Ashes to ashes, dust to dust….a theatre troupe comes back
from the dead to tell its story.
Let
this superb Dramaworks production wash over you.
Bask in its bitter-sweet intensity and
breathe in its essence of purity.
There
is a tragic sadness to the production, juxtaposed to unadulterated joy, of
living, of loving and of art.
Dramaworks’
production of Paula Vogel’s
Indecent is
faultlessly potent.
While Indecent is
a play about a very good play, Sholem Asch’s 1907 God of Vengeance, it is more of an impressionistic work, capturing
feelings about themes that are exposed in the actual production of God of Vengeance: gender discrimination, lesbian love, censorship
and persecution, art and freedom, anti-Semitism and immigration. All of this is encapsulated in playwright’s
Paula Vogel’s love poem to theatre itself.
God of Vengeance
is dated in its melodramatic approach to the subject of Jewish filial tradition
and obligation, incorporating a lesbian love affair with the powerful
retribution all being played out ironically above a Jewish brothel. As Asch’s wife, Madje, says in Indecent of her young husband’s play, My God, Sholem. It’s all in there. The roots
of all evil: the money, the subjugation of women, the false piety … the
terrifying violence of that father …and then, oh Sholem, the two girls in the
rain scene! My God, the poetry in it—what is it about your writing that makes
me hold my breath? You make me feel the desire between these two women is the
purest, most chaste, most spiritual—
One of the central characters in God of Vengeance is father and husband Yekel, who lives with his
family upstairs, while operating the brothel below. He has one purpose in life: to make his
“perfect, innocent” daughter, Rifkele, into a marriageable candidate for a
scholar from a fine family. He
commissions the writing of a Torah which is to become part of his daughter’s
dowry. Instead, a prostitute from his
brothel, Manke, and Rifkele have fallen in love which results in Yekel’s rage
and violence.
 |
| Mark Jacoby, Dani Marcus, Laura Turnbull |
In Indecent Vogel
chronologically takes the productions of God
of Vengeance through different iterations, both real and imagined, over a
swath of time to another level, focusing now on the two lovers and on the obscenity
charges which were brought against it for its infamous lesbian scene (which
played without incident before the Broadway production in the early 1920s). The
play covers the sweep of history since Sholem Asch wrote the work, to the time
he disowned it in the 1950’s.
Indecent has a musical
core in this robust production. Dramaworks’
choreography, under the direction of Lynnette Barkley, working with its klezmer
musical underpinning, is stirring, unforgettable, defining the emotion of the
moment through dance, mostly to evoke the Jewish Horah circle dance but also including
wonderfully arranged Berlin cabaret style numbers for dramatic effect.
Three very talented musicians weave Yiddish sound
throughout the play. Glen Rovinelli is
both the Musical Director and the Clarinet player. Anna Lise Jensen is the Violinist while Spiff
Wiegand is the Accordion player. Music
and dance were always important in Yiddish theatre and Paula Vogel incorporates
these elements as a celebration of Jewish life and culture.
J Barry Lewis directs this Gesamtkunstwerk (“a total art work …that synthesizes the elements
of music, drama, spectacle, dance, etc.) with a multimedia mix of 155 slides
projected on the wall in the background which make the story clearer, and
scores of scenes (characterized as “blinks in time”), some as few as three or four
lines, bringing clarity to the narrative. Plus he’s working with seven actors playing
forty different roles, telling multiple stories with subplots. It is a testament to his skill as a director
to make it all seem natural and transparent.
It is indeed, a total work of art.
He has the “help” of one character in the play, Lemml, achingly
played with such poignant conviction by Jay Russell, his PBD debut. Lemml is the only character played by one
actor with no other parts in the play.
He serves as the effective storyteller as does the narrator in Our Town.
 |
| Cliff Burgess, Jay Russell |
Lemml stays with the play as its stage manager in each
and every one of its performances over decades, to the point where he feels
ownership but is ultimately betrayed by Sholem Asch who allows the play to be deleteriously
edited for Broadway and refuses to defend it in court. All of this action is taking place while
Europe’s anti-Semitism is on the rise, and we suspect the fate awaiting Lemml
and the troupe as they leave America to return to Europe.
Lemml says to Ashe: I
am done being in a country that laughs at the way I speak. They say America is
free? What do you know here is free? All over Europe we did this play with no
Cossacks shutting us down. Berlin, Moscow, Odessa—everywhere there is theater!
