return to Entertainment > Dorothy's Reviews

Feb 2010  |  By Dorothy Andries  |  Comments (0)

"Awake and Sing!" at Northlight Theatre

Clifford Odets'' "Awake and Sing!" was written in the heart of the Great Depression and set in 1935. The wounded from the War to End All Wars were still walking around, and there was the growing idea that Karl Marx had something important to say to capitalist America.

Northlight Theatre opened this period piece at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie the evening of Jan. 31 and, despite showing its age, it has considerable charm. It is set in a small apartment in the Bronx, where the Berger family, Myron and Bessie, their two children Ralph and Hennie, and Bessie's father Jacob all live and yell at each other.

Families are being evicted up and down the street and Myron's hours at his job have been cut. Bessie tries to rule with an iron fist, personifying the stereotype of the the Jewish mother for comic effect.

Ralph, 18, works for his Uncle Morty, who has done well in the garment business, but he longs for a life and love of his own. Hennie, his 20-something sister, creates a family crisis by becoming pregnant out of wedlock. Grandpa Jacob listens to Caruso records and quotes the Communist Manifesto. It's a potent mixture, and something is either exploding or simmering all night long.

The Northlight production, directed by Steppenwolf's Amy Morton, is graced with veteran actor and a co-founder of Northlight Mike Nussbaum as Grandpa Jacob, and his performance is beautifully authentic. Jacob has transferred all his hope onto his grandson Ralph, and in that role Keith Gallagher convinces us that it was not misplaced.

The others, are a little less lovable. "Everybody's crazy," Ralph exclaimed at one point. "It's like a zoo in this house." And he's right.

Gold's Bessie feigned ill health, tried to micro-manage the lives of her grown-up children, and finally, in a burst of anger and frustration, destroyed her father's cherished collection of Caruso records. Our sympathy for this admittedly overburdened figure cracked along with the dozens of 78s she so broke so cruelly.

Bessie's henpecked husband Myron was played by Peter Kevolan and Audrey Francis was a sullen, insolent Hennie. By the second scene, she had been married off to a man named Sam, who was deceived into believing that the baby he cared for so devotedly was his child. Demetrios Troy had this thankless role.

Lurking in the background was Hennie's ex-boyfriend Moe Axelrod, who had lost a leg in World War I. Jay Whittaker was the cynical, angry vet, who pulled off a startling coup in the last act. You'll have to see yourself it to believe it.

Loren Lazerine was Bessie's brother Uncle Morty, the success story of the family, who seemed to hail from another planet, so different was he from his overwrought sister.

The play has a place in theater history. It is worth seeing, and the Northlight production was polished and professional. There were some good one-liners. But what redeemed the show was the strong underlying sense that the members of the family really did love one another very much. But with all the shouting, it was hard to tell.

"Awake and Sing!" runs through Feb. 18 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, Skokie. For information, visit northlight.org or call (847) 673-6300.