You’ve got until September 1 to catch The Sabbath Girl at 59E59 Theaters on the Upper East Side.
The 90-minute musical tells the story of Angie Mastrantoni, an Italian-American art gallerist that lives on the Upper West Side and doesn’t have much time for romance until Seth, her divorced Orthodox Jewish neighbor, knocks on her door and asks her to be his “Shabbat goy” by turning on his air conditioning.
Exploring the characters’ interfaith relationship over the course of a number of Shabbats, The Sabbath Girl also touches upon a variety of related topics, like antisemitism, the wider implications of assimilation and more.
Given the roster of Jewish-adjacent productions that have recently been mounted around New York—many tackling heavy topics in even heavier ways, like Our Class—the presence of The Sabbath Girl on the city’s cultural calendar feels airy, easy and like a much-needed reprieve from the current state of affairs. Bonus points: not many rom-coms take the time to delve into Jewish relationships.
“I’ve always loved that romantic comedy form, which is much more common in film than it is on the stage,” said Cary Gitter, the writer behind the production, to New York Jewish Week. “I always wanted to tell a New York story. I wanted to write something fresh in that genre that was about people from different cultures coming into contact, which is such a quintessentially New York phenomenon. I just wanted to write something that was warm and heartfelt and positive and earnest and a little bit of a breath of fresh air.”
This isn’t the first time that 59E59 Theaters mounts the production. Clearly, the show has been resonating with audiences throughout the years—yet another reason to catch it before it wraps up its current run on September 1.
Snag tickets to The Sabbath Girl right here.
