JUST FOR US

No matter your religion or ethnicity, I highly recommend that everyone see Just For Us, Alex Edelman’s very affordable one-man show at the Taper, which is on tour following an uber-successful Broadway run.

I mention religion because Alex’s tales mostly pertain to him being Jewish. But the audience doesn’t have to be of the same ethnic persuasion to have a great time. (Well, Nazis—and perhaps Jared Kushner—won’t enjoy it, but that’s about it.) I’m sure a large percentage of the Opening Night audience was Jewish, but the friend I saw Just For Us with is definitely not, and she laughed just as hard as everybody else.

And let me tell you, I was surprised that I loved it so much; I was right along with the rest of that audience in giving him an immediate and prolonged standing ovation.

I say “surprised” because I had just seen Alex on Jimmy Kimmel the week before, and had not been amused. So, I attended his show mainly out of respect to the venue; I was thrilled to be back in the Taper again. (More on that in a minute. Of course.)

For the first dozen minutes or so of Just For Us, I found myself nodding in agreement at Alex’s observations rather than chuckling, and then all of a sudden, when he started talking about his brother being in the Olympics, (a true story,) the hearty laughter came right out of me. And didn’t stop. I even forgot about the fingernail I had just broken when I arrived! (And you know what a big deal that is.)

You would think that I don’t have that much to say about a ninety-minute one-man show, but you would be wrong. If you don’t have time to read the rest of this review, the headline is to just go see it while you have this opportunity. It’s not going to be in LA very long, so do yourselves a favor and do not miss it. We all need this levity right now.

“Pause” seemed to be the word of the evening for me.  I already knew that, as opposed to “closing,” the iconic Mark Taper Forum at the very-happening-right-now Music Center in downtown LA was taking some sort of break from productions, which had all of us theatre fans very sad. We really had no idea when it would be open again.

So at first I thought that this occasion was the “re-opening.” But that afternoon, I read that Alex’s presentation is part of an initiative labeled “CTG:FWD,” which means that only special events will be presented there for awhile. (And trust me—Just For Us is, indeed, a special event.) And then the theatre’s Artistic Director, Snehal Desai, spoke before the (imaginary) curtain rose, and explained the situation, saying the Taper has been on a “pause,” a perfect way to describe this instance.

And then I noticed how many times I was jotting down that word in my review notes. That’s because I couldn’t repeat several of Alex’s best bon mots to Mr. X when I got home without factoring in the performer’s brilliant pauses! They are everything!

I loved the structure of Just For Us, as well. It’s basically one long hilarious story, with a ton of detours along the way. (As many of you can attest to, no one loves a digression more than I do!) Alex is a Jewish guy from Boston in his mid-thirties, with a tale to tell about his visit to a small gathering of white nationals (I refuse to capitalize that group) in Queens a few years ago. He interrupts it to discuss Christmas, his semi-Orthodox upbringing, and a myriad of other mirth-filled topics from his life. The entire presentation is very well-thought-out and written. And performed, of course!

Since Alex’s presence is the only visual on stage, (save for a black stool or two…or three,) I feel justified in telling you about his physical attributes. Alex is thin and in shape and–my favorite—has great posture, (except for being pigeon-toed.) He (or someone) chose good basic wardrobe for this show. He also has a nice voice, which is easy to listen to in a row. And his big hands are good for expressiveness.

But, I was not a fan of his constant running around the stage. I found it to be distracting. I appreciate him playing to all parts of the audience so quickly, but I was wishing that he would just walk; no running is necessary. (Alex said he loves to know what the audience thinks, so I hope he’s okay with that observation.)

But you all should run to the Taper, to see Just For Us! Right now.

That’s it for my basic review of the production. But here are some auxiliary thoughts that I feel the need to share:

The main one is that I read Alex’s Author’s Note in the program before the show began, which mentioned that his great friend and forever director, Adam Brace, had recently passed away, at only forty-three, too boot. My heart went out to Alex the entire time. (Still does.) When he addressed that tragedy after the standing ovation, I thought my heart would literally break for him. What a tragic loss, for Alex, for the entertainment business, and for the world. [Note: I had actually researched Adam the day before, but I didn’t notice that he had passed. And all the while, I was happily thinking what a phenomenal collaborator he is! So I was shocked when I read my program.]

Now, to bring the room back up, Alex’s bio in the program mentions that he has “two differently-sized feet.” I was already a tad disgruntled that, as attractive as the style is, he was rocking very clean white sneaks on stage, because my eye was often drawn to that brightness, which made me lose focus on what he was saying, but I became obsessed with hoping he’d put his feet together so I could see that discrepancy for myself! And figure-out which is which. (But he never did, so I advise looking elsewhere when you see Just For Us, so you can concentrate on every hilarious word.)

I have to add a bit of similar personal experience here, as I’m sure many of you expected. I really didn’t want to do it in this review because I am in no way saying that I could ever do what Alex is doing. But, as someone who has done the very poor man’s version of a one-person show on TV for all those years back in the day, I want to stress how incredibly hard it is to do what he is doing at the Taper.

While I didn’t talk for an hour and a half, as Alex does, my directors had to practically grab me off the stage with a cane at the end of the allotted half hour. But the difference, (well, one of the many, chief among them being that he’s a brilliant writer and performer, and I was just lucky that my unplanned tales turned-out to be somewhat amusing,) is that Alex does this same ninety-minute monologue for every performance!!! And I’m sure with the same gusto. And charm. If I repeat my stories three times in my life, I’m done with them. I’ve always felt that I was stealing from myself if I repeated a story. My brain doesn’t understand being able to do what he does, over and over and over again. It’s so impressive.

I also feel that Alex is very courageous to be talking about being Jewish in these troubled times for our people. When I was doing Karen’s Restaurant Revue, I was basically advised, (by just about everyone,) to not mention that I was Jewish. My thought was, “Can’t everyone tell?!” But since some people erroneously thought I was Italian or Greek, I just didn’t discuss my ethnicity very often. And here is brave Alex, doing an entire show on being Jewish!!!  In this scary world right now! How I admire him for that. (While also saying a prayer for him.)

Much of what he says on stage reminds me of some of my own life stories, as I’m sure it will do for everyone who sees Just For Us. Except for him being nutty enough to opt to be in a room with a bunch of Nazis, of course.

Just For Us running through November 26, 2023
Mark Taper Forum 135 N. Grand Ave.
213-972-4400 www.centertheatregroup.org