Aleichem Sholom!  The Wit and Wisdom of Sholom Aleichem 

Reviewed by Paul Birchall 
Santa Monica Playhouse 
Extended through September 23 

Chris DeCarlo and Evelyn Rudie, playwrights, performers, and impressarios of all things Santa Monica Playhouse, recently celebrated their company’s 54^th anniversary — and truthfully, at the Santa Monica Playhouse, it seems like DeCarlo has actually been performing the role of venerated Yiddish author Sholom Aleichem for most of those years.

DeCarlo has played the character in at least 4 plays he co-wrote with Rudie, who has also co-starred with him over the decades. I recall attending Author Author, one of their earlier productions, when I was a pimply teenager of 16 (and an erstwhile high school theater student at the Playhouse) — and 40 years on, I am no spring chicken, having grown from using pimple cream to swallowing cholesterol statins.  But DeCarlo’s Sholom Aleichem remains and abides, almost like a monument.  Indeed, given that the original Sholom Aleichem only lived to his 50s, DeCarlo has arguably been Sholom Aleichem longer than the original guy was himself. 

The play takes place during the later years of the life of Sholom Aleichem (nee Rabinowitz) ‘s life, as he (DeCarlo) and his wife (Rudie) embark on a long speaking tour of the Russian provinces, where he regales huge audiences with readings of his stories. Meanwhile, his wife pens frequent letters to his agent’s wife, asking why the checks for their royalties and publishing rights are so delayed. Agents in the early 1900s apparently bore a resemblance to those still working at CAA today, and, as Sholom Aleichems and his family are increasingly forced to fight for their money, they make plans to seek freedom in America.

The stories are peppered with sweet, crisply-performed songs, which DeCarlo and Rudie assay with tight if modest choreography. They bring their decades of polished professional experience to create this tale, and their affection for the characters and the material shows through engagingly.  If, during the 1970s, their performances were (if my memory serves) dynamic and infused with passion, now the mood is somewhat more elegiac, with undercurrents of wistfulness and nostalgia.  

The performances are admittedly a little halting — occasional lines appear to be dropped and there’s hesitation to some of the vocal renditions.  Also, some of DeCarlo’s characterizations — he plays several roles aside from Aleichem – are a little hard to tell apart.  Rudie portrays her characters with gusto: She’s strong as flint as Sholom Aleichem’s wife and manager, and absolutely terrifying as his mother-in-law, an imperious figure who clearly became a force in the author’s stories. 

Ultimately, though, the slightness of the material belies the show’s point: It’s essentially a love story, charting a relationship that has spanned half a century. Their charisma together is impressive, and they possess what appears to be a genuine closeness that comes across as a great stage partnership. The result is a show that’s a little iconic that holds a place within a larger body of work, more than itself alone.   

Santa Monica Playhouse, 1211 4^th Street, Santa Monica; Sat., 7:30 pm; Sun., 3:30 pm; Extended through September 23. (310) 394-9779 or www.santamonicaplayhouse.com. Running time: 70 minutes with no intermission.