“Hi, I’m Alex Edelman,” the first line of Just For Us, was uttered by Edelman roughly 500 times when he performed his one-man show. On Saturday, with Edelman covertly in attendance, Ryan London Levin became the first person who wasn’t the show’s creator to utter those words which opened Six Points Theater’s 30th season.
“It’s well-acted,” Edelman posted on Instagram. “The writing needs work.”
Far be it for me to tell the writer of an Emmy and Tony Award-winning show that he’s wrong about the writing (he is), but he’s spot on about the acting. Levin channels Edelman in all his neurotic Jewish Boston-ness. Although to be fair, I have nothing to compare Levin’s performance to; not wanting to color own opinion on the Six Points performance, I haven’t seen Edelman’s original version yet (more on that later).
The story at the crux of the show is well-known, so I’m not giving anything away here. Edelman was looking to write “an hour of benign silliness,” Levin tells the crowd. But what Edelman authored was the story of the time he went to a White Nationalist meeting in Astoria, Queens, which for someone raised an Orthodox Jew in Boston, was quite a ride.
Ryan Levin, Alex Edelman, and director JC Cutler after the opening night of ‘Just For Us’ at Six Points Theater (Courtesy)
“I’m professionally charming,” he says, curious about why that charm couldn’t make a room full of White Nationalists like him.
But it’s more than just that incident. Throughout the show, he weaves funny and touching stories of his life, his family, and his friends. The show is incredibly Jewish while, at the same time, hits on the theater’s mission of “revealing the common threads of humanity.” What could be more human than making eyes at a White Nationalist named Chelsea?
So back to not seeing Edelman perform his show, now on the streaming service MAX. In a brief conversation on Saturday afternoon at a voter canvassing event, Edelman said it was better to watch Levin’s stage version first and get around to streaming later, since it’s fair to assume most haven’t seen the streamer of the show.
Edelman said he had no idea what to expect prior to going.
“I have no idea how I’ll feel [but] I’m flattered beyond belief,” he said. “It’ll be nice to see someone else try to do a thing, and it’s such a personal experience. And so first I thought, it’s so strange to think something that personal is gonna be performed by somebody else. But you know what? Like by all accounts [Levin] seems like a lovely guy. And if I wrote something that was personally resonant for him, and he decides he wants to devote time to learning it and doing it, then…Also, there are parts of the show that mean important things to me, so I’m curious what’s gonna be like watching them, yeah, also watching somebody else, watching people laugh at a thing I wrote for myself to deliver.”
While the show is a comedy, it’s not a stand-up performance where Levin stands in one spot and talks. His performance is one of movement across the stage. And in concert with some clever lighting techniques, spots on the stage were used differently for stories. The lit tiles on the geometric-patterned wall changed colors with the story, and it was best used for the Christmas story.
Despite Edelman’s quip about his writing, director JC Cutler said before the run started: “We know this works, word for word, moment to moment. Ryan has to play Alex, and there’s no room for interpretation.” Levin’s performance was an unqualified success. His performance as Edelman delivered laughs at all the right place – including in places that Edelman didn’t get laughs, which he told Levin in their meeting after Saturday’s premiere.
The show, in many ways, tells the story of the contemporary Jewish community: Wrestling with faith, interpretations of the religion, and family. And laughs. Lots of laughs.
Tickets are available online. The show runs at the Highland Park Community Center through Nov. 10.
