On & Off Broadway

Colin Quinn: The New York Story

Reviewed by Elyse Trevers

Posted

“Why’s New York the greatest city?” Although many may not agree, all in the intimate Cherry Lane Theatre audience would agree that Colin Quinn makes a good case for the city in his new one-man show The New York Story directed by fellow comedian Jerry Seinfeld. In a fast 75 minutes, Quinn gives a brief historical survey of the people who settled in the city, imbuing it with their personalities.

Quinn is extremely genial and sounds more like a social studies teacher than a comedian in a T-shirt and sweatshirt. His comedic style is conversational, non-stop often with unfinished sentences. There are no quick one-liners, no pauses for the audience to ‘get it,” and no anecdotes leading up to punchlines. He just talks.

He begins at the beginning with the Lenape Indians who sold Manhattan to the Dutch. When the British came in, they brought their “attitude of superiority.” Subsequent groups of immigrants came in waves, brining their own personalities to impact New York. For example, according to Quinn, the Irish smile at you and it ”feels like they are giving you the finger.” The Germans are "rudely polite“ “How you doing? Good” “Jews brought inquiry.” and the Puerto Ricans brought pace. He discusses Asian, Italians and Blacks, managing to gently hit all the stereotypes without being offensive. A Irish boy from Brooklyn, he describes about growing up in a city made up of different ethnic neighborhoods.


Even more amusing than his discussions about groups are his slight digressions as he bemoans the technological advances that are dehumanizing the city and preventing people with earphones from hearing or seeing those around them. He reduces the difference between Mayors Koch and DeBlasio to one of personality. Koch was a straight shooter while Deblasio is a politician.

Noting that “cultural anthropologists are racists” and that everyone is too cautious today about dealing with ethnic differences,he bemoans the loss of the New York personality. New York was shaped by different ethnicities and cultures and we should value them. Like the good professor, Quinn has planned the lesson we should should learn and has framed it with humor. He also makes you want to come to class the next day.