New Play ‘The Sabbath Girl’ Features Great Performances, But Could Use a Bit More Tinkering

There are two good reasons to see The Sabbath Girl, a new musical in Manhattan at 59E59 Theaters. The first reason is that actor Rory Max Kaplan is going to be a star, and you can tell your friends you saw him before he became huge. He looks a bit like Billy Magnussen, and his good looks, great charisma, and comedic timing make the show exciting.

Kaplan, a Jewish actor, plays Blake, a slick, muscular artist looking to show off his work in a gallery. He meets Angie (Marilyn Caserta), and his interests are not only business, but pleasure as well. Caserta is the second reason you should see the show — her acting is spot on, and she is compelling and believable.

Angie is first viewed as a “Shabbos goy” by Seth (Max Wolkowitz), an Orthodox Jewish young man who wears a kippah and is from Riverdale. Well explained in the musical, a “Shabbos goy” is someone who is hired to do tasks that Orthodox Jews cannot perform on Shabbat, such as turning off lights.

Max works with his mother, Rachel, selling knishes ($8.25 seems a bit pricey, but oh well), and she has a strong personality. Played by Jewish actress Lauren Singerman, she performs her role well, and impresses in the comical song “Assets.” Max begins to fall for Angie, and she has to see if she wants to become involved with Max, Blake, both, or neither.

The scenes with Caserta and Kaplan work great. The scenes with Caserta and Wolkowitz don’t, and it’s not the fault of the actors. The main problem of The Sabbath Girl is that other than “Assets” and “I Want To Paint You,” the songs are neither memorable nor are they inspiring.

The show would work much better as a play, where there would be sufficient time for Max to warm up to the idea of being with Angie. To have him take off his yarmulke, have a fight with his mother about it and then decide she is a real possibility for him for a relationship in the span of an hour and a half would be tough on its own; taking time away with songs makes it that more difficult.

Single Jewish men who are older often wonder if it might be easier to find a woman who is not Jewish, and some grapple with their desire and rules of religion. This dynamic could — and should — have been heightened and explored further.

For Max to jump so quickly to Angie makes the audience miss out on seeing what’s happening in Max’s mind. For example, some dialogue between Max and Blake questioning religion could have made things more interesting.

Based on a clever premise, with a knockout performance by Kaplan and a great performance by Caserta, The Sabbath Girl is definitely worth seeing. Some people may prefer average songs to no songs at all, but the crux of the play would have been more authentically explored in a play format that delved deeper into Max’s character, or a musical with a lot more depth. If the songs were better, it would make more sense as a musical.

Directed by Joe Brancato, with music by Neil Berg, lyrics by Berg and Cary Gitter, who also wrote the book, the show has potential, but could have been developed a lot more. Regardless, it’s still entertaining, with a dynamite lead performance.

The author is a writer based in New York.