Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Life lessons go down easily in Delia Ephron’s LEFT ON TENTH starring Julianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher

• By drediman
• October 28, 2024
• No Comments

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to catch up with the stage adaptation of Delia Ephron’s memoir Left on Tenth, which is currently running on Broadway at the James Earl Jones Theatre. In short, the piece chronicles Ephron’s life after the passing of her longtime husband Jerry, namely her tentative first steps into a late-life romantic relationship, as well as her scary, life-threatening bout with leukemia — both developments essentially transpiring concurrently and unavoidably intertwining themselves as the play unfolds.

Left on Tenth begins amiably enough, just like one of the breezy romantic comedies for which Ephron is known (e.g., she wrote You’ve Got Mail), many of which she famously collaborated on with her sister Nora, who sadly lost her own battle with leukemia years earlier. With her sister’s death looming over her and the memory of her dear husband still vividly clear in her mind, Ephron approaches the new chapter of her life with understandable trepidation and uncertainty. Nevertheless, even when things turn southward health-wise, Ephron keeps her account upbeat and within the the realm her brand of tried-and-true storytelling, for better or worse. As such, the tough life lessons imparted by Ephron go down relatively easily, which seems plausible given her expansive support system. That being said, it’s hard to shake the nagging feeling that we are getting a largely sanitized version of the story — especially as manifested in Susan Stroman’s sweet, relatively straightforward production — still well within the uncomplicated confines of a rom-com safe haven.

As Ephron, recognizable television star Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife, ER) treads wonderfully within her comfort zone as a stage actress. Although her emotions are sculpted meticulously through the the art of articulation, they rarely fly unchecked (which renders her latter scenes in the hospital so affecting). As Ephron’s generous new love interest, it’s hard not to fall for Peter Gallagher, who brings charisma and non-threatening masculinity to his performance. The real coup, however, are the two actors — Peter Francis James and Kate MacClugage — who play the work’s slew of other characters. The beguiling MacClugage in particular is astonishing in her ability to completely transform herself in a matter of mere seconds, if that.

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LEFT ON TENTH
Broadway, Play
James Earl Jones Theatre
1 hour, 40 minutes (without an intermission)
Through February 2