When movie buffs think of Jewish pickle salesmen (which is probably not very often), they think of “Crossing Delancey,” a 1988 big-screen romantic comedy directed by Joan Micklin Silver.
The film drew attention for contrasting a faded Lower East Side Jewish culture with its latter-day midtown sequel. Amy Irving played Isabelle, a bookish, lovelorn New Yorker, with Peter Riegert as Sam, her unlikely Prince Charming, a pickle peddler with a heart of gold.
Many people may not realize that “Crossing Delancey” actually started out as a stage play by Susan Sandler (who also wrote the screenplay).
The play is still a favorite with repertory companies around the country, and now “Crossing Delancey” is coming to Foster City’s Hillbarn Theater for a three-week run beginning Friday, Jan. 31.
However, those acquainted only with the movie might have formed some unfair prejudices about “Crossing Delancey.”
Many critics roundly excoriated the film, slamming its shmaltzy storytelling. Moreover, some charged Silver’s “Crossing Delancey” with crossing a line by indulging in broad Jewish stereotypes, particularly with the characterizations of Bubbie (Isabelle’s kvetchy grandmother) and Hannah the matchmaker.
Not on our watch, says the director of the Hillbarn Theater production.
“We’re careful to keep those characters real,” notes director Vickie Rozell. “They are who they are, and there’s no use denying their Jewish heritage. My grandmother used to nag me about getting married, and I’m your basic WASP.”
Adds actor Brian Levi, who stars as Sam in the play, “From the start, we set out to emphasize a sense of realism. We don’t want to hit the audience over the head with a shlocky romance or play Jewish stereotypes that Jackie Mason might do.”
Levi concedes the character of Hannah could easily lapse into caricature. “People under 35 raised in America would never dream of going to a matchmaker,” he says. “Even the Isabelle character finds the concept absurd. Modern audiences view this as an image out of the past.”
Dena Shapiro, who plays Isabelle, isn’t concerned about stereotyping. “I laughed so hard reading the play,” she says. “My own grandparents were so similar to what’s portrayed in the show.”
For added authenticity insurance, director Rozell hired playwright-columnist Doug Brook to serve as the production’s Jewish culture cop, overseeing various cultural, linguistic and even culinary details.
“It’s all in the details,” says Brook. “There’s a fair amount of Yiddish in the script. The actors need to pronounce it correctly and understand what it means.”
Brought up in an observant home and steeped in Yiddishkeit, Brook has been called upon to determine such crucial minutia as what would be the correct kugel recipe for one scene, and what kind of glass teacup should be used in another.
Notes Brook: “The show is very food-related. Every now and then we have flashbacks to when we’re growing up. Cream cheese on whole wheat with pickles on the side!”
While that kind of inherent Jewishness colors much of the background, the play’s principals insist “Crossing Delancey” is a universal story anyone could enjoy, much as the hit film “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” transcends its own Greekness.
“This is a love story,” says Rozell. “It’s about a woman who wants a guy who’s not right for her, then falls for the guy who is right for her. This play reminds us if we stay open to what’s around us, we can find something or someone who will make us happy.”
Adds Levi: “One of the messages of the play is that there was a reason for some of these old traditions, like the matchmaker. Maybe they’re not as antiquated or absurd as we younger folks think they are. Look at Internet personals; they’re just a modern version of the same thing.”
Levi and Shapiro, both being Jewish, have thoroughly enjoyed bringing their characters to life. Says Shapiro, “It’s nice to automatically have the background without having to look it up in a dictionary.”
Adds her admiring costar, “Dena is one of the warmest, funniest actresses I’ve ever worked with. She has a difficult role, crossing a lot of boundaries, being a modern woman,, being standoffish and still having a warmth Sam will love. Dena carries it off.”
That’s all the more impressive considering Shapiro also has a full-time day job teaching third grade at Sandpiper Elementary in Redwood Shores.
Soon, her nights will be filled with the magic of live theater. Meanwhile, she and her fellow cast members are busy rehearsing. And, as Brook suggests, that includes perfecting several food-centered scenes.
“I have to eat a lot of honey cake and blintzes,” says Shapiro, referring to one of the production’s requirements. “They’ll have to get me a gym membership when this is done.”