THE LADY NEXT DOOR
At the Jewish Community Center, 334 Amsterdam Ave. Through Jan. 4. Tele-charge, (212) 239-6200.
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THE Folksbiene Yiddish Theater, one of the city’s most remarkable cultural institutions, is entering its 89th season. Now it’s reviving a comedy almost as old as it is: “The Lady Next Door, or Temptation in the Tenements.”
Written in 1915 by the acclaimed Yiddish dramatist, Leon Kobrin, it was revolutionary in bringing actual New York life to the stage.
Adapted and directed by Allen Lewis Rickman – and with English supertitles to assist those whose Yiddish is either shaky or non-existent – “The Lady Next Door” starts with a prologue in a Russian shtetl before the action shifts to two apartments on Suffolk Street, on the Lower East Side.
Velvel (Sam Guncler), who had been a devout young man in Russia, has preceded the family to New York, where he’s changed dramatically. He’s shaved his beard, become a labor organizer and become the lover of a fancy married woman, Clara (the droll Debra Frances Ben).
Naturally, this upsets his wife, Hindele (Yelena Shmulenson Rickman), when she lands in New York with her large family, including her father, sister and her sister’s devout hubby.
Also next door are Clara’s husband, Gimpl (the long-suffering I.W. Firestone), and her mother, Gitl (the delightful Elaine Grollman).
It makes for a crowded and combustible mix in this juicy revival, alive with the sounds of 1915 tenement life.