In planning the New Jewish Theatre‘s comeback after nearly two years of being dark due to COVID-19, NJT director Eddie Coffield thought people could use a laugh.
So, following the success of Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs in the fall of 2019, he turned once again to the prolific American playwright, this time selecting Simon’s Laughter on the 23rd Floor, a 1950s-set comedy based on Simon’s time as a junior writer on Sid Caesar’sYour Show of Shows and Caesar’s Hour.
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“[Brighton Beach Memoirs] was incredibly successful,” says Coffield. “Then the pandemic shut us down, and I thought, in terms of coming back, it would be good to come back with something people were really interested in seeing. And I thought it was a great time to come to the theater and laugh.”
After delaying the season due to the COVID-19 omicron variant surge this winter, the New Jewish Theatre will finally make its return to the stage with Laughter on the 23rd Floor on March 24. When the show premieres, it will be the company’s first production in 105 weeks.
The production not only marks the return of the NJT, but the return of a familiar face as well. Kirsten Wilder, who was in the cast when the New Jewish Theatre last performed Laughter on the 23rd Floor 12 years ago, returns for this new staging. She’s joined by Dave Cooperstein, Jakob Flekier, Aaron Mermelstein, Joel Moses, Michael Pierce, Ben Ritchie, John Wolbers, and Annie Zigman in portraying the colorful cast of characters at Max Prince’s NBC variety show–characters inspired by the very real comedy minds that graced Sid Caesar’s halls, including Mel Tolkin, Mel Brooks, and Larry Gelbart.
While Laughter on the 23rd Floor is filled with quips and Catskills humor, it’s also a story with heart, and one made even more poignant by current events. Between the pause in production and now, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine added a layer of resonance to their story that Coffield couldn’t have expected.
“The most significant thing that happened [between the postponement and now] was a war has broken out in Ukraine, and Laughter is decidedly set in the middle of the ’50s,” he says. “There’s a lot of discussion about the McCarthy hearings and sort of how evil Russia is, so that all posed a significantly different resonance than it did [before]. We came back and everybody was like, Wow, this is sort of prescient… The play is decidedly in the middle of the Cold War, which has been over for years, but now it’s like, ‘Oh wait, we’re back in this different place now.’”
Though it was chosen for its comedy and wide appeal, it turns out Laughter on the 23rd Floor may be exactly the right story for this particular moment. Between the collective experience of returning to the theater and the layered story Simon’s play has to offer us in 2022, it makes for a strong return for the New Jewish Theatre.
“I always think people come to the theater for a variety of reasons. I think primarily, of course, to be entertained, but I think it’s always good if there’s something in a play or production that actually causes them to think slightly differently,” says Coffield. “This is sort of a fishbowl play because it is so specific to a time in Neil’s life and a very specific thing that we was doing…but in the end I think there’s this huge realization that they’ve all lived through an experience that has changed them, and actually that they love each other.”
The 2022 NJT season kicks off with Laughter on the 23rd Floor and will continue with Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise in June,The Bee Play in September, and Jerry’s Girls in December. “Come back and laugh,” advises Coffield. “And come back and remember the change that happens to you when you’re in a live theater.”
Laughter on the 23rd Floor runs Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays from March 24 to April 10. Tickets are available at jccstl.com.
