BWW Reviews: THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK at Kansas City Repertory Theatre

Kansas City Repertory Theatre opened its massive production of Wendy Kesselman's 1997 adaption of "The Diary of Anne Frank" at the Spencer Theater this weekend. Young Anne, who was a real person, is depicted here between her 13th and 15th birthdays. Her diary gives voice to the millions murdered because of an accident of birth during that monstrosity of cruelty called World War II. There have been genocides before and since, but never in human experience has there ever been such an organized and sustained industrial effort to wipe out a people.

Anne Frank was a German born Jewish teenager whose family fled to the Netherlands soon after Hitler came to power in 1933. Otto Frank, the Father, somehow foresaw what was going to happen inside Germany. He made preparations to support himself, his wife Edith, and his two daughters as owners of a spice manufactory in Amsterdam.

An attempt to flee to America failed when immigration rules were tightened out of U.S. fears of the possible introduction of German spies into the country. Otto transferred ownership of his company to cooperative Christian employees and made preparations to hide his family in a secret apartment in one section of the business building.

Germany invaded Holland. Older daughter Margot Frank received orders to report for work assignment. The four Franks, the Jewish family Van Daan, and a dentist named Dussel took up residence in the small hidden rooms in mid-1942. Younger precocious daughter Anne kept a detailed diary for the entire two years the family hid before the Nazi found, arrested, and transported them to the death camps.

Only Otto Frank survived. Otto returned to Amsterdam after liberation. Miep Geis, one of the Christian employees who had sustained the Franks during their two years of hidden terror, had collected Anne's diary and other papers following the raid that took the Franks, Van Daans, and Drussel into custody. Miep returned the dairies and other papers to Otto Frank.

Anne's Diaries turned out to be an exceptional and intimate record of eight people forced to live in close proximity for a protracted period on time and of the passage of a young person passing from childhood to young womanhood. Understandably, Otto Frank redacted those passages he deemed too personal and/or intimate. The result became a best-selling book and, in 1955, a Pulitzer Prize winning play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. Thought to be too Jewish at the time, they softened the story somewhat, in what thought was appropriate for that time. Goodrich and Hackett are best known for their screenplay, "It's a Wonderful Life."

Following Otto Frank's passing in 1980, the entire text of Anne's diary became available. In 1997, playwright Wendy Kesselman adapted and updated the original play using the newly available materials. Anne and her fellow captive are made into more fully realized characters. Young Anne blossoms during her captivity, discovers her changing sexuality and her feelings for sixteen year old Peter. Anne and her Mother conflict and later resolve their troubled relationship. Margot and Anne grow to be friends in addition to being sisters. The Jewishness of the families is more significantly emphasized.

The KC Repertory rendition of all of this (directed by Marissa Wolf) is, as always, technically suburb. The set is expansive and (except for size) representative of the conditions in which the families survived. Director Wolf has decided to use no amplification for the actors. They can all be heard in the back of the large Spencer Theater, but at the cost of some vocal nuance that may have been available to some of the actors. On the other hand, continuity material within context is amplified to jarring effect.

Rachel Shapiro is young Anne. Rachel, a recent graduate of the theater program at Northwestern University, takes on a bunch as she begins as a 13 year-old and over two hours grows into a young woman. Wendy Kesselman has fashioned a difficult, nuanced role who must become at two least different individuals and perhaps even a third as a kind of repeated narrator of the piece. Rachel does fine in her difficult role.

Outstanding are character actors Merle Moores and Victor Raider-Wexler Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan. Raider-Wexler's vocal variation and his established relationship with Ms. Moores are wonderful to see.

Cast members Peggy Friesen as Edith Frank, Nicole Green as Margot, Daniel Beeman as Peter (Anne's love interest), and Martin Buchanan (as Anne's main foil) are all very good in their roles. Shanna Jones and Andy Perkins fulfill their more limited appearances in a fine, workmanlike manner.

Lenny Wolpe makes a caring, learned. and effective Otto Frank. It is through Otto's planning that the survival of these families became possible. His survival at the end of the play leaves Otto mainstage center with young Anne in a pool of light on an upper platform. It is the definitive scene in the play. Otto describes the fate of each of his fellow captives. As Anne's fate is announced her light slowly fades to black.

Audiences will appreciate KC Rep's "Diary of Anne Frank." It is an important historical document of a time which seems to be fading as the people who lived it themselves fade from view. "Anne Frank" continues at the Spencer Theater through February 21. Tickets are available on the KC Rep website or by telephone at 816-235-2700.

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