Peter Gallagher, Julianna Margulies. (Photo: Joan Marcus)

Left on Tenth

By Fern Siegel

 

Memoirs can be self-serving or enlightening. If the author is funny, rueful and aware of personal ironies, they can be both. That's the case with Delia Ephron ("You've Got Mail"), the Hollywood screenwriter/novelist who penned a best-selling 2022 memoir. She addressed her cancer recovery and the surprise of finding love after her husband's death.

Ephron, who co-wrote movies with her director sister Nora, is portrayed with impish humor by Juliana Margulies. She's smart, open and trying to determine her future. Her beloved husband and sister are gone, and her closest friends are often cross-country or across oceans.

Is it time to settle into a quiet existence or does she have another shot at romance?

That's the premise of Left on Tenth, now on Broadway at the James Earl Jones Theater. Of course, much to Ephron's surprise, she clicks with another man, a Jungian psychotherapist who tosses around words such as "interdimensionality." Incredibly, he has some connection to her past. He, too, lost his spouse - and is searching for a second chance. The amazing thing is, they get it.

Peter Gallagher, Julianna Margulies. (Photo: Joan Marcus)

But it doesn't come easily. The duo begins a tentative courtship by email since Peter (Peter Gallagher) is in the Bay Area, but graduate to closer ties. Eventually, they confront a life-or-death situation with the help of great friends, top professionals and a seemingly endless supply of money. Peter is almost too good to be true. Seen solely through Delia's eyes, he is handsome, supportive and relentlessly upbeat. And her doctors aren't just caring, they're friends! Who gets that lucky later in life? Apparently, Delia Ephron.

 

Juliana Margulies, Kate MacCluggage (Photo: Joan Marcus)

Left on Tenth, a direction taken from her book-lined Greenwich Village apartment, is an intimate show that is both a love letter to her neighborhood and her second husband. The show is on Broadway due to the star power of its leads, who share chemistry. Kate MacCluggage and Peter Francis James deftly play various secondary roles. And for dog lovers, two make an appearance on stage and steal their scenes.

Directed with economy by Susan Stroman, Left on Tenth is a mature love story, one that confronts the vagaries of age. And while it has its romantic moments, it exists largely as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and its infinite capacity, when motivated, to take leaps into the emotional unknown. This is a quiet work that addresses the profoundness of loss - spouse and sibling - battling a rare disease, and the effort it takes to start your life anew.

Jeff Mahshie handled costume design, which is casual chic. Ken Billigton/Itohan Edoloyi did lighting, Jeanette Oi-Su Yew projections and Beowulf Boritt sets. Stroman keeps the play fairly light. Despite the subject matter, Left on Tenth is more exposition than drama, with a dollop of rom-com, given Ephron's writing creds. But it remains touching, and the performances are uniformly sound. For true romantics, it supplies hope and the assurance that anything is possible.

Left on Tenth

James Earl Jones Theater, 138 W. 48 St.

Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes, no intermission

Tickets: https://leftontenthbroadway.com/#home-tickets