Reviewed by Judy Richter
Clifford Odets wrote "Awake and Sing!" in the midst of the Great
Depression. Aurora Theatre Company is reviving it as the nation is just beginning to emerge
from what has been called the worst recession since then. He personalizes the
era's travails through the Bergers, an extended Jewish family living in a
cramped apartment in the Bronx.
Ostensibly,
the family is headed by Myron Berger (Charles Dean), but he's a milquetoast. The
real head of the household is his wife, Bessie (Ellen Ratner), a cunning woman who seems determined
to keep everyone under her control. The rest of the family includes her father,
Jacob (Ray Reinhardt), a Russian immigrant and Marxist; and her two adult children,
Hennie (Rebecca White) and Ralph (Patrick Russell). A frequent visitor, Moe (Rod Gnapp), later becomes a boarder there.
Completing the family circle are Bessie's brother, Morty (Victor Talmadge), a wealthy but smarmy
businessman; and Sam (Anthony Nemirovsky), who marries Hennie after she becomes pregnant
by someone else.
Against
this backdrop of hard times, Hennie and Ralph try to break loose from their
domineering mother and find their own happiness, but Bessie doesn't make it
easy for them. However, they're encouraged by Jacob, who -- aside from his
political beliefs -- loves opera, particularly Meyerbeer's "L'Africaine" and its signature aria,
"O Paradiso,"
as sung by Enrico Caruso. Reinhardt, one of the gems of Bay Area theater, movingly imparts
Jacob's passion for the music and the words.
As
directed by Joy Carlin, the rest of the cast is sharp, too, forming a strong ensemble and
creating memorable characters despite some weaknesses in the script. One of
them leaves the audience guessing about the father of Hennie's child. It can be
assumed that tough-guy Moe is the father, but it's never made clear, and Hennie
doesn't tell him. Odets also could have developed Ralph's character more.
Russell does what he can with the role, but resorts to some overacting to
compensate for the lack of writing that would better illustrate his changing emotions.
Other characters are better developed, especially Bessie. Ratner makes her a
force to be reckoned with, a seemingly hard-hearted, hard-headed matriarch who
truly believes she's doing what she can to keep everything together.
The
artistic team contributes to the overall effect. For example, set designer Nina
Ball uses
mismatched chairs at the dining room table and places a Collier's magazine on a
table next to the phone, which is in the living room where everyone can hear
conversations. Lighting by Kurt Landisman, costumes by Callie Floor and sound by Ted Crimy also bring the audience right
into the action in Aurora's intimate space.
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