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June 11, 2004
TT: Flash: Nazis hated Jews
It's Friday, so I'm in The Wall Street Journal, this time with reviews of two off-Broadway shows, Address Unknown and The Joys of Sex.Address Unknown is a two-man show starring Jim Dale and William Atherton, both of whom make the most of a fairly obvious script:
Adapted from a 1938 short story that made a big splash long, long ago, "Address Unknown" is a "Love Letters"-type epistolary play about Max Eisenstein (Mr. Dale), a Jewish art dealer in San Francisco, and Martin Schulse (Mr. Atherton), his Gentile partner and friend, who moves back to Germany in 1932 and promptly develops a massive crush on Hitler. Factor in the title and you can probably figure out most of the rest yourself (I did), not excluding the tricky "surprise" ending, which is strictly from O. Henry. What makes it all work are Messrs. Dale and Atherton, two old pros who act their parts to the hilt, ably enabled by the neat direction of Frank Dunlop and the flawless set (half streamlined, half gemütlich) of James Youmans.
The only thing I couldn't figure out was why the audience at the preview I saw gasped so loudly when Martin declared that "the Jewish race is a sore spot to any nation that harbors it." Could anybody in a New York theater have been surprised to hear such talk from a new-minted Nazi? Has our historical memory grown that dim? Or was it simply that Mr. Atherton had dug so deeply into his role as to make Martin seem freshly and frighteningly real? Maybe "Address Unknown" isn't quite as dated as I'd thought....
About The Joys of Sex I had nothing good to say:
Despite the on-stage presence of an awesome assortment of what I shall politely refer to here as rubber and electrical goods, "The Joys of Sex" is in point of fact an innocuous Upper West Side domestic farce about Howard and Stephs Nolton (Ron Bohmer and Stephanie Kurtzuba), a young married couple who are unable to have children, apparently because Stephs is also unable to have an orgasm, a fact she has hitherto failed to disclose to her unwitting spouse. Enter April (Jenelle Lynn Randall), a wistful slut who moves into the Noltons' building, thereby piquing the interest of Howard and his best friend Brian (David Josefsberg), a nebbish who can't get a girl. Wan hijinks ensue, among which are interspersed such dull ditties as "Intercourse on the Internet" and "I Need It Bad." All four parties pair off predictably and live happily ever after. Curtain, not a split-second too soon....
No link. Buy a Journal. Price: one dollar. It never ceases to amaze me how many people think The Wall Street Journal is all about money, when in fact it has superior arts coverage across the board. Find out for yourself.
Posted June 11, 2004 9:36 AM
