I was invited to a Saturday matinee of the off Broadway show Not That Jewish by the House's publicist. I remember the New World Stages as a failed movie theater on West 50th Street between 8th & 9th Avenues. I had never been inside the structure and was very impressed with the layout for the five theaters. Playing there are: Not That Jewish; Avenue Q; The Gazillion Bubble Show; The Imbible and Church & State.
I can relate to Monica Piper's performance. Ronald Kapon is not that Jewish. My mother converted to Christian Science and my father's family came from Russia in 1900. The name then was Kaplowitz. I did have a Bar Mitzvah but also attended church. When I did get married, by a rabbi, he was confused because I talked about Jesus and Moses in the same sentence. I did not attend temple but do consider myself Jewish. Just not that Jewish.
The play was an hour and a half without an intermission and I truly enjoyed the experience. Especially Monica raising her son as a single mother. The use of the flash screen in the background humanized her career and life, at various stages. She grew up in the Bronx and I in Manhattan. We were both raised “sort of Jewish, but not that religious.”
The audience pretty much learned everything about her life, both the good and the not so good. Her marriage and divorce; her bout with cancer; her working as a comedian; her changing her name from May Lee Davis to Monica Piper (think Santa Monica Pier). She even brings out her Emmy Award (writing for Rugrats).
The play was an hour and a half without an intermission and I truly enjoyed the experience. Especially Monica raising her son as a single mother. The use of the flash screen in the background humanized her career and life, at various stages. She grew up in the Bronx and I in Manhattan. We were both raised “sort of Jewish, but not that religious.”
The audience pretty much learned everything about her life, both the good and the not so good. Her marriage and divorce; her bout with cancer; her working as a comedian; her changing her name from May Lee Davis to Monica Piper (think Santa Monica Pier). She even brings out her Emmy Award (writing for Rugrats).
The audience seemed to be mainly people of the Jewish faith. They laughed at all the right times and uses of language. This was not a scientific survey. You don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy this play. www.notthatjewish.com