Emma Degerstedt and Andrew Mayer (Photo Credit: Russ Rowland)

At a time when there's such turmoil at out borders and disagreement within, it takes a good deal of courage to pen a musical that takes a lighthearted look at immigrations. But Jamie Jackson and So Hee Youn's I Spy a Spy somehow does that with charm and humor.

The show is directed and choreographed by Bill Castellino, who earned just acclaim for his work on Cagney and Desperate Measures. And it features a cast of twelve actors playing an assortment of Hell's Kitchen immigrants and the people who prey on them.

Abdul Makhdoom (Sorab Wadia) is a Pakistani who runs a pizzeria selling Middle Eastern specialties (and gefilte fish kabobs). He is spying on his neighbor, Sunny Park (Hazel Anne Raymundo), proprietress of a Korean deli two doors down, in the hope of finding some reason for putting her out of business. Unfortunately, she's spying on him too, with the same goal. Both employ a deliveryman, Jose Rodriguez (Andrew Mayer), an undocumented Mexican "Dreamer"who assists is secretly helping each spy on the other.

But Jose also has more pressing problems. Prisciliana the coyote who helped him and his family cross the border, wants to get paid for her efforts,/ Since Jose's family has been deported, she expects him to give her an exorbitant amount of money.

Despite his undocumented status, or perhaps because of it, Jose wants to become an actor so he can make his mark on the world. Jose's aspirations lead him to become involved with Alina Orlova (Emma Degerstedt), aka Cheese Blini, the daughter of Cold Borscht, a Russian spy who owns Fluff N Fold, a clothing store located between the pizzeria and the deli.

Cold Borscht wants Cheese Blini to get him the kind of information that will make him Russia's Spy of the Year and ensure he will not be replaced by a computer hacker. Jose wants the attraction he feels for Alina to be mutual.

If by now you've come to the conclusion the plot of I Spy a Spy is somewhat convoluted, you would be entirely correct. And this isn't the half of it. Indeed, the musical clocks in at 2 hours 20 minutes. Even buoyed up by spirited songs with clever lyrics and improbable and unexpected twists involving the mayor, that's way too long.

Fortunately, some of the best numbers come at the end, particularly "Only a Russian,"which could easily be a spoof on Fiddler on the Roof (the Yiddish version is playing just a few blocks downtown). And despite allusions to the vulnerability of immigrants (both legal and undocumented) the play never takes itself too seriously.

What's more Raymundo and Wadia are particularly funny and outrageous in their roles. And Mayer is a likeable romantic hero we never stop rooting for.

So, if you need a break from the troubling stories of real immigrants on the border, you might want to follow the entertaining adventures of fictional immigrants onstage at the Theatre at St. Clement's.

Musical Numbers
Act One The American Dream/The Company You Will See Me/Jose, Alina If I Could Be You/Jose, Alina This City's Gone to Hell/Sunny, Abdul Is It Just Me/Jose and Company Home/Jose Fresh Meat/Alina, Influencers You Looked at Me/Jose	Act Two Where Love Goes Wrong/Jose, Alina, Sunny, Abdul and Company Natural Assets/Prisciliana and her gang I Spy a Spy/Jose and Company I Spy a Spy/Natural Assets (reprise) Jose, Alina and Company So Long/Alina, Female Ensemble Only a Russian/Cold Borscht, Beef Stroganoff, Russian Agents Finale/The Company