Awake and Sing!, by Clifford Odets, directed by Elina de Santos. Playing at Berkshire Theatre Festival, Stockbridge, through July 28.
It’s not just anywhere that one can find a production of an all-but-forgotten mainstay of American drama as this gem from the 1930s Group Theater. Seeing it, hearing the richness of the dialogue makes one wish that American theater companies had a similar respect for our own theatrical heritage as do the British for Shakespeare. As a matter of opinion, one would be far more likely this season to find productions of the bard than of anything from what was arguably America's richest movement in theater.
While Eugene O’Neill may have been the father of the first great American drama, the tradition was vigorously developed by the Group Theatre, which produced serious, well-crafted theater that spoke to concerns that were specifically American but which had (and have) a universal reach. Bravo to the BTF for being one of the few theaters to keep the American tradition alive with a production as vital as this one.
At the forefront of the Group movement, was Clifford Odets — or, at least, a trio of his plays: Waiting for Lefty, Awake and Sing! and Golden Boy. These works, particularly the second, examine dreams of a better, fully realized life in a country where oppression and opportunity exist achingly side by side. Ever the naturalist poet of the proletariat, Odets also grappled the problems that result from the pursuit of prosperity — namely, that it may simultaneously deaden one's true creative spirit. In Awake and Sing!, Odets decries what happens when “life is printed on dollar bills.â€
As Ellen Schiff notes in her worthy collection, Awake and Singing: 7 Classic Plays from the American Jewish Repertoire, the play is a significant part of a rich canon. Odets x-rays a household of three generations of Jews and reveals honest types as opposed to simple stereotypes in an enduring portrait of the struggle between pragmatic materialism and idealism.
With her ineffectual husband, Myron, tied in apron strings, a gelded cock only able to doodle-do on the sidelines, the Berger roost is ruled by Bessie with talons of steel and wary, predatory eyes that miss nothing. Three others suffer under Bessie’s watch. Her daughter, Hennie, is a proud beauty whose future is being shoved at her on a tin plate containing the carcass of a barely warm turkey named Sam. Her son, Ralph, is hopelessly in love with a gentile (of whom Bessie disapproves with a frightening zeal) and flying against the bars of a dead-end job and a home that is but a cage gilt in guilt. Finally, Bessie’s father, Jacob, escapes his daughter’s dominion through Caruso records and his passion for Marxism with which he hopes to inspire Ralph’s deliverance.
Simmering in and out of the background is Moe Axelrod, a cynical war veteran who is in love with Hennie and fighting two new battles, one against the hypocrisy he sees around him, the other against his own sentiment. The volatile mix of characters is rounded out by Uncle Morty, an intriguing mixture of greed and warmth in Alan Blumenfeld’s pithy performance.
As Myron, John Rothman is, appropriately, a nonentity, but the performance doesn’t go quite far enough in making him real. Josh Radnor makes Ralph’s coming of age and into himself a very smooth and delicately wrought series of transitions, while Shiva Rose makes Hennie grow on us as she first shows us what Hennie has in common with Bessie and then gently paints in the differences. David Margulies registers poignantly as Jacob, and the power of his performance allows Jacob to become the much-needed soul of the play. Perhaps even more powerful, however, is Mark Feuerstein’s riveting Moe. Without uttering a word, he can project the most subtle of subtext; similarly, his discerning delivery of lines is acutely timed, and maximizes the landing of every word on the listener’s ear.
Director Elina de Santos masterfully orchestrates the relationships between these characters; we truly have the sense of the cauldron of family dynamics. She is not, however, able to guide Marilyn Fox into an adequate performance in the pivotal role of the reigning matriarch. Bessie may have an umbilical cord made of piano wire, but Fox plays it as though it is barbed wire. For the play to achieve its potential and necessary depth, Bessie has to be more complex. We dislike this Bessie almost immediately; gradually, we come to loath her. Intellectually, we know her harsh actions come from a desire to protect her family. There is not, however, a jot of warmth in Fox to substantiate this and make it felt. It is a thoroughly strident performance delivered with little vocal variety and a relentlessly irritating assault on the ears. If the goal was to make Bessie a monster capable of holding her own in Jurassic Park, Fox has succeeded all too well.
Lawrence Miller's scrim setting is rendered delicately and conveys the close overlapping of the family members’ lives while allowing glimpses of what goes on in their private, “offstage†moments. It is nicely complemented by Ann G. Wrightson’s discreet light design which simultaneously suggests the warmth of the family and the oppressiveness of the tenement life.
Its one problematic character aside, this is a lovingly mounted production with a cast that savors the wonderful music inherent in the dialogue and allows Odets to sing clearly into the new century.
Ralph Hammann of Williamstown is The Advocate’s chief theater critic.
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Berkshire County Homes Celebrating Holiday Cheer
By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
There's holiday cheer throughout the Berkshires this winter.
Many homeowners are showing their holiday spirit by decorating their houses. We asked for submissions so those in the community can check out these fanciful lights and decor when they're out.
We asked the homeowners questions on their decorations and why they like to light up their houses.
In Great Barrington, Matt Pevzner has decorated his house with many lights and even has a Facebook page dedicated to making sure others can see the holiday joy.
Located at 93 Brush Hill Road, there's more than 61,000 lights strewn across the yard decorating trees and reindeer and even a polar bear.
The Pevzner family started decorating in September by testing their hundreds of boxes of lights. He builds all of his own decorations like the star 10-foot star that shines done from 80-feet up, 10 10-foot trees, nine 5-foot trees, and even the sleigh, and more that he also uses a lift to make sure are perfect each year.
"I always decorated but I went big during COVID. I felt that people needed something positive and to bring joy and happiness to everyone," he wrote. "I strive to bring as much joy and happiness as I can during the holidays. I love it when I get a message about how much people enjoy it. I've received cards thanking me how much they enjoyed it and made them smile. That means a lot."
Pevzner starts thinking about next year's display immediately after they take it down after New Year's. He gets his ideas by asking on his Facebook page for people's favorite decorations. The Pevzner family encourages you to take a drive and see their decorations, which are lighted every night from 5 to 10.
In North Adams, the Wilson family decorates their house with fun inflatables and even a big Santa waving to those who pass by.
The Wilsons start decorating before Thanksgiving and started decorating once their daughter was born and have grown their decorations each year as she has grown. They love to decorate as they used to drive around to look at decorations when they were younger and hope to spread the same joy.
"I have always loved driving around looking at Christmas lights and decorations. It's incredible what people can achieve these days with their displays," they wrote.
The Wilsons' invite you to come and look at their display at 432 Church St. that's lit from 4:30 to 10:30 every night, though if it's really windy, the inflatables might not be up as the weather will be too harsh.
In Pittsfield, Travis and Shannon Dozier decorated their house for the first time this Christmas as they recently purchased their home on Faucett Lane. The two started decorating in November, and hope to bring joy to the community.
"If we put a smile on one child's face driving by, then our mission was accomplished," they said.
Many homeowners are showing their holiday spirit by decorating their houses. We asked for submissions so those in the community can check out these fanciful lights and decor when they're out.
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