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STAGE REVIEW

Kitsch finds its niche in comedic 'Jew' revue

By Nick A. Zaino III, Globe Correspondent, 3/18/2003

AMBRIDGE -- While most bars and clubs were filled with revelers celebrating St. Patrick's Day on Sunday night, Club Passim was hosting a cultural celebration of its own. ''What I Like About Jew,'' a critically acclaimed comedy/musical revue playing for the first time outside New York, packed the club with music fans and curiosity-seekers alike. Hosts and show creators Sean Altman and Rob Tannenbaum put together a strong bill that mixed kitschy tunes and outrageous bad taste with more earnest folk fare. When Tannenbaum asked the audience who had seen the show before, only three people -- Tannenbaum's own guests -- raised their hands. But if ticket holders didn't know what to expect, they quickly got the idea from the hosts, the Simon and Garfunkel of ethnic gag songs. Their appearance alone said it all: The diminutive Tannenbaum wore a tacky blue evening jacket with a powder-blue ruffled shirt, contrasting with the 6-foot-3 Altman, dressed all in black with a ''What I Like About Jew'' T-shirt.

The duo set the tone for the evening with ''Jews, Jews, Jews,'' an acoustic folk-rock number that boiled Jewish stereotypes down to bald-faced statements, poking at the audience to get them to laugh. ''Jews run banks/For this we get no thanks/But we won't have control of Hollywood until we convert Tom Hanks.'' From bar mitzvahs to Joe Lieberman to Jews for Jesus, no topic was taboo. But no topic was completely unexpected, either. Altman (formerly of the

a cappella group Rockapella) and Tannenbaum had the chops to sell the music, as well as the stage presence and confidence to sell the jokes. Their self-described ''touch of class'' was soprano Inna Dukach, whose powerful operatic voice threatened to blow out the speakers on her solo numbers and added texture and playful humor to her support role.

The most offensive set of the night belonged to local singer/songwriter Joe Kowan. His first two numbers were innocuous enough, and his ''Closest Thing to Prayin' '' even offered a couple of poignant moments. But his last song, a graphic ode to parental copulation, had many in the audience averting their eyes from the stage, laughing nervously.

Bookending Kowan were two more serious songwriters, Scott Harris and Jed Parish, both of whom have a strong pull with local crowds. Harris is formerly of the local a cappella group Ball in the House; Parish is best known as the lead singer for local rockers the Gravel Pit. Harris was in the unfortunate position of playing introspective folk to an audience that, by then, was probably expecting more of Tannenbaum and Altman's humor, but the audience responded warmly nonetheless. Parish was, as he said, the ''token goy'' of the night, and he played a couple of country blues songs from his solo catalog. Neither really fit the theme of the show, although Parish attempted to by doing, in his words, ''some songs about shtupping.''

The evening ended with all the musicians paying tribute to the Ramones, specifically Joey Ramone, whom they called one of their ''favorite New York Jews.'' They turned ''I Wanna Be Sedated'' into a singalong, bringing the show to an appropriately goofy and passionate ending.

''What I Like About Jew''
Club Passim
Sunday night, March 16, 7:30

This story ran on page D2 of the Boston Globe on 3/18/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.