I have my gripes with “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” which returns for Season 2 on Amazon Prime this week. Namely, Midge Maisel’s ascension to comedic glory has been improbable, enabled mainly by her coddling parents and absentee children. Meanwhile, the show’s rapid-fire, vaudevillian dialogue can make a viewer feel as though they’re trapped in a high school musical.
Nonetheless. The costumes are dreamy, the 1950s New York City streetscape sets are fun, and the acting is on-point, especially from Tony Shaloub (Abe Weissman, Midge’s endlessly disgruntled dad). It’s “Mad Men” without the emotional baggage.
And just as “Mad Men” spawned cocktails and a cavalcade of retro dinner parties, “Mrs. Maisel” is doing the same. From Dec. 9 through Dec. 16, visit Mamaleh’s Delicatessen in Cambridge (15 Hampshire St.) for “The Maisel,” which they’re billing as a “sandwich worth the schlep.”
It’s pastrami, salami, coleslaw and Russian dressing on rye. Tasty to be sure, but here’s the twist: They’ll serve up to 50 sandwiches per day, free. Seems like just the kind of deal that shrewd, saucy Midge Maisel would snap right up, even while she stashes her own mamalehs in front of the TV for another night on the comedy circuit.
