The Gamm Theatre's third show of their twenty fourth season is Clifford
Odet's 1935 drama "Awake and Sing!". It first opened on Broadway 73 years
ago on February 19,1935. Living together in a cramped Bronx tenement and
laid low by the Great Depression, a working-class Jewish family copes with
financial hardship and dreams of a brighter future. Indomitable Bessie
Berger rules her family with an iron hand including her nebbish husband
Myron, her children Ralph and Hennie, her Marxist-leaning father Jacob and
the boarder Moe Axelrod, a small town bookie embittered over losing a leg in
World War 1. Bent on forcing her daughter into a marriage of convenience and
her son out of a relationship she considers beneath him, Bessie tirelessly
wages war against the family she is trying to protect. The eternal war
between idealism and responsibility wages on. From the opening battle at the
dinner table to the gut wrenching arguments between the mother and her
father culminating in broken records as well as broken hearts leads to a
tragedy that helps propel some of the participants to escape life in this
suffocating apartment while others stay to wage the battle. As the Marxist
grandfather states in a quote from Isaiah 26:19 "Awake and sing, ye that
dwell in dust, and the earth shall cast out the dead", you have to pick up
the pieces of your life and strive to do your best against all odds
especially capitalism that created the economic collapse at that time.
Bessie's sacrificed her life working to support her family, being a mother
and father to them, while Jacob's a revolutionary, who believes that her
efforts and anger have been misapplied and doesn't want her son, Ralph to
end up on the same desolate road. While he dreams of equally distributed
wealth and of the worker's paradise sung about in his cherished recordings
of Caruso, she's fighting to keep everyone on track to financial if not
spiritual stability. Fred Sullivan Jr., a twenty five year professional
actor at Trinity Rep, directs this show excellently with his talented nine
member cast. He delves into the souls of Odet's characters, making all of
his performers shine. He mixes the comic and dramatic moments perfectly
which leads to a spontaneous standing ovation at the close of the show,
reflecting the dramatic prowess of his performers.
Wendy Overly does an excellent job as Bessie who rules her family with a
rod of iron. Although you understand the hard shell of Bessie, Wendy delves
into the woman to give her the anguish of her actions when they lead to the
death of a beloved family member. As she shatters her father's records, she
is shattering the paradise she never found. This scene is stunning in its
intensity and her eventual breakdown into tears at the end of the scene are
magnificent, too. Bessie puts the welfare of the family above the individual
hopes of her son. Sam Babbitt is a strong presence in this show with his
grandfatherly charm and wisdom who is determined to encourage or even force
Ralph to build a better life for himself. One of the most touching scenes in
the show comes as Jacob comforts Ralph at the end of Act 1. Marc Dante
Mancini, a recent graduate from U-Mass, plays Ralph, the 22 year old man who
dreams of a bright future with Blanche but needs to grow up first. His
portrayal as the angry young man who's family doesn't understand him
resonates for contemporary audiences. Marc creates a starry-eyed dreamer and
belittled son whose youthful yearnings are understood perfectly. Tony
Estrella plays Moe Axelrod, the energetic outsider who is renting a room
from the Bergers. Moe, who is a wiseacre cynic, has a crush on the daughter
as well as a secret past with her that is revealed in the last scene. Tony
has some of Odet's funnier lines including "I got a yen for her, and I don't
mean a Chinee coin." He delivers his lines with intensity but ultimately
saves the day for Ralph with the mysterious note from Jacob which stops
Ralph's rich Uncle Morty in his tracks. His limp around the stage is
wonderfully done with a startling scene happening when Hennie pushes him
down on the floor and he struggles to stand up. Diana Buirski makes her Gamm
debut as Hennie. She is a recent Brown University/Trinity Rep Consortium
graduate. Diana gives a dynamic portrayal as the wounded girl betrayed by
her mother's interference in marrying her off to a man she doesn't love,
claiming the baby is his. Hennie makes a strong stand at the end of the show
when she decides whether to go off with the man she truly loves or stay
behind with her baby.
Strong acting comes from Chuck Reifler as Myron, the milquetoast father
who comments on his baldness being a sign of failure in life or maybe a too
thick or too thin a tongue. His hangdog expressions as the henpecked husband
and belittled father who never could get close to his son and is dismissed
by his daughter as ineffectual, are right on the money. Tom Gleadow is
superb as the bombastic Uncle Morty whose wealth makes him an important
presence in the family due to the hard economic times. Stephen Abrams makes
his debut in the role of Sam Feinshreiber who the family uses to marry off
Hennie to. He has a great scene in the second act when he doubts that Hennie
really loves him, tugging at the heartstrings of the audience. Tom O'Mahoney
also debuts at the Gamm, playing the dour janitor who brings the family bad
news. Stef Work is the hard working stage manager who keeps the show moving
along while the wonderful set design is by William P. Wieters and authentic
costumes are by Marilyn Salvatore. So for a trip back to the 1930's, be sure
to catch an outstanding production of "Awake and Sing" at Gamm Theatre.
AWAKE AND SING ( 15 January to 15 February, 2009)
The Gamm Theatre, 172 Exchange Street,
Pawtucket,RI
