REVIEWS ...
AT GABLESTAGE, ANOTHER VERSION SADLY REMINDS US OF THE HOLOCAUST
By Ron Levitt
There are those who say that after Judgment at Nuremburg and films such as Schindler's List and Voyage of the Damned, enough has been written for stage and film on the Holocaust. I disagree. True, the subject is polemic... but a necessary one. It is a story which should be constantly told (and remembered) no matter what the literary or drama form. It is a piece of history which should be recalled for all of those old enough to understand so that it never happens again... not anywhere.
That is just one of the many reasons; GableStage's current production - The Accomplices - should be seen by everyone of high school age and older. The gripping docudrama by newspaperman Bernard Weinraub is a powerful view of the Holocaust from a vastly different angle based on historic fact - the pitiful response of the United States to the horror taking place in the death camps of Europe between 1941 and 1944.
Weinraub - a former New York Times reporter -- has done a remarkable task of compiling actual events and attributing positions to actual people -- weaving them into a reality which will make those who lived during those years shudder and make younger people appalled at what went on. His research is undeniably upsetting - especially to those who grew up in the 1940s and thought our government was as close to godliness as one could believe. The realization of things we have learned over the years --- that the Washington establishment may not have been so benevolent --- may not be a revelation - but to hear it from characters playing President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Henry Morgenthau, Ben Hecht, Rabbi Stephen Wise and State Department bigots can only recall the disillusionment.
Weinraub and Director Joseph Adler turn a succession of short scenes - mostly with historic characters - into a searing and compelling drama.
The play revolves around Peter Bergson, a Lithuanian-born Jew from Palestine, who came to America in 1940 to campaign for the rescue of his co-religionists in Europe. Actor John Manzelli plays the idealistic yet pragmatic Bergson with intensity. His moments on stage are a highlight, a performance which is among the best yet by the young actor who returned to his native South Florida several years ago after five years in New York.
Bergson's activist pal Samuel Merlin (Scott Genn) is a joke-teller who gives the audience a few moments to chuckle in this serious work. Genn is notable in this supporting role. And, then there is Betty (Ursula Cataan), the love interest, who eventually becomes Bergson's wife. These characters (real people in our real lives) are important in Bergson's role in establishing the Committee for the Rescue of European Jewry.
In telling this story, author Weinraub introduces an array of likeable, unlikable and questionable historic figures - playwright Ben Hecht and President FDR (both played by Kevin Reilley, Rabbi Wise (Joel Kolker), Treasury Secretary (Howard Elfman), speechwriter Sam Rosenman (Gregg Weiner), FDR's bigoted cousin Laura Houghteling (Jessica K. Peterson) and the villainous State Department chief Breckenridge Long (Wayne LeGette).
Costume designer Ellis Tillman himself must have been research-dedicated, as well. His array of 1940s attire is realism personified. And, the set by Lyle Baskin suits the need of projecting numerous locations necessary for the plot.
Most of all, give credit to Director Joseph Adler, the guiding light of GableStage, who once again has added to the luster of this company. The production is thoughtful, enlightening, educational and, sadly, in this case - all too real!
(I must admit that seeing this play sent me directly online to Google! I wanted to know even more of the background of some of these historic characters - especially Roosevelt's cousin Laura Delano Houghteling. I was intrigued by what I discovered - even how her comments reflect in policies which may affect the current state of politics in the U.S. I would advise readers to do their own research. It is enlightening.)
