Happy Jew Year

What do you do while you’re waiting for your hit stage play to be adapted into a feature film starring Henry Winkler and Carrie Fisher? Why, you tour the country with a new production featuring scenes from the original play, along with a bunch of audience-participation gags grafted on, of course.

At least that’s what Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson are doing this year, just before hopping into the movie version of their super-popular off-Broadway smash Jewtopia. The touring show is a hybrid of the original. Titled The World of Jewtopia, this one features scenes from Fogel and Wolfson’s original play (which broke records as the longest-running comedy in the history of Los Angeles theater after it opened there in 2003) about a couple of single guys looking for love in dubious places. Interspersed between these scenes are interactive skits, standup routines by the actor/authors, and a Q&A session with the audience. Who, Jew or Gentile, could ask for anything more?

Born from a short piece in which two cutie-pie Jewish guys yell at each other and dance to “Hava Nagila” at a mixer, Jewtopia is a sitcom that pokes big fun at today’s singles scene; this sort-of sequel expands on that premise with more than a little self-mockery. And who can resist a program whose tagline is “Just Jew It,” anyhow?
Thu., Dec. 27, 7:30 p.m.; Dec. 28-29, 8 p.m.; Dec. 29-30, 3 p.m., 2007