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It's nothing but laughs at "Grandma Sylvia's Funeral."

ALICE BURDICK SCHWEIGER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

T

he yellow cab pulls in front of 15
Vandam St. in New York's SoHo
district. Dangling out of the trunk
is a tattered pine coffin. On the
street, a slightly befuddled but obviously
amused crowd looks on as an outrageous
looking group of young men and women
rush toward the closed casket.
"She's here," wails a 30-ish woman sport-
ing a tasteless black lace dress and wide-
rimmed hat. "Oh my God, poor Grandma
Sylvia didn't deserve to die," shrieks a twen-
tysomething woman with a thick Brook-
lyn accent and a tight, red miniskirt and
jacket.
The rabbi, wearing a yarmulke and his
old two-sizes-too-small bar mitzvah suit in
memory of Sylvia who attended his com-
ing-of-age ceremony, consoles the raucous,
motley crew as they lift the coffin out of the
cab and drag it along.
"I'm giving the eulogy," the solemn rab-
bi announces, while following the coffin in-
side the building.
A real funeral? Hardly. It's the
first act of the Off-

Mimi

Scott, as

80

Elsie
Duey, a
friend of
the family,
is
overcome
with grief (or
is it Grand
Mamier?) as
the rabbi,
Fred Berman,
left, and Steve
Axelrod, in the
role of Jerry
Grossman, try
to get her back
on solid footing.

Broadway Show Grandma Sylvia's Fu-
neral. And the onlookers? The audience, of
course, which is an important part of the
play.
It's interactive theater at its best. Instead
of the actors limiting their performance to
the stage, they mingle with the crowd, and
everyone becomes a mourner in this mock
funeral at the mortuary/theater.
Once inside, the grieving cast walks up
and down the aisles chatting with the au-
dience about poor deceased Sylvia Schild-
ner Grossman, who met her untimely
death when she was hit by a city garbage
truck.
The service begins with the rabbi's
tongue-in-cheek
testimony of the
late, great matri-
arch. Then, mem-
bers of the fictitious
dysfunctional, mid-
dle-class Brooklyn

"Nu, you shouldn't be hung/y,
Sylvia wouldn't have wanted
that," says a slender, distaste-
fully dressed man. But sorry,
everyone has to eat and run, for
Act ll is about to begin.
The idea for Grandma
Sylvia's Funeral came from
Glenn Wein and Amy Lord
Blumsack, after they both
returned from their grand-
mothers' funerals.
"Glenn and Amy were cast
members in [the interactive
Off-Broadway play] Tony 'n'
Tina's Wedding, and, coinci-

Sondra Gorney, right, as Helen
Krantz, does her best to cheer
up Gary Grossman, played by •
Glenn Wein, the co-creator and
director of Grandma Sylvia's

Funeral.

play and truly enjoying
it."
Among the 21-charac-
ter ensemble cast are Jaid
Barrymore, actress Drew
Barrymore's mother, and
Steve Grillo, one of
Howard Stern's sidekicks.
Last summer, Motown's
Mary Wilson temporari-
ly stepped into the role of
Aunt Marlena Weiss-
Grossman, the opinionat-
ed "Supreme" yenta who
entered the family
through marriage.
"She was wonderful
Dana Matthow, the producer of Grandma Sylvia's Funeral, stands by the show's roving publicity hearse. and funny in the role,"
says Beck Lee, the
Jewish family come dentally, both had grandmothers who show's publicist. "She learned Yiddish ex-
on stage. One by one, passed away the same week," says Dana pressions and really got into the part. It
they reveal each oth- Matthow, the shows producer and nephew made the audience realize that Judaism is
er's deep, dark, dirty of Walter Matthau.
not just a religion but a way of life."
`They compared notes about the Jewish
secrets. Laughs,
A road company brought Grandma
screams and reac- funeral rites and decided to turn the whole Sylvia's Funeral to Philadelphia, and this
tions from the process into an interactive comedy. The in- fall the first touring company will open in
spectators are en- tention wasn't to be offensive, just to look Coral Springs, Fla. "We would love to bring
at the customs in a humorous light."
couraged.
the show to Detroit, but we need a local pro-
The play opened in Los Angeles in 1993 ducer—if anyone is interested," says Beck
Intermission
isn't your typical and after a 21-month, sold-out run, it Lee. After all, the play is to die for!
20-minute break moved to New York. July 16 marked the
x `
VewYtoPn'Aftkrr)./4
j
Rather, it's a show's 1,000th burial.
`a For tickets in NeW York, call (212) 691-
"The response has been terrific," says
kosher mitzvah
1555. Prices range from $37.50 to $57.50,
meal, served next door on a buf- Matthow. "Although much of our audience
with group discounts available. There are
fet table with a spread of bagels, cream is Jewish, we have men and women of all
eight shows a week, Wednesday Sunday.
ages and all backgrounds coming to see the
cheese, lox, whitefish salad and more.

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