By Eric George Tauber
SAN DIEGO — Marriage: it looks so idyllic in the wedding magazines. Well, that’s just the wedding. What comes after is far more complicated. It’s this 10-years and counting complicated ride that married co-authors Annabelle Gurwitch and Jeff Kahn put into a two-person play touring the country and stopping briefly at the Lyceum Theatre, July 24th – Aug 18th, 2013.
The Lyceum Space was set up like a cozy Japanese café. Jeff (played by a lanky Gregory Johnstone) broke the fourth wall by coming out to greet us while the last few stragglers were being seated. His friendly and easy manner quickly charmed us into his world.
We are celebrating the tenth anniversary of his marriage to Annabelle Gurwitch, a petite little ball-buster played by Robin Abramson. For an anniversary present, he has bought himself an i-pad that she can write off. Not very romantic, but he got just what he wanted.
They proceed to give us the story of their romance from two different and conflicting perspectives. So far, it sounds like any marriage. But these are two very different people.
Jeff is a romantic who believes they were “destined” to be together.
Annabelle believes people tend to assign deeper meaning to random coincidences.
Jeff was searching for “the one”.
Annabelle was a “romance refugee” who realized that “all of her quests for love were just vaguely veiled attempts to get laid.”
Annabelle wants their marriage to have a Mission Statement -like a business- with set goals and accomplishments.
Jeff thinks that survival IS the accomplishment of marriage.
No matchmaker in his right mind would ever put these two together.
Jeff is endearing and sweet, if a bit sentimental and naïve. Annabelle struck me as hard-nosed and controlling. It’s clear who wears the pants in the family and she’s got him whipped.
One of my favorite moments came at the marriage proposal. He planted the ring inside the car vanity mirror and -when he came around to gallantly drop to one knee- locked himself out of the car. The mime was cleanly done without being too “mimey”, a nod to Johnstone’s training.
Another audience favorite was the “minefield of questions on the way to sex.” I won’t give it away, but at one of Annabelle’s questions and Jeff’s answer, the audience groaned just before the “explosion”.
There were times when the conflicting perspectives sounded like two one-person shows competing for attention. There were other times when the humor was a little too biting. If the play hadn’t been written by a real-life married couple, I wouldn’t believe they’ve made it this far. … And I wonder if it will make it much further.
At one point, a parting of the ways seems imminent as they are just not on the same page. They decide to stay together, but why? Is it enough to have “matching forms of craziness”? I hope not.
Tomato is funny, but rather two-dimensional. We see a funny picture of marriage without the depth of genuine commitment.
You Say Tomato… runs just over an hour and –like marriage- has no intermission.
If you are married, come see Tomato with your spouse and see if you don’t nudge each other at things you see in yourselves.
If you want to be married, take a good look at what you’re getting yourself into before you leap.
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Tauber is a freelance writer specializing in the arts. He may be contacted at eric.tauber@sdjewishworld.com
Eric,
Thanks for a very fun read! I especially liked that the show, like marriage, has no intermission!
Very clever. May you be happily married for a good LONG time!