What happens when a good Jewish girl is too intimidated to bring home an inappropriate boyfriend (non-Jewish and black to boot) to her loving but rigid and controlling parents? Why she simply rents a beau from the Heaven Sent Escort Agency to temporarily placate them. But what a tangled web Sarah Goldman weaves when she tries to deceive her parents, Abe and Miriam.
Her initial maneuver triggers an abundance of hilarity and tension in James Sherman’s Beau Jest, the very satisfying comedy now at the Greenbelt Arts Center (GAC). An exploration of religion and ethnicity as the glue that keeps families intact, Beau Jest is also the story of a young woman’s dawning individualism and the risks and complexities of romantic relationships. Veteran director and co-producer Norma Ozur (also a cofounder of GAC) has assembled a top-notch cast which really delivers the goods – a clever, thoughtful play fit for the whole family. The cast of six shows great chemistry in a tight, efficient plot. The ingenious twist that propels and complicates the action is that Doctor David Steinberg, the rented, invented beau turns out to be a dream suitor who falls in love with Sarah and vice versa. He’s a medical doctor who knows enough Hebrew to celebrate Seder with the Goldman family, for heaven’s sake. Alas Bob Schroeder (Dr. Dave’s real name) is not Jewish. Oy!
Sarah Scott is very winsome as the confused object of desire of two men. The third angle in this love triangle is Chris Kringle played excellently by the tall, dark and handsome Tunde Sho. A hunky bundle of tact and sensitivity, Sho is a real presence on stage; he is alert to all of the action around him, acting well even when he is not speaking. Anwar Al-Mallah is comfortable, smooth and easy going – very impressive as Dr. Dave, the besotted actor whose feelings become real. Shelley Rochester as mama Miriam and Steve Rosenthal as father Abe mesh beautifully with their kvetching, bickering and somewhat obtuse love for their daughter. Though hilarious, they make their pain at being lied to very real. Winard Britt gives his usual solid performance as Sarah’s psychiatrist brother Joel, who shrewdly sees through his sister’s ruse. For more, click here