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'Bad Jews' is good family drama

Bad Jews is a family drama without parents, aunts, uncles and - most especially in this case - without a grandfather. There is none of the usual equipment for a dysfunctional family drama: no kitchen table, no drunks, no terrible secrets. This is a millennial generation showdown: two "bad" Jews, one "good" Jew, and one shiksa girlfriend.

Laura Giknis and David Raphaely in "Bad Jews" at the Walnut Street Theater.
Laura Giknis and David Raphaely in "Bad Jews" at the Walnut Street Theater.Read more

Bad Jews is a family drama without parents, aunts, uncles and - most especially in this case - without a grandfather. There is none of the usual equipment for a dysfunctional family drama: no kitchen table, no drunks, no terrible secrets. This is a millennial generation showdown: two "bad" Jews, one "good" Jew, and one shiksa girlfriend.

On the night of their grandfather's funeral, Daphna Feygenbaum (Sofie Yavorsky, a terrific fast-talker with a sensational head of hair) and her cousin Jonah (Greg Fallick) - "I really don't want to be involved" - are waiting in an upper West Side apartment for Jonah's brother Liam (David Raphaely, in another fine performance) to fly in from Aspen. He finally arrives from Colorado with his girlfriend Melody (Laura Giknis, who is just-right cute and can hold a high note for an astonishingly long time).

At issue is their grandfather's gold chai, a Hebrew symbol meaning "life" that some Jews wear on a chain; Liam has it and Daphna wants it. What is really at issue in this play is cultural legacy: the survival of the Jews vs. assimilation. The family hurls birthright, the Holocaust, and Bible quotations at one another in impassioned speeches; outrageous claims are made by four really smart people. Then the battle erupts into a brawl (the slapstick stuff is the weak element in the show).

Joshua Harmon's first play, written in what the playwright called "total obscurity," Bad Jews was a runaway Off-Broadway hit in 2012, and is likely to become a darling of regional theaters. And no wonder: the play is laugh-out-loud funny and full of painful insights, and the production, at the Walnut's Independence Studio on 3 is, under David Stradley's direction, top-notch.

BAD JEWS

At Walnut Street Theatre Independence Studio on 3, Ninth and Walnut Streets, through Nov. 30.

Tickets: $35-$50

Information: 215-574-3550 or walnutstreettheatre.org.

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