Joshua Harmon’s Bad Jews is back in a terrifically acted and directed Odyssey Theatre Ensemble production that does its smart, button-pushing source material proud.

Meet Daphna Feigenbaum (Jeanette Deutsch), whose just-deceased grandfather’s shiva gives the 20ish Jewish-American Princess-Of-Passive-Aggressive her latest excuse to wreak havoc as only she can.

 To begin with, Daphna forces cousin Jonah Haber (Austin Rogers) to listen in abject silence as she attacks the utter wrongness of her college-student cuz being given his own million-plus-dollar Manhattan flat, then goes on to lacerate Jonah’s older brother Liam (Noah James) for having missed his granddad’s funeral because, get this, he dropped his cell phone from an Aspen ski lift and couldn’t call home?!

Worse still is the fact that the about-to-arrive Liam is bringing with him his shiksa girlfriend Melody (Lila Hood), and even worse, that the entirely wrong-for-each-other couple are planning to crash chez Liam’s brother—in the same studio apartment as Daphna and Jonah!

 Daphna’s initial outrage pales, however, in comparison to the fury that she unleashes upon learning that grad student Liam intends to give their beloved Poppy’s chai, the necklace that he kept hidden under his tongue during two years in the Nazi death camps to his oh-so-not-Jewish girlfriend in lieu of an engagement ring—a wedding proposal that is going to happen over Daphna’s dead body!

 Talk about a recipe for disaster and laughs.

Rarely has a play tackled religion with as smart and savage a wit as Bad Jews does in pitting Israel-bound Daphna (who has recently given up the name Diana … if not yet her virginity) against suburbia-destined Liam, whose only connection with his religious heritage would seem to be a Hebrew name (Shlomo) that had best not be spoken in polite conversation.

 Director Dana Resnick and a stellar young cast put personal stamps on Harmon’s Louise Lortel and Outer Circle Award-nominated play destined to ignite laughs and incite talk no matter your place on the religious spectrum.

A fabulous Deutsch lets Daphna’s sheer awfulness sneak up on you while never losing sight of the all-too-human vulnerability of a young woman born with neither social filter nor pause button, a lethal combination should you happen to find yourself trapped near Daphna in an enclosed space.

As the still-waters-run-deep Jonah, Rogers takes the younger sibling and his “I don’t want to be involved” attitude and proves how much memorable acting comes from reacting from the sidelines.

 In what at first appears to be just another bubblehead-blonde stereotype, a perfectly cast Hood makes Melody Bad Jews’ most genuinely nice character (perhaps the only one) and its moral compass as well, scoring bonus points for the opera major’s unexpected soprano.

 Still, if this Bad Jews could be said to “belong” to a single performer, it’s to the dynamic, charismatic James, not merely a worthy opponent to the unstoppable Daphna but a combatant you simply can’t take your eyes off of. Playwright Harmon has written a great part in LIam, and James’ quickfire brilliance makes it even greater.

 Scenic designer David Offner skillfully scales down Jonah’s upscale apartment to 99-seat-theater dimensions (the adjacent hallway is a nifty touch), then has properties designer Josh La Cour fill it with abundant college student clutter. Vicki Conrad scores high marks for four character-appropriate costumes, with Tom Ash’s expert lighting and Marisa Whitmore’s sound completong the production design mix.

Bad Jews is produced by Ron Sossi. Gregory Velasco Kucukarslan is assistant director. Emma Whitley is stage manager.

If it takes chutzpah to title a play Bad Jews, it takes even more talent to write a play as remarkable as Bad Jews turns out to be. Joshua Harmon possesses both in equal measure, and Odyssey audiences can count themselves lucky that his Bad Jews is in good hands indeed.

Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, 2055 South Sepulveda Boulevard, Los Angeles.
www.odysseytheatre.com

–Steven Stanley
May 17, 2018
Photos: Enci Box

Tags: Joshua Harmon, Los Angeles Theater Review, Odyssey Theatre Ensemble