Old Jews Telling Jokes

Theater

Comedy

Westside Theatre

Until Tue Dec 31

$$$

Photograph: Joan Marcus

Westside Theatre. By Peter Gethers and Daniel Okrent. Dir. Marc Bruni. With ensemble cast. 1hr 20mins. No intermission.
Photograph: Joan Marcus

Westside Theatre. By Peter Gethers and Daniel Okrent. Dir. Marc Bruni. With ensemble cast. 1hr 20mins. No intermission.
Photograph: Joan Marcus

Westside Theatre. By Peter Gethers and Daniel Okrent. Dir. Marc Bruni. With ensemble cast. 1hr 20mins. No intermission.
Photograph: Joan Marcus

Westside Theatre. By Peter Gethers and Daniel Okrent. Dir. Marc Bruni. With ensemble cast. 1hr 20mins. No intermission.

Photograph: Joan Marcus

Westside Theatre. By Peter Gethers and Daniel Okrent. Dir. Marc Bruni. With ensemble cast. 1hr 20mins. No intermission.

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Time Out says

Tue May 22 2012

So some Steins, some Leibowitzes and a few Lipschitzes go to the theater. They’re gray and growing whiskers—but then again, so are the gags they came to hear. Don’t accuse it of false advertising: Old Jews Telling Jokes sets up the crowd for the punch line before anyone sits down.

The five cast members—including two professed “young Jews”—do sing the occasional song, act in a few sketches, and deliver heartfelt monologues about the Old World and the purpose of laughter. But for the most part, the actors step downstage, alone or in pairs, and lob old chestnuts into the house. There are a few nods to life after the Exodus (e.g., a vibrator joke), but overall, classic tropes are in play: Jew walks into a bar, Jew sees the doctor, Jew gets stranded on a desert island (with two, count ’em. two shuls). The performers all have fine rhythm, but the standout, Marilyn Sokol, brings a talent for character and an elastic mug to everything she does.

If this concoction starts to sound like a bowl of bubbe’s matzo ball soup, well, exactly. (A huge upstage poster of Streit’s matzo—looking like an attempt to feed a kosher giant—aids such associations.) The show is warm, amiable, a little bland, but in the end, familiar. Even if you are neither hoary nor Hebrew, you probably know (or are guilty of telling) many of these gags in one form or another—we heard multiple punch lines anticipated by whispering showgoers the night we attended. If this sort of camaraderie sounds diverting, mazel tov. If you’d prefer to let Uncle Morty sling ’em at the seder, don’t worry—these old Jews will slay ’em in Florida.—Matthew Love

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Venue details

MAP

Name:
Westside Theatre
Address:
Westside Theatre 407 W 43rd St
Hell's Kitchen
New York

Cross Street:
between Ninth and Tenth Aves
Transport:
Subway: A, C, E to 42nd St–Port Authority
Map
1. Westside Theatre
  - 407 W 43rd St
    Hell's Kitchen
    New York
  - 40.759393,-73.992622

Event phone:
212-239-6200
Event website:
oldjewstellingjokesonstage.com

Categories:
Theater. Comedy
Good for:
Dating. Date night. Local talent. Lots of laughs. Take your parents. Unique. Unique New York
Event type:
Plays & Shows