What a joy. What fun! You will laugh and leave wanting more when you go to Desert Ensemble Theatre’s new show at the Palm Springs Cultural Center—a world premiere called Do Not Remove Label.
Jerome Elliott Moskowitz wrote Do Not Remove Label during the pandemic—after, he admits in the program notes, watching what seemed like the entire Netflix lineup … and who didn’t?
Without giving away too much … well, let me say if you are Canadian (as am I), you must see this play. All the action happens in one act, about 80 minutes, with no intermission to bog down the process. The play will sweep you along with twists and turns that will leave you shaking your head in amused amazement.
It all takes place on Dec. 6, 1966, on the first night of Hanukkah. The set is open, with a living room that is very ’60s; the audience members take their seats listening to joyous Hanukkah music. It all starts with an agitated phone conversation by a New Jersey housewife, which reveals that her husband has recently passed away during what should have been a routine surgery. Director Michael Pacas uses his actors and their problems cleverly before plunging into the play’s laughs. He and the play bring out their humorous qualities slowly but thoroughly.
Yo Younger plays the newly widowed housewife Tammy, or Tamara, Tunz. She navigates her wordy role with practiced ease and consistently smooth angst. She telegraphs her state of mind to the audience—despite a calm exterior—through a frantically jiggling leg, which we have all seen other people do. Hers is the heaviest role and she handles it perfectly. What a pleasure she is to watch.
Brayden Gravdahl plays her son, Bobby. In real life, he is a seventh-grader, as is his character, and he handles this role with aplomb. The audience worries about him as we watch him struggle with life and his part in it—though he seems to be at an age where he tries everything.
Shawn Abramowitz is perfectly cast as an itinerant Fuller Brush salesman. He somehow manages to communicate to the audience that he is not the carefree, breezy creature he seems to be at first; when he suddenly morphs into the character of Jack Luke, we are surprised by what he turns out to be. This is a role that Abramowitz just gobbles up; he is completely delightful as this most unusual character.
Cookie Balinsky, Tammy’s new neighbor, is played wonderfully by Melanie Blue. Her gravel-voiced and sensitive character is magnificent, and it is hard to take one’s eyes off her while Blue is onstage. She busily swings her hips and reacts with “Oy!” to others, and she never ever arrives empty-handed. She is perfect as the play’s variation on the rich theme of Jewish housewives.
Richard Marlow, as Agent O’Hara, is delightful from the first moment he sets foot onstage. From the FBI, he tries to be a bully, but as he meets with frustration, the audience is gobsmacked watching his neurotic attempts to dominate the scene.
So … what about these labels that are not supposed to be removed? Young Bobby removes the first label, a literal one, and plunges his mother into a state of horror. Jack Luke sneeringly refers to the “family of fish” as he translates the family name. The author does explain the Jewish custom of shiva, and the term “freethinkers” is uttered as only someone familiar with the ’60s could manage, back when that was a novel concept. Some of the other labels, I won’t reveal, but Edgar Hoover is mentioned, as are other words, in Yiddish or English, that celebrate the play’s intent.
Do Not Remove Label was a delightful surprise. Moskowitz is best known locally not as a writer, but as an actor, a director and a singer, and we hope this is not the last we see from his pen. Bravo, Jerome!
It will be interesting to see what becomes of Do Not Remove Label. As they say about a success in theater: “It has legs.”
Alex Hassilev of the Limeliters once told me that all audiences come to a performance hoping that what they are about to see will just take them out of themselves for a while. Do Not Remove Label does that, and we feel it when we leave the Cultural Center, relaxed and happy.
Desert Ensemble Theatre’s production of Do Not Remove Label will be performed at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday; and 2 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, through Sunday, Dec. 11, at the Palm Springs Cultural Center, 2300 E. Baristo Road, in Palm Springs. Tickets are $35. For tickets or more information, call 760-565-2476, or visit www.desertensembletheatre.org.
