STAGE REVIEW : “OY MAMA”: MOLIERE AND A COATING OF SCHMALTZ

Oy Mama! Am I disappointed. Here it is, the first Yiddish musical to hit this town in decades and it has to be . . . well, let’s say a little frayed around the edges, a little sloppy, a little amateurish.

And that’s too bad.

After all, we didn’t expect--or require--the avant garde. A warm, old-fashioned musical with lots of schmaltz, plenty of lilt, a fine romance, some tunes to hum and a few laughs would do nicely. And “Oy Mama! Am I in Love!,” the musical (spoken and sung in Yiddish with English side-titles) that opened Tuesday at the Beverly Theater, offers all that.

It’s the casing that’s a bit seedy.

This Shalom Yiddish Musical Comedy Theatre production from New York looks like it’s been around the world without pit stops on its way to Beverly Hills.

Designer Mary Marsicano’s simple costumes are fine, but the sets by Gary Prianti are rock-bottom basic: A few set pieces and painted flats, laboriously carried on and off the stage. And with the exception of the seasoned headliner Mary Soreanu--an enjoyable, fully-accomplished, full-throated artist--the acting, singing and dancing range from fair to adequate.

This musical with lyrics by Yakov Alper and music by Ed Linderman offers the story of the Resnicks who once helped their friends, the Bittmans, leave Poland for America. When the Resnicks, in turn, show up at Ellis Island years later, they are greeted less-than-warmly by the now prosperous Bittmans.

By coincidence--of course--young Sydney Bittman has been stood up by his American bride and the Bittman parents quickly substitute the newly arrived Malkele Resnick (Soreanu), Sydney’s childhood flame, to be his wife.

She goes along innocently and predictable complications ensue. Foolish Sydney mopes for the woman who left him while ignoring the spirited one who is there, who still loves him and who’d love to make him care. In the end she succeeds, after an ingenuously delightful set of comic antics that--surprise, surprise--have strong connections to Moliere.

Clearly, the production has been designed around its star, who is a bit mature for the role of this fresh-off-the-boat, dewy-eyed immigrant naively railroaded into marrying her childhood sweetheart. (The sweetheart, too, is rather mature, so it evens things out.)

As the plucky Malkele, Soreanu is trooper and talented enough to pull things off brightly. Before play’s end, she’s organized a strike and stood her ground. This is no wimp. Yet her long, very tender rendition of “Tatenyu” near the close of Act I would be memorable in any theatrical context.

Less care has been lavished on the casting of other roles, however. Comical Grandpa Bittman, for instance, is played by a perfectly appealing but much too young Solo Aron, with lots of white Shinola in his hair. And Stewart Figa, as the grown-up sweetheart and reluctant husband, comes off as an awful prig. (In Figa’s defense, it’s an impossible role as written.) Yankele Alperin scores as Malkele’s good-humored uncle Fayvish and Shifra Lerer displays enough spunk as Malkele’s mother to show us where her daughter gets it.

For the rest, it’s catch as catch can. There’s a wonderfully old-fashioned tinkly sound to the music (Rene Solomon is musical director). The company more or less huffs and puffs through Derek Wolshonak’s arduously self-conscious choreography and director Michael Greenstein seemingly is not much disturbed by linear blocking and uneven pacing.

All that seems to matter is the spirit of the event, which takes most of Act I to establish itself, but once it’s there, no matter how ragged, it’s there.

Bella Mysell Yablokoff’s English subtitles adequately serve the non-Yiddish speaking audience’s ability to follow the plot, but there is little likelihood of “Oy Mama!” attracting an audience too far removed from the Yiddish idiom. This is a highly idiosyncratic piece. Its appeal will run more on its nostalgic ethnicity than on its polish.

Performances at 9404 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills run Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 8 p.m.; Wednesdays and Sundays at 2 p.m., until Feb. 10 (274-6755).