Yeah, I'm very bummed out about it still this morning. The thing is I actually really liked the play- it would have been much easier if I thought it was crummy so I wouldn't have been trying so hard to take it in.
The play itself made me think of three recent of musicals: Shuffle Along, Passing Strange and The People in the Picture.
Like Shuffle Along, Indecent is a play (with music) about the creation and subsequent productions of the play "The God of Vengeance." Snippets of the play are performed throughout; no prior knowledge of Vengeance is needed to understand and appreciate the proceedings. Unlike Shuffle Along, which was forced to focus on four creator, plus a leading lady, Indecent only had to worry about one playwright. I believe only one actor, Richard Topol, who played Lemml, only played one character throughout the evening. All of the other actors played countless roles.
Passing Strange is maybe the most interesting comparison because Vogel uses her troupe of Jewish actors much in the same way Stew used his ensemble of black actors. Remember, in Passing Strange the black ensemble spent a good deal of the musical playing white characters in Amsterdam in Berlin. Here our Jewish acting troupe members, introduced at the top of the play by name, take on characters of multiple nationalities, religions, languages, etc. Vogel employs a neat trick too: sometimes the actors are speaking in English (though a projection denotes that it's in Yiddish) and when this happens the actors speak without any trace of an accent, much like the cast of Les Miserables have no need to use French accents during a production. But, when the characters begin to actually speak in English an accent suddenly appears to let us know it's not their mother tongue. Same thing when they are given German scenes (in English). Of course there are also scenes/songs completely in German and Yiddish too! It's a very cool system they have worked out.
The People in the Picture comparison is perhaps the most obvious one, heightened even more by the fact that Riccardo Hernandez designed both sets and they are both giant picture frames encapsulating the action on stage! (This one doesn't break apart the way Donna Murphy's did.) Of course, The People in the Picture also dealt with Yiddish theater groups performing during the 1920's and 30's, but Indecent has much better music.
The acting is all very good, but Katrina Lenk is outstanding and should be nominated for her work. This is her first Broadway credit not as an understudy or replacement and it won't be her last.
As long as you're not sitting in the last row of the orchestra, I recommend it! Ha
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
