What a disappointment. South of Delancey sounded promising, even delicious -- a play based on a famous Jewish arbitration court of the 1930s. Forerunners of Judge Judy and Doctor Phil, the court could be heard in NYC over such Yiddish radio stations as WEVD and WLTH, with rabbis, senators and lawyers adjudicating cases brought before them by members of New York's large immigrant community who didn't understand or trust the American justice system.
South of Delancey had been workshopped in New York and had enjoyed an extended (and well-reviewed) run in L.A. by the time I caught up with it. I had high hopes for the play and expected to enjoy a night of salty Jewish humor and boisterous arguments, with the disputants battling it out over the air and the judges weighing in and solving things with bracing lashings of Talmudic wisdom.
Instead, South of Delancey offers up three different couples bogged down in dreary and repetitive conflicts. Even worse, the advice the sages eventually offer is so non-committal and mealy-mouthed -- "try and live good Jewish lives, will you?" -- as to be ridiculous. What an anti-climax!
Playwright Karen Sommers used actual transcripts from the radio broadcasts, but transcripts don't a play make -- not a good one, anyway.
