Review Roundup: Paula Vogel's INDECENT Opens at Vineyard Theatre

Vineyard Theatre, in association with La Jolla Playhouse and Yale Repertory Theatre, presents the New York premiere of Indecent, a new play with music, written by Paula Vogel, created by Paula Vogel and Rebecca Taichman, and directed by Rebecca Taichman. The play opens tonight, May 17, at The Vineyard.

The cast of Indecent includes Katrina Lenk (ONCE), Mimi Lieber (ACT ONE), Max Gordon Moore (RELATIVELY SPEAKING), Tom Nelis (THE VISIT), Steven Rattazzi (THE FOURTH SISTER), Richard Topol (FISH IN THE DARK) and Adina Verson (HIM).

INDECENT is a deeply moving new play with music, inspired by the true events surrounding the controversial 1923 Broadway debut of Sholem Asch's GOD OF VENGEANCE - a play seen by some as a seminal work of Jewish culture, and by others as an act of traitorous libel. Indecent charts the history of an incendiary drama and the path of the artists who risked their careers and lives to perform it.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Charles Isherwood, The New York Times: This superbly realized production...charts the tumultuous fortunes of "God of Vengeance," a work by Sholem Asch that caused a scandal when it was produced on Broadway in 1923...Thanks in no small measure to Ms. Taichman's sensitive direction and the forceful performances of its cast..."Indecent" sheds an eye-opening light on a little-known time when theatrical history, Jewish culture and the frank depiction of homosexuality intersected, with explosive results.

Jennifer Farrar, Associated Press: Paula Vogel's powerful new play "Indecent" is truly a celebration of the power of theater. A seasoned cast presents the story of a controversial early 20th century play simply and intimately, through seamlessly entwined music, dance and narrative. With humor and insight, Vogel shows the passion maintained by the original troupe of actors in performing the work over many years in increasingly difficult times...Taichman deftly combines lyrical imagery, hypnotic choreography by David Dorfman, and atmospheric folk music performed on the bare, wood-planked stage by three klezmer musicians, to recreate a world now lost.

Marilyn Stasio, Variety: Vogel's layered text puts that infamous 1922 production of "God of Vengeance" in the broadest possible context. So while we don't actually see the play performed, we're left with a vivid impression of the drama, beginning with its origins in Warsaw in 1906. We're also made to feel the powerful impact of a critical lesbian love scene, played in the rain with singular grace by the alluring Katrina Lenk and Adina Verson.

Adam Feldman, Time Out NY: Employing a variety of theatrical devices -- humor and irony, time shifts, cross-casting, explanatory titles, interstitial cabaret songs and dances -- Indecent has the scope of an epic but the intimacy of a chamber piece. The excellent actors (Katrina Lenk, Mimi Lieber, Max Gordon Moore, Tom Nelis, Steven Rattazzi and Adina Verson) play dozens of characters, changing locations and accents but always sharing the same darkling world...As it celebrates and illustrates the power of theater, Indecent sits shiva for its Yiddish branch. It is an elegant and open-hearted tribute to a murdered world of culture: Asch to ashes, audiences to dust.

Linda Winer, Newsday: At the risk of oversimplifying, "Indecent," the moving and fascinating new Paula Vogel work at the Vineyard, is like a "Shuffle Along" about Jews and lesbians...So, in a satisfying coincidence, here we have two thrilling mixtures of entertainment and education -- genuine unknown histories of the theater, race and gender. Comparisons aside, however, "Indecent" is also a singular achievement on its own...It is also graced with seven extraordinary actors who portray many different people...For all the darkness of the subject, the staging is witty. The historical perspective is vast and knowing. And the lost story of gay love is profound.

Robert Hofler, TheWrap: Vogel tells her complicated, sprawling story with urgent economy...With a title like "The God of Vengeance," you might think you're in for a real night of penance at the theater. On the contrary. Under Rebecca Taichman's dazzling direction, much humor is exposed...Also, Vogel nicely details the personalities within the Yiddish troupe. They're a seasoned, worldly bunch (Mimi Lieber as the actress playing the ex-prostitute mom is especially droll), and their various reactions to the charges of indecency and anti-Semitism run the gamut.

Matt Windman, amNY: "Indecent" may be too sprawling for its own good, with six of the seven actors playing multiple roles, quick shifts in time and place and a heavy reliance on captions for expository information. It is not unlike the new Broadway musical "Shuffle Along," also a messy retrospective on a long-forgotten piece of theater history. Even so, the play is quite moving and visually striking. Director Rebecca Taichman stages it in an openly theatrical manner, with the ensemble always in full view and three traveling Klezmer musicians. She also imbues it with a ghostly, tragic tone.

Melissa Rose Bernardo, Entertainment Weekly: Some audience members might bristle at the let's-put-on-a-show trope. But stage manager Lemml (the ever-genial Richard Topol), our narrator/guide, is so genuine, the Klezmer music is so rousing, and Taichman's trademark minimalist staging...is so mesmerizing that it's easy to take a trip back to Asch's home in 1906 Warsaw. And when we first hear Asch (Max Gordon Moore) reading snippets of his dialogue, it's clear what's so captivating about his play.

Alexis Soloski, The Guardian: That [Vogel] and Taichman have managed to mingle the styles of both of these writers, with the comedy and searching moral questioning characteristic of Yiddish literature testifies to the originality and vibrancy of their approach...Like Shuffle Along, now running on Broadway, Indecent is a project of reclamation, an homage and a recuperation of a text that had its cultural moment and then vanished almost entirely...Indecent has tremendous affection for the whole of the play and makes you long for the scenes - late arriving, but exquisite - when two of the women finally perform Asch's love scene, a tryst in the spring rain, first in Yiddish, then in English.

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Photo by Carol Rosegg