You don’t have the money for a ticket? Tickets over there cost less than a cup
of tea. Then you dress up nice in your best coat and maybe you stand up in the
second gallery, but you can say to your grandchildren: “I saw the great Rudolph
Schildkraut in Sholem Asch’s The God of Vengeance!” I am leaving this country.
 |
| Kathleen Wise, Matthew Korinko |
Otherwise, this gifted ensemble cast plays multiple
characters. When Lemml introduces the troupe,
he divides them into three groups. First
the fathers, all of the mothers, the
sagest of our characters, or the ones who remain fools at any age played in
this production by PBD veteran Laura Turnbull and by Mark Jacoby making his PBD
debut. Both are seasoned performers who
bring their long list of acting credits and accomplishments to their parts in
this production. In addition to other
characters, their main role in the play within a play is that of the father and
owner of the brothel, Yekel, and his wife Sarah, who was formerly a prostitute.
Lemml continues: And our members of the troupe who are in
their prime!” In this production there
are two PBD newcomers. Making a stunning
debut is Kathleen Wise who is Manke, the prostitute, among other characters. She sings and dances and acts with a
flawlessness that is mesmerizing. Matthew
Korinko makes his presence known with his rich voice, and convincing ability to
play five roles, effortlessly changing from a NYC cop to the Rabbi Joseph
Silverman, who brings legal action against the play.
 |
| Cliff Burgess, Dani Marcus |
Finally, Lemml says, And
our ingénues!...All the brides, all the grooms, the writers, the socialists. So
ardent in their beliefs, so passionate in their lovemaking. Here we have the seasoned PBD veteran Cliff
Burgess who has the distinction of playing the younger Sholem Asch as well as
Eugene O’Neill (briefly), not to mention three other characters. He always brings an ardent sensibility to
every part. Finally, there is the PBD
debut of multi talented Dani Marcus gorgeously playing Rifkele with six other
brief roles. With her expressive face
and exquisite singing voice, she adds a strong dimension to this incredibly
talented cast.
When Marcus and Wise are on stage as Rifkele and Manke,
their presence and chemistry is striking. They even play the roles of “The Bagelman
Sisters” singing a rousing rendition of “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen” which the
Andrew Sisters would envy in a brief scene from Grossinger’s in 1938. (I did mention that there were scores of
scenes, didn’t I?).
 |
| Dani Marcus, Kathleen Wise |
In most shows one can point to the star or co stars and
evaluate their performance. Indecent is about an acting troupe and
the entire Dramaworks cast becomes that troupe, feeling their pain and joy to
such an extent that the audience is viscerally brought into this production. It must be an actor’s dream to be in this
troupe and it shows singing such songs as What
can you makh dis is America! Iz America, un vot ken you makh? Or What can you do? It’s America! It’s America,
so what can you do?
Michael Amico’s scenic design is in keeping with the ghostly
acting troupe on stage, so there is empty space, reminiscent of ruins, in which
the actors can tell their story.
Lighting design by Paul Black includes some 350 light
changes, all intended to provide a sense of the location rather than the
reality of the location. The lighting is
also suggestive of those dark dramatic moments with nightmarish shadows on the
back wall, as well as a cabaret feeling of Berlin in the 20s.
 |
| Kathleen Wise, Dani Marcus |
With so many characters being played out over decades,
costume designer Brian O’Keefe scores another triumph of period piece and
ethnic identity verisimilitude including quick costume changes (many right on
stage). Brad Pawlak’s sound design
focuses on the musicality of the production.
Stage Manager Debi Marcucci keeps track of untold lighting cues, costume
changes, suitcases, chairs and tables, all constantly shifting between many
scenes.
One cannot emerge from this production after its famous
love scene in the rain without a sense of wonder. Perhaps it is also the intimacy of the PBD theatre
itself. When you are so close to the action in this
play, and it is in constant motion, you simply feel part of it. You may leave with the love scene in your
heart, but Paula Vogel’s imagined words of Sholem Asch which precedes that gut retching
joyous scene sound a clarion warning call to the arts, immigration policy, and
tolerance: I no longer care what is done on the stages of this country. Theater
companies are started by young men who have the luxury to care about where they
live. Or the false belief that they will be allowed to live in the place they
care about.
A blink in time.
Palm Beach Dramaworks, still theatre to think about.
Photo credits: Samantha Mighdoll except for the following cast photo by Alicia Donelan
picturing Mark Jacoby, Cliff Burgess, Glen Rovinelli, Anna Lise Jensen, Jay
Russell, Spiff Wiegand, Laura Turnbull, Matthew Korinko, Kathleen Wise
