Forever Brooklyn! A Kosher Musical Comedy 

Reviewed by Dana Martin
Whitefire Theatre
Through February 9 

Playwright Mark Wesley Curran’s new play Forever Brooklyn! A Kosher Musical Comedy follows a young Jewish kid from Brooklyn desiring to forge his own path. A nostalgic, unsentimental flashback to simpler times, the story is predominately told through silly, satirical song spoofs and sweet-but-surface impersonations. While the storytelling is often charming, the script ultimately lacks chutzpah.

Comedian Melvin Kaplofkis beckons us back to his teenage years in 1950’s Brooklyn. A good Jewish boy, Melvin is as optimistic as he is naïve. He loves to make people laugh — even though most of his jokes fall flat. He works in his father’s neighborhood record shop and plays the clarinet. He avoids his overbearing mother. He’s a bag man for the local mob. He gets local standup gigs, mostly failures, and yet still dreams of fame and fortune. Miraculously, The Tonight Show beckons him to Los Angeles and he’s eager to go. His family want him to stay close to home. The local mob does too.

The first act focuses heavily on Melvin’s mostly mundane adolescence — his relationships with his family and friends. The second act, much more quickly paced, covers his (admittedly more exciting) successful young adulthood as a standup comedian as well as love and marriage. Curran incorporates a wide variety of music, from musical theatre tunes to Frank Sinatra croons to traditional Yiddish melodies. Direction, also by Curran, is appropriately sparse. Set design by Allison Cromwell is attractive and functional. Lighting by Derrick McDaniel helps define the plays many transitions.

Danny DiTorrice plays all roles. He’s an earnest and likable performer, but he mostly does impressions. His characters boast little depth or nuance; there’s not much more to the character than the voice. Further, he’s tasked with singing a wide variety of songs that are accompanied by pre-recorded music, which is difficult to hear. Still, DiTorrice remains generous and good-humored throughout the evening in front of an admittedly tough audience.

Curran himself is Irish-American, raised Episcopalian in working class neighborhood outside of Philadelphia. He grew up in a predominantly Jewish and Italian neighborhood — and both communities made lasting impressions on him. He remembers them warmly. The story is simple and charming. Ultimately though, the characters in Forever Brooklyn! fall short of authenticity — and so does the comedy. Oy vey.

Whitefire Theatre, 13500 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks; Sat., 7:30 p.m.; through Feb. 9. (800) 838-3006 or www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3613939. Running time: two hours with one 15-minute intermission.