Brookline native Alex Edelman brings hit Broadway show to Colonial Theater for one weekend
BOSTON - Brookline native Alex Edelman is bringing his hit Broadway show, Just for Us, back home for one weekend.
The acclaimed comedian takes his audiences through his experiences of growing up in a modern Orthodox Jewish family.
"I went to this meeting of white nationalists in Queens and I sat there for an hour and eventually, one of them was like, sorry, but this guy's a Jew. I'm like, yeah, I'm a jew. And that's what the show is about," Edelman said.
Edelman worked for years, fine tuning the show in clubs and small theaters in London and Los Angeles.
And while it deals with his experiences as a Jew, he says he doesn't particularly care for Jewish humor.
"I hate schtick. Schtick should die. There should be no more schtick, if schtick went extinct would be all better off."
He tells us he's looking for something deeper and more interesting.
"Comedy that understands the tension between the community and the individual and comedy that understands the wanting to be part of a specific group, but also wanting to belong to the world in a greater way or comedy that understands feeling caught between an older way of doing things like tradition or family values and a newer world that we like though that's Jewish comedy to me," Edelman said.
Edelman performed Just For Us at the Colonial in the spring before the Broadway run, and says he can't wait to see the Boston crowds again.
"We had such a nice reception when we did it here a few months back. And it's kind of the reason that we're bringing it back. Frankly, it's just really wanted to sort of spike the football at home."
Edelman will perform Just For Us at the Emerson Colonial Theater, on December 15, 16 and 17.