Neil Simon may have blazed the trail depicting Jewish family angst of post-depression 1937, but now at the Bickford Theatre located in the Morris Museum in Morristown, NJ, the playwright Sherri Heller has placed the reflective mirror in the late 60s in a more female-driven version of this genre with “My Mother, My Sister & Me.”
The narrator is 13-year Holly Abrams, played by the supremely talented Paris Mercurio, who calmly navigates the shifting grounds beneath her bell-bottomed older sister Robin (played by the wonderful Stephanie Winsland), her pragmatic working mother (Laura Ekstrand) and her beloved Jewish Grandmother Sylvia, played by the talented Broadway actress Loni Ackerman.
The setting is the Bronx, just as the Cross Bronx Expressway is dividing and changing the city. Similarly, there are outside forces pulling on this family as in a Hispanic boyfriend, Woodstock, and a move to New Jersey that might as well be a walk on the moon.
Though technically a comedy, this play is not a salvo of fast-paced one-liners; rather, it is a broad swath of witty yet heartfelt introspection. The laughs certainly did come amid some teary-eyed recollection for those of us who have been there in whatever incarnation that may be.
Lori Sender lives in South Orange with her husband and son and likes to write about theater, the arts and travel.
Remaining “My Mother, My Sister & Me” performances at the Bickford:
THURSDAY, APRIL 14 AT 7:30PM; THURSDAY, APRIL 21 AT 2:00PM
FRIDAY, APRIL 15 & 22 AT 8:00PM
SATURDAY, APRIL 16 & 23 AT 8:00PM
SUNDAY, APRIL 17 & 24 AT 2:00PM
AUDIO DESCRIBED PERFORMANCE AVAILABLE ON THURSDAY, APRIL 21 AT 2:00PM
Ticket Prices
$45 General Public
$40 Seniors/Museum Members/Theatre Guild Members
$33 Groups (10 or more)
$20 Students (18 and under or with a valid college ID)
For questions, contact the Box Office at 973.971.3706.
