Penguin Rep's "Miracle on South Division Street" stars, from left, Liz McCartney, Joey Pittorino, Grace Experience and Coryn Carson. Photo by Dorice Arden Madronero.
There's a question that comes up a few times in the course of Tom Dudzick's charming comedy "Miracle on South Division Street," now in its final weekend at Penguin Rep in Stony Point.
"Are you on this world?"
The preposition says everything about the way the Nowak family looks at their lives.
If you are "of" this world, you are one of its creations. If you are "in" this world, you are taking part in what happens here. But to be "on" this world suggests you occupy its spinning surface, being taken along on a dizzying ride.
Which is precisely what befalls the Nowaks -- mother Clara, daughters Ruth and Beverly, and son, Jimmy -- over the course of a breezy 90 minutes or so in the barn theater on Crickettown Road. The surprises have surprises of their own.
Directed by Penguin plenipotentiary Joe Brancato as it was 16 years ago when "Miracle" premiered at Penguin as "Our Lady of South Division Street," the retitled work is the story of a Buffalo family that quickly begins to doubt everything about themselves.
The Nowaks have always thought they were special, in fact, that they were touched by God. They had a shrine right along South Division Street to prove it, erected by Clara's barber father, a refugee from Poland who arrived with his new wife while World War II raged. He built the shrine shortly after arriving in Buffalo.
Clara was raised on the shrine's origin story, which she raised her children to tell to passersby who arrived seeking miracles from the statue of the lady behind the glass, leaving coins in gratitude.
(There is, in fact, just such a shrine in Buffalo, not far from Dudzick's boyhood home, which proved fodder for his play.)
But when Ruth arrives to spin an alternate version of that family lore, things quickly spiral out of control, upending everything they know about their family's history and its very identity.
Dudzick, the celebrated son of Buffalo whose "Over the Tavern" series made him a household name in Erie County (and the question to an answer on "Jeopardy"), has a pitch-perfect ear for dialogue and comedy. The last line of act one had the Penguin audience guffawing as the houselights came up and chattering excitedly through the intermission.
And the final surprise drew belly laughs as the pieces all began to fall together for the audience even as the Nowaks' past fell apart.
Liz McCartney, left, as Clara Nowak and Grace Experience as Ruth in Tom Dudzick's "Miracle on South Division Street" at Penguin Rep. Photo by Dorice Arden Madronero.
Brancato's direction is brisk, as the comedy requires, and his cast is first-rate.
Broadway veteran Liz McCartney ("Funny Girl," "Sunday in the Park with George") is a perfect jumble of emotion, her rock-ribbed certainty dissolving over the course of the action as everything she knows is called into question. How refreshing to see a veteran actor fully immerse herself in a role that requires nuance and pace and just the right note of confusion. McCartney was born to play Clara Nowak and she brings her fully to life.
As Ruth, the daughter who triggers the family crisis, Grace Experience delivers a performance that is honest and compelling, slowly and comically revealing surprise after surprise until she lands the final whopper that brought howls from the Penguin audience. Through it all, Experience plays it 100 percent straight, grounding her performance in the truth of the moment, finding tears as the impact of her revelations literally hit home. Every choice she makes is born of character, the thoughtful spark about to set off the Nowak conflagration.
Coryn Carson as Beverly is a perfect foil to Experience's Ruth, pushing back and challenging everything she's hearing even as her mother tries to process it all. Beverly is the hair-trigger sister, quick with a jibe without weighing their consequences, and Carson brings her to life with gusto.
As Jimmy, who arrives home with a secret of his own to share, Joey Pittorino is likeable, the Nowak's voice of reason, fair and open-minded. When the night's big revelation lands, Jimmy is the first to recognize its impact -- for himself and the family. When it dawns on him, he springs forward from his spot at the kitchen sink, joy written all over his face. It's a moment the audience hasn't seen coming, but Pittorino serves it up on a silver platter and times it perfectly.
"Miracle on South Division Street" has a lot to say about the stories we hold onto as families, and how we see ourselves, and how we handle events that challenge those long-held narratives.
As she unspools her story, Ruth asks: "Isn't knowing the truth better?" It's clear that Jimmy thinks it is, Bev thinks it's not and Clara's not sure what to think, which is how family dynamics work. How wonderful to be reminded of that, among an appreciative audience in a delightful converted barn in Stony Point.
Penguin Rep's "Miracle on South Division Street" is a production that is not on this world, but out of it.
'Miracle on South Division Street'
Where: Penguin Rep, 7 Crickettown Road, Stony Point
When: Final weekend. Performances at 3 and 7:30 p.m., June 28 and 2 p.m., June 29.
Tickets: $52. Discounts for groups of 10 or more and theatergoers 30 and younger.
Web: www.penguinrep.org
Next at Penguin
Next up at Penguin Rep, July 11-27, is the world premiere of Jimmy Georgiades' "Son of Zeus," billed as: "'A Bronx Tale' meets 'Zorba the Greek.' Welcome to Hell's Kitchen where the Greek American son of a single mother who works as a belly dancer lives. A captivating story about family lost, family found, and the challenges of living up to -- or letting go of -- expectations."
