Hey, remember Jewtopia?
Allow me to quote myself (October 22, the Jewish Week):
‘Jewtopia’ is a complicated place. Here, Adam (a Jew) has to date a Jewish woman (for his family), but can’t seem to meet any; while Chris (a gentile) finds a Jewish woman (so he doesn’t have to make any more decisions) but knows he will be rejected if she learns he’s not Jewish. Adam agrees to help Chris “pass,” if Chris will help him find Jewish women. Chris introduces his friend to Jewtopia, a magic land with 500,000 single Jewish women. No, not the Upper West Side — in the new Off Broadway show, the eponymous Jewtopia is JDate.
To refresh your memory, some people called it “the worst, most offensive play” they’d ever seen, maintaining that it perpetuated Borscht Belt style humor and untrue stereotypes. And others were roaring in the aisles, seeing the truth and resonance in the comedy. But since they built it, people are coming…first, it took Los Angeles by storm, now off-Broadway, and recently, the show has been selling out in Chicago, with a Florida cast due to begin shows in August and London at some time before or after that.
Not content to rest on their laurels (and let the other funny Jewish writers in New York have their moment in the red), co-writers, producers, stars, etc Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson are working on the screenplay for Jewtopia: The Movie. And it was just announced that Warner Books has acquired the rights to Jewtopia: The Book, which is planned for a fall 2006 release.
These guys are hella nice and funny, onstage and off. And I wish them all the success in the world, so they can share it with me and my work-in-progress JDate musical any local artists who are developing other dating- or Jewish-related New York theater efforts that may crop up over the next year or so.
Rumored next steps for Wolfson and Fogel:
Jewtopia: The Lunchbox…
Jewtopia: The Birthright Israel Trip
…and of course, world domination.
Photo: Nadia Pandolfo
themiddle
6/30/2005
Good piece.