The Sabbath Girl: Either a Rom-Com or a Jewish Tragedy

Mar 1, 2020 by Two Sues On the Aisle

By Sue Weston and Susan Rosenbluth  – Two Sues on the Aisle

Although it doesn’t happen too often, on occasion, the two Sues disagree on how to rate a particular piece. This happened when we reviewed The Sabbath Girl by Cary Gitter, now showing at 59E59 Theaters in Manhattan.

Therefore, we present both reviews and leave it for you, the reader, to decide. The Sabbath Girl will play through March 8 at 59E59 Theaters, in Manhattan.

For tickets, call 646-892-7999.

Boy Meets Girl in New York

By Sue Weston

The Sabbath Girl by Cary Gitter tells the all-too-familiar story of two lonely strangers who meet in New York City and fall in love. In an environment where ethnic differences have become a point of contention, Mr. Gitter makes this their connection. The plot is simply boy meets girl. As the play evolves, they step outside of themselves to trust and share, which leads them to value their differences.

The story begins innocently as Angie (Lauren Annunzita), an Italian-American art curator with a history of falling for “bad-boy” artists, moves into an apartment building where Seth (Jeremy Rishe), a divorced Orthodox Jew, has forgotten to turn his air conditioner on before Shabbos. He knocks on his neighbor’s door, finding Angie there instead.

They make an unlikely pair. Angie relies on the advice of her Nona (Angelina Fiordellisi) to cultivate a relationship with a knish-selling mensch, Seth, who sees her potential. Seth is prepared to turn his back on his Orthodox-Jewish upbringing to date a shiksa. But Angie encourages him to follow his religion, going so far as to light his Shabbos candles for him when he questions his faith.

The script falls short, relying on classic stereotypes instead of developing the characters. Unfortunately, the playwright tells rather than shows us what is happening, which prevents the audience from ever becoming fully invested in the characters.

Seth’s sister, Rachel (Lauren Singerman), is a religious woman who pushes her brother to meet a religious girl. Rachel wants Seth to continue following tradition without question. Sadly, all we know about Rachel is that she works with Seth at the family’s Knish Store.

Angie is a good person who sees the inner goodness in others and connects on a deep level. She is able to connect with Rachel, who tells Seth she visited the Knish store. She sees the potential in her latest bad-boy artist, Blake (Ty Molbak) a vain, self-centered womanizer, and convinces him to return to his home and his girlfriend.

There is one surprise: Nona, Angie’s constant companion, is only a memory. She dances across the stage, guiding Angie and reminding her that finding true love requires hard work, but, in the end, Nona is a ghost.

The story might have suggested the importance of having a connection with tradition, or the importance of family, or accepting differences – but this is only conjecture. In 90 minutes of uninterrupted entertainment, The script is light, leaving the audience wondering whether Seth and Angie found true love and a happy life together, or if they simply become friends with benefits.

The Shabbos Girl provides a happily for-now ending, without being moralistic.

Two Sues on the Aisle bases its ratings on how many challahs it pays to buy (rather than make) in order to see the play, show, film, or exhibit being reviewed.

“The Sabbath Girl” received 2 challahs from Sue Weston

New Incarnation of Abie’s Irish Is a Jewish Tragedy

By Susan L. Rosenbluth

No one ever said it was easy to write a play, and, in The Sabbath Girl, playwright Cary Gitter proves it.

The Romeo and Juliet theme twisted to fit the story of Jewish boy who meets Christian girl was first presented to American audiences in 1922 in Anne Nichols’ comedy, Abie’s Irish Rose. In that play, the young woman was an Irish-American nurse who cared for a wounded young American-Jewish soldier during World War I. When they return to the United States, they must face the righteous wrath of two religious fathers, one Catholic and the other an Orthodox-Jew, each prepared only for an in-law who matches his own religious inclinations. The birth of grandchildren prompts the happy reconciliation which set the stage for a slew of other similarly themed shows, including the ill-fated 1970s paean to intermarriage, the television sitcom, Bridget Loves Bernie.

The Sabbath Girl, the theme’s newest incarnation, presents a few (but only a few) variations on Abie’s Irish Rose: The young woman, Angie (Lauren Annunzita), is an Italian-American art curator; her next-door neighbor, Seth, is a divorced Orthodox-Jewish knish-store owner; Seth’s dissenting Jewish family member is his sister, Rachel (Lauren Singerman); and Angie’s all-too-ecstatic family member, her grandmother (Angelina Fiordellisi), falls head over heels in love with the idea of a knish-selling mensch and actually crows that Jewish men make the best husbands.

Despite his day job, Seth is actually something of an intellectual who translates obscure works of Yiddish into English, an endeavor that makes him the scholarly equal of the art historian. Although still suffering from angst over his broken marriage—which he blames not so much on his faith as on his Orthodox community—he observes the stringencies of halacha out of what seems to be the conviction that belief in Judaism and Jewish tradition is a value that gives his life meaning. He meets Angie when he knocks on her door expecting to find the previous tenant who had served as his Shabbos Goy. Angie readily volunteers to be his Sabbath Girl.

When, much to her grandmother’s delight, Angie falls in love with Seth, all she relinquishes is her previous search for love in the form of pompous artists, such as Blake (Ty Molbak), a vain, self-centered womanizer who seeks to lure her into his apartment with promises of painting her soul. There is never any sense that religion or Christian culture or tradition plays a part in her life. Her grandmother certainly doesn’t see any of that as an impediment to Angie’s finding her lifelong dancing partner.

Seth, however, has been presented as a believing Jew who has not undergone any crisis of faith. Nevertheless, Mr. Gitter would have us believe, that he is willing to forego his beliefs, his traditions, his family, and his entire way of life.

For Mr. Gitter, the two situations are analogous. The lifestyles each is willing to sacrifice for love are comparable.

Mr. Gitter gives no clue as to whether this alliance will work out any better for Seth than his last one. He doesn’t begin to wonder how an Orthodox Jew who won’t put food in his mouth without uttering the Hebrew blessing thanking the Creator will function in a family, eventually presumably producing non-Jewish children who should be more at home with Christmas than with Chanukah.

If Mr. Gitter had explored the implications of family ties or accepting differences while not surrendering the essence of oneself; or if the playwright had presented a surprising development which might have given the characters—and the audience—something else to consider, this would have been a different play.

As it is, it is a well-acted 90-minute production that, depending on the viewer’s perspective, is either an American romantic comedy or a Jewish tragedy.

“The Sabbath Girl” received 0 challahs from Susie Rosenbluth.