‘Left on Tenth’: Dramedy misses the mark

‘LEFT ON TENTH’: Peter Gallagher & Julianna Margulies. Photo: Joan Marcus.

LEFT ON TENTH
By Delia Ephron
Based on her book Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life: A Memoir
Directed by Susan Stroman
James Earl Jones Theatre
138 West 48^th Street
https://leftontenthbroadway.com/

By Scott Harrah

Playwright, author and screenwriter Delia Ephron certainly knows all about romantic comedies. She wrote the screenplays for such “rom-com” hits as You’ve Got Mail (co-written with her late sister, Nora) and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Ms. Ephron’s new Broadway play Left on Tenth is an adaptation of her best-selling 2022 memoir Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life: A Memoir. Like the book, the play is based on Ms. Ephron’s real-life story of losing her sister, writer Nora Ephron, to cancer and the untimely death of her husband Jerry shortly afterward. Not exactly a winning formula for a “rom-com,” but romance is only part of the story here.

Before the curtain even rises, the audience hears a repetitive recording from Verizon’s customer service department: The annoying, robotic-sounding call-center menu anyone who ever has to call about service on a cell phone, internet or the like has experienced. We see Delia (Julianna Margulies) in her Manhattan apartment, waiting on hold on the phone with Verizon, hoping to speak to someone about her lost internet connection. She recently disconnected the landline of her husband of 33 years, Jerry, who died just six months ago.

Overcome by frustration with the phone carrier and the grief of her husband’s passing, Delia writes an essay about Verizon and it gets published in the New York Times. Shortly afterward, she gets a fan letter from Peter (Peter Gallagher), a Jungian psychiatrist in California. They start emailing each other and then telephoning and she learns he is also single, he’s also Jewish and originally from New York and he wants to come visit her in person. Delia soon learns that she supposedly dated him years ago, but she does not remember him.  Sounds like your typical formulaic Lifetime or Hallmark made-for-TV romantic comedy, right? Not exactly.

When Peter comes to New York, he and Delia hit it off immediately. They fall in love, but things don’t go as planned. Delia is soon diagnosed with AML, the same type of leukemia that killed her sister. Delia has only been dating Peter for four months.

The story takes a sharp turn as Delia starts an experimental treatment for AML and Peter stays lovingly by her side. There’s a lot of sincerity and heartbreak in this sentimental tale, but much of the dialogue is wooden and strained. Something is definitely off as the story segues from a romantic comedy to a serious drama, and the hospitals scenes in which Delia grapples with the agony of chemotherapy come across as mawkish and contrived. Part of the problem is Susan Stroman’s uneven direction. Ms. Stroman is great at directing musical theater, but this is definitely not a musical.

Despite the jagged narrative, most of the cast member transcend the flimsy material.  Julianna Margulies (“The Good Wife”) does a nice job portraying Delia. She has the right mix of vulnerability and emotional strength, and the audience definitely roots for her. She also has great chemistry with Peter Gallagher (“Grace and Frankie”) as Peter. Mr. Gallagher is always charming and charismatic as Peter.

Kate McCluggage and Peter Francis James portray multiple roles in the show. Ms. McCluggage plays Delia’s oncologist, a friend in Wales, and another friend in California, while Mr. Francis James plays Delia’s middle-aged gay neighbor and other characters.

So much happens in the 100-minute play with no intermission, but there is little substance or nuance in the story, and the play is, thus, unsatisfying. There is definitely a great story here to tell, but as is, the true subtext is never made clear in this production. Perhaps Left on Tenth was much better as a book than it is as a play.

Published October 29, 2024
Reviewed at October 26, 2024 press performance

‘LEFT ON TENTH’: Julianna Margulies & Kate MacCluggage. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘LEFT ON TENTH’: (left to right) Peter Francis James, Peter Gallagher, Julianna Margulies & Kate MacCluggage. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘LEFT ON TENTH’: Julianna Margulies & Peter Francis James. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘LEFT ON TENTH’: Julianna Margulies. Photo: Joan Marcus.