Re: The People vs. The God of Vengeance

[Ari Davidow <ari...>]

At 11:35 AM 4/13/00 -0400, you wrote:
>Rebecca B. Taichman's "The People vs. The God of Vengeance", based on Sholem 
>Asch's 1906 play, will run at Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven (CT) from May 
>8th to May 13th.
>Original and traditional Yiddish music will be performed by Michael Alpert 
>(voc, vl, acc) and Christian Dawid (cl, bcl, p).

What an amazing adaption of this play! The eroticism of the original is 
fully preserved, despite the fact that some facets of the original have
been dropped in this adaptation that focuses on the court battle around
the alleged "obscenity" of the play--of the english version of the play
that had been appearing, without problem, in the =Yiddish= theatre for
17 years around the world prior to have the chutzpa to appear on Broadway,
whereupon an uptown Rabbi became worried that this was a shande for the
poor goyim and got the vice squad to bust the cast.

So, you can already see the parallels from the first part of the century
to our own--an established Jewish community sometimes more worried by
how it looks to others (although, I would contend that the American
Jewish communty has changed much for the better in this last generation);
questions of what one sees, vs. what one expects to see; the question of
buying oneself salvation (again, although this reflects the Jewish 
community I saw growing up, is it still so true today?); and, in both
the play itself, with a focus on the lesbian scenes from the original
(at the expense of the heterosexual scenes that were cut) also addresses
the question of whether or not we are ready--we, the community at large--
to deal with questions of homosexuality, onstage, or more importantly,
in our society. Are we ready to acknowledge the right of gays and lesbians
the same legal rights afforded by marriage as are accorded heterosexuals,
for instance?

Just an amazing, multi-dimensional, stupdendously acted and staged play.
This at a time when the original is also being revived in Seattle. And,
as Itzik noted earlier, the music, by Michael Alpert and Christian Dawid
is superb; wonderful improvisations on klezmer themes that ground the
play, give it flavor, become a character in the play at times. Truly a
treat.

ari

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