Smile-Inducing

Imposed on us by society and people around us, the necessity to get married before 30 often turns women into predators. As entertaining and unforgettable as a good joke, “Michelle’s Jewish Date Party,” a comedy put on stage within the Planet Connection Theatre Festivity, shows the audience that when any skunk is chosen as prey, the result will always be serious indigestion- that is until you find the kind of food you can stomach.

Coming to her wedding reception just to announce that there is going to be no wedding, Michelle (Michelle Slonim) turns the festivity into a matchmaking event. “Randomly” picking out certain audience members, she finds their perfect match, and then chooses three candidates for her own new date. In the meantime, the man of her dreams, Nisim (Noam Harary) miraculously appears on the stage out of the blue.

Plotted as an amateur show, the play written by Michelle Slonim and Adrienne Sterman and directed by Michael Schiralli, stands out because the borderline between the audience and the actors is erased. Dragging viewers to the stage is not as random as it appears and therefore, not awkward, but at the same time, everyone sitting there feels that they are a part of the show. For a moment, the audience forgets that they are in a theatre, and they enjoy the farce.

Ladies, beware: it may happen that the attention of smoking hot Nisim will be on you rather than on Michelle, which will certainly make you feel flattered and totally involved.

Another great thing about the play is that extra characters appear on the TV screen, which blends well into the story. Many of these characters are hilarious and they add even more humor to the play.

Speaking of humor, one of the cutest comical elements of the play is introducing representatives of certain nationalities, including Israelis (of course), Puerto Ricans and Russians. The way Slonim imitates their accents is pretty funny. When Barry (Mordy Laharsky), a date Michelle hardly remembers, struggles to read the extract she needs him to act out with Latino accent, it sounds even more hilarious.

Moved by quick action and fast-spoken monologues, the play is short. However, this doesn’t stop Michelle from changing her appearance fast and often. She first shows up on stage in her wedding dress, and later she changes it to a casual outfit. She also switches wigs to represent another character, and along with it goes the tone of her voice and accent.

The diva of the performance, Michelle definitely stands out as a character and an actress. However, others who were pretending to be audience members have peculiar roles, too, and maybe harder ones as well. They have to pretend that they are not actors, but viewers as everyone else. They are very believable and awkward on stage, which is amazing.

In addition to this, Harary plays two roles: a drug-loving young fellow in baggy clothes and the sexy, but way too luscious Nisim, whom Michelle used to be with for a short period of time. The roles are completely different, and he performs both of them well.

Overall, as love, dating and marriage are things we all desire and struggle to find the perfect match is hard but not impossible, all we can do is to laugh at them and ourselves. With “Michelle’s Jewish Date Party,” it is easy to smile and even see where our own love life went off track and how it can be saved, if necessary.