Left on Tenth review: Julianna Margulies Broadway show is a sappy slog

There is no doubt as to what the new play “Left on Tenth,” which opened at the James Earl Jones Theatre Wednesday night, wants to be: A romantic, funny and harrowing tale of a woman’s rebirth.One hour and 40 minutes, with no intermission.At the James Earl Jones Theatre, 130 West 48th Street.Yet, after seeing Delia Ephron’s Broadway show starring Julianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher, different descriptors jump to mind: Sappy, sluggish and awkward.That Ephron, who co-wrote rom-coms such as “You’ve Got Mail” and “Hanging Up” with her late sister Nora, based this cliche-ridden slog on the dramatic highs and lows of her own life adds another layer of discomfort.I felt bad — awful, really — that I disliked the dramedy about this real person’s heartbreak, illness and eventual triumph as much as I did.

But the mangled tone, laughless jokes and emotional fakery are impossible to look beyond.The charisma of the two leads can’t save cardboard dialogue.Noble intentions make the pacing no less clunky.

Even the cuteness of its two real dogs fails to pump life into a show that’s ostensibly about living. Ephron’s play begins with a relatable scenario.Delia (Margulies) is on hold with Verizon trying to fix her downed internet connection. She lives on West 10th Street in Greenwich Village, and her apartment is depicted by set designer Beowulf Boritt as a wall of tall, cream-colored bookshelves.

The comfy-elegant vibe, appropriately, is that of a Nancy Meyers house.The seriousness turns up when Delia reveals why the web is on the fritz: She just canceled the landline of her late husband, Jerry, and Verizon went overboard.He died six months ago after 33 years of marriage.

She’s been lost without him.As writers tend to do when their lives are thrown into chaos, Delia takes to her keyboard. She pens a comic essay about her phone foibles in the newspaper, and soon, a reader reaches out by email: Peter (Gallagher), a California psychiatrist, who cla...