboym (Mena Levit), a meddlesome widow who lives nearby, is only too eager to jump into the breach that has opened between the Borozovskis. Her overwrought perusal of Elimeylekh is a humorous (though not entirely necessary) subplot.
The Marriage Contract is not exactly the kind of musical we are used to. Composer Shimon Cohen and lyricist Moshe Sacher have contributed only eight songs and they aren't particularly well-integrated or essential to the show. Only Levit has a voice with the power and texture musicals call for. But the show would surely not be as entertaining without those songs.
Any search for deeper meaning will definitely prove fruitless and spoil the fun. Yet, for those who find this comedy old-fashioned and anti-feminist, let it be noted that the Jewish marriage contract is a legal document which never mentions God. It says nothing about love, honoring and cherishing, but rather lays out what the groom must provide for his wife (food, clothing, shelter) in exchange for a virgin and 200 silver zuzim. The bride, on the other hand, makes no promises.
The Marriage Contract makes only one promise — that you'll have an unusually good time.
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THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT By Ephraim Kishon Directed by Miotl Didner Music by Shimon Cohen Lyrics by Moshe Sacher Musical Direction by Zalmen Mlotek Translation: Israel Beker Cast: Yafa Birnboym (Mena Levit), Shifre Borozovski (Suzanne Toren), Ayala Borozovski (Dani Marcus), Elimeylekh Borozovski (Itzy Firestone), Robert Knal (Eyal Sherf), Buki Vays (Ilan Kwittken) Choreography: Penny Ayn Maas Set Design: Joseph Spirito Costume Design: Gail Cooper-Hecht Lighting Design: Dan Scully Sound Design: Don Jacobs Supertitle Design: Matt Temkin Folksbiene at the Jewish Community Center, 334 Amsterdam Avenue Tickets: $40 & $45 (212) 279-4200 Running Time: 2:30 including intermission. From 3/16/08, opening 3/23/08, closes 4/6/08 Reviewed by Paulanne Simmons March 20th Musical Numbers Enough Already/Ayala, Shifre, Yafa What Have I Gotten Myself Into?/Ayala, Elimeylekh, Shifre I Remember/Elimeylekh Oy, Is This a Dance/Buki, Elimeylekh What Do You See in Him?/Ayala/Buki Take Me to the Symphony Orchestra/Shifre, Yafa I'll Be a Bachelor Again/Elimeylekh Epilogue/Company |
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