FROM DOOR TO DOOR
At the Westside Theatre, 407 W. 43rd St. Telecharge, (212) 239-6200.
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‘FROM Door to Door” is a tale of progress from shtetl to suburbia, a story of three generations of Jewish women.
In one sense, James Sherman’s play, directed with maximum corniness by Joe Brancato, is an anthology of familiar clichés. In another, it becomes – thanks largely to three marvelous actresses – a moving and surprising account.
Anita Keal is richly enjoyable as grandma Bessie, a tight and domineering old woman. In the ’30s, she came over as a girl from a shtetl, married a man chosen for her, kept her accent, cooked gefilte fish and lived in fear.
Her daughter Mary, exquisitely acted by Suzanne Toren, is the person in the middle, trapped halfway between shtetl and women’s lib. She grew up in Roosevelt times, the late ’30s and ’40s, and though she shows a gift for painting, she’s married off – surrendering, as she becomes a wife and then a mother, any thought of career, any development of herself.
Only Bessie’s granddaughter, Deborah (intelligently done by Sarah McCafrey), gets to be her full self. She becomes a successful author/illustrator of children’s books and a single mother, after dumping her philandering hubby.
But Deborah wants to recover her roots – to make sweet and sour cabbage. She grows close to her grandmother, who, in a funny scene, reacts violently to “Fiddler on the Roof.”
“From Door to Door” has an undeveloped subplot, which dominates the set, about the family’s compulsive need to keep moving from house to house. This quirk -is it economic or psychological? – is never explained.
But the main thrust of the play, about the generations learning from each other while growing beyond each other, is beautifully performed.