Robert Prosky is stellar in Arena Stage production of 'Awake and Sing'

Arena Stage's Founding Director Zelda Fichandler, who ran the theater for over 40 years, has assembled a wonderful cast in presenting Clifford Odets' compelling Depression-era drama "Awake and Sing". The year is 1935. The place the Bronx. The Berger family is struggling to survive the Great Depression, maintain their storied culture and keep the family together.  The 81 year-old director made a brilliant decision in selecting famed actor Robert Prosky to play the pivital role of  the Marxist Grandfather, Jacob, the only tie to his Eastern European roots and culture remaining.  Prosky whom I recently saw on Broadway in "Democracy" and in a plethera of wonderful films, is a veteran of Arena Stage having performed there in over 150 plays during his career. He recalled playing the role of Jacob (this time with heavy make-up) at the Arena in the '60s or '70s.

Prosky was quick to credit Fichandler for his success as an actor. "I am the actor I am because of her and Arena Stage, " he commented.  The production achieves its success in large measure to his performance.  He spoke admiringly of the socially conscious New Group who first presented the play in 1935 with a cast that included Luther and Stella Adler, John Garfield and Sanford Meisner. He added, "Stella played the role of the matriarch of the family, Bessie Berger and during the curtain calls would remove her wig to demonstrate how youthful she really was." He seemed sure his character's name was in honor of the great Yiddish actor, Jacob Adler.

An interesting aspect of this production stems from a visit to the Library of Congress to view the original manuscript of the play which was initially titled, "I Got the Blues". This one tissue-thin copy was compared with the script from the published Broadway version and it was found to be more Jewish with both Hebrew and Yiddish used. According to Fichandler in her excellent essay in the program, "We've made the choice in this production to restore the Yiddishness of the original version, imagining that if Odets were alive today, with Yiddish having entered and affected the English language as it has, he would agree with that choice and find it in tone with the lyric uplifting of blunt Jewish speech, boiling over and explosvie, that characterizes his writing."

The director hopes that the play resonants with today's theater audiences. The plot includes the problems of money, surivival, a son who believes he has no future and is dating a gentile against his mother's wishes, a daugher who's life takes a dramatic turn and is forced to marry after becoming pregnant and considers abandaning her child for adventure and love, and finally  a question about whether Jacob decides to end his frustrating existance to jump start his grandson's life.

The question of abandonment of one's child was a question in Ibsen's "A Doll House" and Prosky admitted this was discussed early in rehearsal.  "This is obviously controversial today and you can imagnie how controversial this was in 1935" Prosky admitted.  Also controversial was the play's politics and Jacob is front and center with that.  There is little doubt Odets is using  Jacob as his mouthpiece expressing his unhappiness with capitalism and his quest for a more socialistic existance.

Odets was very conscious about the role of assimilation as well. Young Ralph's relationship with a Catholic women, Blanche, is ridiculed by his mother. Jacob is a fervant lover of opera and recordings of Caruso are played on an off-stage phonograph. Odets' use of the famed Jewish opera composer Giacomo Meyerbeer is quite fascinating. Jacob refers to an aria entitled "O Paradis" from Meyerbeer's final opera "L'africaine" which was performed for the first time posthumously in 1865. Meyerbeer during this period was reputed to be the most famous and successful composer of opera in Europe.  His family was traced to famous Rabbis but most interestingly he was the chief target of Richard Wagner's infamous anti-semetic essay "Jews and Music". (See www.meyerbeer.com for more information.) Odets  was prescient about the treatment of Jews in Europe. Jacob comments that a Jew can't walk safely  the streets in Germany and Poland.

Prosky is enjoying his role of playing "Jacob" in this stage of his life. I asked him about his one costume worn thorughout the play, a beautiful purple colored hand-knit sweater and whether it was his own.  He commented, "I donated a lot of sweaters to the theater...this one was quite unique for 1935. Both Zelda and I chose this one. It's a favorite of mine. I bought it in Dublin during the filming of "Far And Away" at Cleo's, known for its hand-made Irish knitting."

Needless to say Prosky is very proud of this production and the play. He has some terrific lines. Jacob's frustration with life culminates with this, "Life shouldn't be printed on dollar bills. Everybody hates, nobody loves."

This play mayl stay with you long after you see it. And I believe you will always remember Prosky's Jacob.

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