Having reviewed this play before at Florida Studio Theater closer to the play’s time, 1977-79, I have to admit I find myself more critical of it now. God of Isaac tells of Chicagoan Isaac Adams as he tries to connect with his Jewish heritage, to find meaning in it for his present as a second-generation American Jew. Despite excellent actors and direction both humorous and sentimentally effective, the play sacrifices substance for theatricality and appeal to its obviously concerned audience. As played by the engaging Sid Solomon, Isaac presents his own “memory play” (indebted to Tennessee Williams‘s Glass Menagerie as he is later to Huck Finn, “The Wizard of Oz” movie, “The Grapes of Wrath’s” Tom Joad, and Prof. Henry Higgins). He recalls as a journalist learning of a neo-Nazi group bent on an anti-Semitic march in nearby Skokie, heavily populated by Jews. As Isaac begins to involve himself in what it means to be a Jew, his attitudes change toward how he must live his life. This destroys his marriage to shiksa Shelley (lively, sexy Rachel Moulton). This Gentile unwittingly uses a Jewish-insulting word, buys “wrong” groceries, and doesn’t want to immediately sacrifice her modeling career for motherhood. From the audience, Marina Re as Isaac’s indomitable mother handles nicely her stereotypical role as a bossy, nagging Jewish parent. If she’s ignorant of her failures to impart to Isaac the meaning of his heritage and how it’d enable him to establish his identity, is she less to blame than the various Jews from whom Isaac seeks answers? These, also stereotypes, are yet well served by actors Eric Hoffmann (admirable especially as a Rabbi and a tailor/Holocaust survivor) and versatile Kevin Cristaldi in a range of above-mentioned theatrical take-offs. Author Sherman softens Isaac becoming a bit fanatic by feeding everyone comic one-liners and sketches like he used to write for “SNL.” He could have used more doses of reality. For instance, his dad supposedly worked in a section of Chicago that was at an extreme distance from his home. He made corrugated shoe boxes — a definitely wrong type of paper for that. I’d be surprised he could have thus made a good living in a city known for the headquarters of Container Corp. of America (with its plants, design department, and Pioneer Paper Stock), and Stone Container, among other superlative competitors. The obviously plotted reason for the frequent appearances, usually epistolatory, of sweet Rebecca Miller as Chaya, a practicing Orthodox Jew with whom Isaac grew up, is to provide an implied future wife for him. She’ll surely leave her lawyer husband who’s always away on business and from practicing his faith. I feel Isaac doesn’t really deserve her, unless she turns out to be a bossy, nagging Jewish mother, and his kids can question why their parents didn’t do a better job of connecting them to their heritage. (Of course, parents do their best, as Isaac's mom wisely pointed out.) I leave it to an Almighty to rationalize the set for this production. Is it a wiry version of a wailing wall with little rectangular messages stuck on the wires? What is meant by the imposition of a moon-like globe on the blue background? At least, the costumes are understandably of the era depicted. But does that black outfit on Isaac’s mother mean she’s still mourning? Where are the explanatory comic one-liners when they’re needed?
