Last Friday’s opening night of “Indecent” by Paula Vogel at American Stage is a triumph for Producing Artistic Director, Helen R. Murray, who celebrates her first anniversary in St. Petersburg by directing one of the most fully realized evenings of theater I’ve seen here in the last decade.
Every element works in perfect sync toward the same ends. The 110-minute intermission-less play goes by in a flash. The momentum steadily builds as the stellar cast of seven actors (Cynthia Beckert, Mykail Cooley, Emma Friedman, Eric Olson, Josephine Phoenix, Michael Raver, Cody Taylor) sing/dance and play 42 distinct characters with a plethora of accents. It vividly chronicles the birth of Sholem Asch’s Yiddish “God of Vengeance” where the daughter of a Jewish brothel owner falls in love with one of her father's prostitutes. Asch's script includes a love scene in the rain between the two women that later sparks controversy, although the antisemites thought his play was too Jewish, while orthodox worshippers thought it wasn’t Jewish enough. Playwright Vogel strikes a contemporary blow against the business of religion as one character notes that “even the Jews sell God for a price.”
Murray utilizes the first row audience as though they are players in the creation of the script drawing us into 1906 Warsaw. Then it’s off to 1908 Berlin with a thrilling, sexy cabaret, part of the marvelous choreography throughout by Jessica Scruggs. Success across Europe from Bratislava to Constantinople brings us to 1922 with an English translation in America. This gives Ms. Friedman a chance to get fired for one character’s inability to speak English, only to turn around and transform into a dewy-eyed ingenue who is hilariously American. The cast is uniformly expert and facile with their many dialects. And making the colorblind castling of the endearing Mr. Cooley as playwright Asch, et. al. adds another surprising dimension.
A thrilling element of the production is the extended presence of a virtuoso klezmer trio as costumed characters onstage: Melody Allegra Berger (violin/mandolin), Samuel Perlman (clarinet/bass clarinet), and Julia Williams (accordion). This music instantly evokes the joyous folk traditions of the shtetl.
It’s also an exhilarating piece of stagecraft with stunning work from Jonathan Dahm Robertson (Sets/Projections), David Arterberry (Lighting), and Debra Kim Sivigny (Costumes). Each element is a master class in the use of color and texture. And the choice to present the excerpts of Asch’s play as distinctly melodramatic in defined white spotlights is inspired.
The years tick by and we revisit the Holocaust and confront profound issues which are still torn from the headlines—censorship, immigration and homophobia. Ultimately, we’re left with the emotional sight of two people falling in love as they dance in the rain. It will steal your heart.
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Review: American Stage’s ‘Indecent’ is one of the most fully realized evenings of theater in the last decade
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