#1
Posted: 3/14/09 at 10:59pm
What an incredible, emotional, yet uplifting play this is. I don't have a lot to say, because most of it has already been said by other posters much more eloquently than I, but it was a brilliant 90 minutes today.
Angela Lansbury better hope she gets petitioned as a featured actress if she wants to win one last Tony, because Tovah can just clear a space on her mantle for her first Tony right now. Her performance was brilliant, not just as Irena, but as the various other characters she performs. She commanded the stage and was able to go from humor to heartbreak effortlessly. Her final speech that she delivers (in 1988 ) was absolutely terrific.
The play itself is a 90 minute rush from beginning to end. I never once fidgeted or became the least bit distracted. I was riveted to the action onstage the whole time. It was thrilling. I paid for my entire seat, but I only used the edge of it. There was a great line near the end of the play that resonated so well. During the aforementioned final speech Tovah gives, she has a line about how we are the last generation that will hear about the Holocaust from actual survivors. I had never thought about that before, but it's true. For that reason, and many others, this is an important work, a play that needs to be seen.
Speaking of Tonys, I found this to be a far stronger play than Dividing the Estate, which seems to be the current favorite for Best Play at the moment.
Afterwards, we had the brief Q&A with Irena's daughter, which was even more interesting because.....
(SLIGHT SPOILER)
someone asked her what ever became of the Major. She thanked the person for asking such a great question and said she was glad she got to tell this story. When the Major returned to Germany, he was shunned by his town for one of two reasons. Either because they knew of his "affair" with his housekeeper, or they believed him to a "Jew lover." So, as an old, frail man, since he couldn't go back to his house, he was actually living on the streets. Then, Lazer, one of the Jews hidden in the basement, heard he was on the street, and his family took him in and he lived the rest of his life with them. The Jewish family's son called him Grandpa. I thought that was a very interesting little sidebar to a fascinating story.
Angela Lansbury better hope she gets petitioned as a featured actress if she wants to win one last Tony, because Tovah can just clear a space on her mantle for her first Tony right now. Her performance was brilliant, not just as Irena, but as the various other characters she performs. She commanded the stage and was able to go from humor to heartbreak effortlessly. Her final speech that she delivers (in 1988 ) was absolutely terrific.
The play itself is a 90 minute rush from beginning to end. I never once fidgeted or became the least bit distracted. I was riveted to the action onstage the whole time. It was thrilling. I paid for my entire seat, but I only used the edge of it. There was a great line near the end of the play that resonated so well. During the aforementioned final speech Tovah gives, she has a line about how we are the last generation that will hear about the Holocaust from actual survivors. I had never thought about that before, but it's true. For that reason, and many others, this is an important work, a play that needs to be seen.
Speaking of Tonys, I found this to be a far stronger play than Dividing the Estate, which seems to be the current favorite for Best Play at the moment.
Afterwards, we had the brief Q&A with Irena's daughter, which was even more interesting because.....
(SLIGHT SPOILER)
someone asked her what ever became of the Major. She thanked the person for asking such a great question and said she was glad she got to tell this story. When the Major returned to Germany, he was shunned by his town for one of two reasons. Either because they knew of his "affair" with his housekeeper, or they believed him to a "Jew lover." So, as an old, frail man, since he couldn't go back to his house, he was actually living on the streets. Then, Lazer, one of the Jews hidden in the basement, heard he was on the street, and his family took him in and he lived the rest of his life with them. The Jewish family's son called him Grandpa. I thought that was a very interesting little sidebar to a fascinating story.
Updated On: 3/14/09 at 10:59 PM
