Bartlett Sher directs a reading of Tony Kushner's A DYBBUK for LCT (Sept 2022)

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/17/22 at 11:22pm

The cast for A DYBBUK included Celia Keenan Bolger, Jessica Hecht, Stephen Kunken, Adam Grupper, Lori Wilner, and Jeffrey Schecter.

Kushner and Sher seem like an ideal combo as long as someone can rein in the runtime!!! We know both of these boys aren't afraid to go long. Hopefully we'll see this onstage sometime soon.

From a public insta post by Jeffrey Scheckter.

definition of Dybbuk, for those not in the know: "In Jewish mythology, a dybbuk is a malicious possessing spirit believed to be the dislocated soul of a dead person. It supposedly leaves the host body once it has accomplished its goal, sometimes after being exorcised."

CORRECTION: I have just learned this is not a new play!

Updated On: 9/17/22 at 11:22 PM

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 9/17/22 at 11:44pm

Is it really a new play? Broadway Publishing has offered a Kushner play with that title for a while now.

I've read it, and I liked it quite a bit. It's almost certainly an overly reductive way of putting it, but to my Goyish eyes it felt like a Hebrew take in an Exorcist-type horror play.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 9/17/22 at 11:47pm

I saw it at the Public a quarter of a century ago so "new" seems like an odd word choice. 

[Synecdoche2]

Posted: 9/17/22 at 11:48pm

This is, in my opinion, Kushner's great masterpiece next to Angels in America. A production at the Beaumont would be a dream.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/17/22 at 11:52pm

Whoops!! Thanks for the correction.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 9/17/22 at 11:55pm

I didn't realize Kushner had a version of The Dybbuk. I read some version of the Ansky play for my Jewish studies class in college, and watched the 1937 film.

How close is Kushner's version to the original play? A full adaptation, or more of a translation with artistic license, like the kind you often see with productions of foreign-language classics these day? (Chekhov, Ibsen, etc.) If it's the latter, then I can't help but feel like I'd rather see them do the original text in Yiddish, with super-titles. But Kushner is Kushner, I suppose.

Still, I'm curious to see what Sher does with it.

 

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 9/18/22 at 12:00am

He's significantly rewritten his adaptation of The Dybbuk a few times. Kushner being Kushner, I'd imagine he's likely continued to tinker with it. I wouldn't be surprised if this version barely resembles the versions we've seen. 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 9/18/22 at 12:08am

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Whoops!! Thanks for the correction."

I assumed you were basing it on a source that had said that. 

And tbh I would prefer some thoughtful tinkering, not because what I saw wasn't superlative but because Kushner is someone who can enrich his work because he never stops thinking about it. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/18/22 at 12:15am

“Dybbuk Shmybbuk, I Said 'More Ham’”

[HogansHero]

Posted: 9/18/22 at 12:39am

Maybe we can have Fat Dybbyk.

[darquegk]

Posted: 9/18/22 at 11:14am

Who gets to sing “Bubbe Made a Kishke?”

[musikman]

Posted: 9/18/22 at 1:12pm

I saw a college production of this close to 20 years ago. I remember the play being verrrrry exposition-y and somewhat dull in the first act or so, but once you get to the actual Dybbuk/exorcism section, it’s quite thrilling and intense. I’m sure it could be quite good with a tad bit of trimming and focused direction. 

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 9/18/22 at 2:56pm

The original Dybbuk is actually an astonishing love story if properly mounted. 

Kushner is actually the right guy to turn it into a spectacular musical if only he wanted to.

[verywellthensigh]

Posted: 9/18/22 at 3:40pm

I wish someone would do Jose Rivera's latin-American version The Promise.