My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m in Therapy!

By
Samantha Simmonds-Ronceros
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“My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m in Therapy!” now playing at the Colony Theatre in Burbank through June 25.

Written by Steve Solomon
Starring Peter Fogel

 

The Colony Theatre was packed on the Saturday afternoon I attended “My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m in Therapy!” Which was a little surprising to me at first, until the play began…then I understood.

“My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m in Therapy!” is an autobiographical play written by Steve Solomon and brought to life by the brilliant comic timing of Peter Fogel, whose talents have graced stages worldwide and who has regularly starred on TV and in film performing with the likes of Ray Romano and Jon Stewart no less.

This one man show takes place in the office of a therapist. While our ‘hero’ is waiting for the doctor to arrive for his weekly therapy session he addresses us, the audience, and proceeds to try to explain just how his life has brought him here…to this deeply puzzling place. And by the end of the ‘session’ it’s clear why he thinks he needs help!

My Fogel embodies the absolute epitome of classical comic acting. He takes the material, the characters and the story and makes it his own. We truly believe that the character ‘is’ him, and our interaction on this warm Saturday afternoon is actually taking place in the doctor’s office. Fogel entertains us with stories of his immigrant parents and their seemingly disparate personalities. His gruff-voiced sister makes several appearances, along with everyone else in his life, and he hilariously impersonates them all to our delight. While he explores his mania and seeks answers, he regales us time and time again with side-splitting anecdotes and hard lessons learned.

Mr Fogel is the real deal.

This play has been performed in front of 450,000 people over the years and there is clearly a reason why he and the writer Steve Solomon keep rolling it out…it’s just very, very funny.

This is old school funny. Clever, poignant, observational and self-mocking, “My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m in Therapy!” is tongue in cheek, slightly smutty and charming beyond words. What more can we ask for than to spend a couple of hours in the company of experts at their craft and be outstandingly entertained in the process? With all the worries of the world weighing so heavily on us all right now, I think we are all overdue for something wonderfully warm, familiar and really, really funny.

I highly recommend “My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m in Therapy!” Go on, treat yourself!

The Colony Theatre
555 N. Third St.
Burbank, 91502

May 07 – June 25
Wed. 8PM, Thurs. 3PM & 8PM, Fri. 8PM Sat. 3PM & 8PM, Sun. 3PM

http://tix.smarttix.com/Modules/Sales/SalesMainTabsPage.aspx?ControlState=1&SalesEventId=6493&DC

11 COMMENTS

  1. Excellent show. Very funny! Fogel does amazing voices and dialects. Hilarious stories. Highly recommend to anyone who needs a laugh and has a dysfunctional family!

  2. I saw this show last week! I’m originally from Chicago and grew up around the the Jewish and Italian neighborhoods. Living in California made me miss that. I knew I had to see this show, so funny! I laughed my pants off… It sure did bring back all those wonderful memories. Peter Fogel zoned right in to not just my childhood memories, he went way beyond with his talent and story telling.

  4. Really funny, brings back memories from my time growing up in New York. Anyone can relate to “Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m In Therapy!” Fogel, the star is hysterical, he does characters, voices — timing is outstanding. Check this show out!

  5. I saw this show many years ago and again recently in Burbank! It’s been updated, fresh and funnier than ever. Probably because of the actor/comedian Peter Fogel and his contributions. Dialects, sound effects — Fogel has an amazing range, his voice and body — morph into each character he plays. The man is hysterical — which is why he got a standing ovation! Highly recommend!

  6. You don’t have to be Italian or Jewish to appreciate this humor. Fogel (who plays Steve) is outstanding, a real talent. How he does all those voices and characters is amazing. The show is edgy and clever. MUST see!

  7. Hilarious. Can not believe one actor/comedian could make me laugh for 2 hours straight. My whole family thoroughly enjoyed “My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m In Therapy” Peter Fogel was amazing! Got a standing-o — and it was very well deserved~

  8. The show was so enjoyable! I’m Jewish and my wife is Italian and my son is not in therapy but all three of us attended the show and laughed throughout. Peter is an wonderful comedic actor and excellently portrays what seemed like dozens of different characters. He is a charming and engaging performer. If you are up for a good laugh, go see it!

  9. Saw this one man show and I have to say very enjoyable. Peter Fogel, the actor playing Steve is excellent and has an uncanny gift of morphing into each character he is doing on stage. I loved it. We all have seen and known the people he is talking about and the jokes are well delivered and funny. I hope you enjoy it like I did

  10. My friends and I had the best time at the show on Saturday. Nonstop laughs for nearly two hours. Peter’s tour de force performance was worth the trip out to Burbank! I highly recommend everyone see this hysterical show before it leaves town.

  11. I just saw a sold out performance of My Mothers Italian My Fathers Jewish and I’m in Therapy at the Colony Theatre in Burbank. I absolutely loved it. I have known Peter Fogel who is the star and plays the lead character Steve for many years but never seen him act. I always liked his stand up act but to see him act in this play was such a treat. Most comedians can’t act they can only do stand up. Peter Fogel can do both, he is a great actor as well as a stand up. Through this one man show he weaved in and out of hilarious true to life characters all while changing his voice to playing women to young and old men. He did this while delivering funny lines with his impeccable comedic delivery throwing comedy punches one after another that ended up being almost a two hour comedy knockout. I really felt like I was back in Brooklyn when he was talking about his Italian/Jewish family and it brought back many of my childhood memories. It is a hilarious well written show. One of the reasons I loved it so much was the star Peter who really brought these characters to life for a nonstop laugh attack. It is a must see and if you are lucky you will get to see Peter Fogel as the star. Since seeing it this past weekend I have told several of my NY friends about it and the next time it is in LA we are all going to go see it and get a pizza and a knish after.

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