Theater review by Raven Snook
A summer beach read of a musical, A Walk on the Moon delivers Jewish nostalgia with a smattering of schmaltz. Based on the 1999 movie of the same name—written by Pamela Gray and loosely inspired by her vacation experiences in the Catskills as a teenager—the show centers on the blue-collar Kantrowitz family as the societal upheavals of the late '60s shake up their world. What begins as just another season at their insular bungalow community is unsettled by the cultural rumblings of second-wave feminism, Woodstock and the moon landing.
A Walk on the Moon | Photograph: Courtesy Joan Marcus
Pearl (Talia Suskauer), a housewife in her early thirties, wrangles her kids with help from their bubbe (the invaluable Andréa Burns) and weekend visits from her menschy but unexciting husband, Marty (Max Chernin), a TV repairman. But the arrival of Walker (Sam Gravitte), a sexy hippie goy toy who sells blouses out of his camper, jolts Pearl out of her routine; soon she's slipping into more than his shirts and devouring his dog-eared copy of On the Road. Meanwhile, her rebellious 15-year-old daughter, Alison (Sophie Pollono), embarks on her own romance with Ross (Oscar Williams), an adorkable, guitar-playing adolescent who fancies himself a Jewish Hendrix.
A Walk on the Moon | Photograph: Courtesy Joan Marcus
Considering the musical's rocky road to Off Broadway, which began in 2018 in San Francisco with a different songwriter and cast, A Walk on the Moon is in fine shape. Gray has adapted her own screenplay for the stage and contributed lyrics to AnnMarie Milazzo's score, which combines modern musical-theatre pop with nods to various sounds of the period (rock, folk, psychedelic); the vocal harmonies are particularly gorgeous. While the story hews closely to the movie, Gray has made some smart cuts as well as some necessary ones (no waterfall sex scene or '60s hits). Fans of the movie may appreciate one nice inside joke: Tovah Feldshuh, who played the grandmother in the film, is the voice heard over the PA system here.
A Walk on the Moon | Photograph: Courtesy Joan Marcus
If the whole thing feels awfully familiar—and the lyrics (and accents!) too on the nose—sometimes you just need a comfort nosh, and that's what director Sheryl Kaller and her company serve. Tal Yarden's scenic and video design and Ricky Lurie's costumes hammer home the cultural divides of the 1960s. Suskauer and Chernin, who played husband and wife in the Parade national tour, have a lovely, lived-in chemistry, but she's also convincingly lustful for Gravitte, who looks great and sings well in an underwritten role; Burns is moving as an astute mother-in-law trying to hold her family together, and Pollono and Williams's coming-of-age courtship has an authentic awkwardness. It may not be out of this world, but A Walk on the Moon is a pleasant trip.
Walk on the Moon. Laura Pels Theatre (Off Broadway). Music by AnnMarie Milazzo. Lyrics by Milazzo and Pamela Gray. Book by Gray. Directed by Sheryl Kaller. With Talia Suskauer, Max Chernin, Sam Gravitte, Andréa Burns, Sophie Pollono, Oscar Williams. Running time: 2hr 15mins. One intermission.
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A Walk on the Moon | Photograph: Courtesy Joan Marcus
