Last Updated: Friday, August 29, 2008

Songs of Paradise

By Tony Guzman

 
(L – R:) Stacey Schwartz, Antonio
Amadeo, Elizabeth Dimon, Laura Ann Hodos, Avi Hoffman

According to director, translator and star Avi Hoffman’s notes, Songs of Paradise, subtitled A Newish Musical and currently playing through this weekend at Temple Emanu-El, has its roots in the tradition of the “Purimshpil,” dramatic representations of the Book of Esther accompanying what sounds like a lot of drunken revelry in the Medieval shtetls of Eastern Europe –  via 20^th century Yiddish poet Itzik Manger’s reworking of Biblical tales in terms of the lives and concerns of ordinary people in the Warsaw ghetto of the 30’s. 

Songs of Paradise, which had a well-received run at New York’s Public Theater under the aegis of the fabled impresario Joseph Papp in 1989, recounts the Book of Genesis in the manner of a broadly farcical Catskills review lampooning the drolleries of contemporary life in song and zany skits such as one might have seen during the heyday of the Borscht Belt. The music by Rosalie Gerut, if not particularly memorable, effectively incorporates all manner of pop modes from bluesy jazz to Gospel to Doo-Wop in lively fashion. The book is billed as “the Bible meets Mel Brooks” – and that pretty much says it.

Yuks aside, the best thing about this show by quite a ways is the singing by the female members of the cast. Laura Ann Hodos, in particular, has a mellifluous, beguiling voice.

Elizabeth Dimon also has a lovely voice and she’s particularly funny in the show’s kvetching couple sequences (Eve to Hoffman’s Adam, Sarah to his Abraham). Besides singing “like butter,” Stacy Schwartz is an engaging comedienne with an infectious sense of fun. The vocal parts for duets and especially the group songs are very skillfully and pleasingly arranged, and it’s when the full cast is singing that Songs of Paradise reaches Broadway caliber.

Although he doesn’t have the innate zest for tomfoolery of a natural comedian, Antonio Amadeo is obviously a highly talented actor (we remember him as being very good in the cast of last year’s inspired Man of La Mancha at Hollywood Playhouse) and his considerable acting range, as shown in a wide array of whacky characterizations from a bad boy rapper Snake to a Marlon Brando-esque Esau, are invaluable to the show.

What can you say about Avi Hoffman? You gotta love the guy and his passion for what he does. Part cultural activist, part savvy Catskills comedian, part Burlesque clown, he’s at his best in over-the-top slapstick, as with his diaper-clad Abel, or when joking with the audience in ironic Jackie Mason mode.

Apart from the inspired, loony costumes by Estela Vroncovich and some polished accompaniment by the show’s keyboards-bass-drums trio, Songs isn’t much above a good high school show in terms of production values (sets, etc.) and, since Itzik Manger is considered a major poet in Yiddish, one surmises that some subtlety and depth was lost in this particular translation’s quest for broad farce and big laughs. Still, you laugh; the singing is swell; you get to hang out in really big synagogue. You should complain?

Remaining performances: Thursday & Saturday, February 13 & 15 at 8 p.m. & Sunday, February 16 at 2 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El, 1701 Washington Ave., Miami Beach. 305-535-5661.