Anne, A New Play
Reviewed by Iris Mann
Simon Wiesenthal Center
Extended through August 5
This version of the story of iconic young Holocaust victim Anne Frank deals in some detail with her backstory, and imagines what the Frank family life might have been like before they were forced to go into hiding. While the script is fine, the production is a disappointment that lacks the emotional power of the award-winning Broadway play, The Diary of Anne Frank, or its equally honored film version. Both were based on Anne’s diary (which was written in Dutch before being translated and published in English in 1952).
Anne, A New Play was created by Dutch writers Jessica Durlacher and Leon de Winter and translated by Susan Massotty. Originally running two and a half hours, it was adapted for U.S. audiences by Nick Blaemire and cut to 85 minutes. Unfortunately, it’s little more than a fanciful conceit.
Director Eve Brandstein, who usually does very good work, must shoulder most of the responsibility for this uneven, lackluster effort. Primarily, she has failed to establish a sense of the urgency, the danger and the cramped conditions undergone by this group of Jews confined to an attic to avoid extermination. As a result, the terrible tragedy they suffered does not resonate as it should.
Whatever tension and terror there is can be credited mainly to the spectacular images projected onto a huge canvas behind the actors. These include scenes of Amsterdam streets, of Hitler, and of Nazi soldiers, among other scenarios. There are also the riveting sounds of planes and bombings, all provided by Derek Christiansen.
What makes the play fanciful is grounding it in the supposedly feverish dreams of Anne (Ava Lalezarzadeh) and her sister, Margot (Marnina Schon), who are suffering from typhus while imprisoned in the Bergen-Belsen death camp. In their fevered state, they imagine their lives as survivors after the war — Margot in Palestine, and Anne a fledgling author in Paris, writing of her past life and her wartime experience taking sanctuary from the Germans. In her delusion, she is approached by a publisher (Timothy P. Brown), to whom she relates the story of her life. The action goes back and forth between her interaction with the publisher and her life prior to and during her two years in the attic.
One glaring problem with the production is Lalezarzadeh’s misguided performance. While she is physically perfect for the role, her work is unvarying and lacks subtlety. Although it is very important to project, she seems to be shouting most of the time. And though Anne was obviously assertive and high-spirited, Lalezarzadeh comes across as belligerent and unpleasant. There should be something endearing and captivating about Anne, but as played here, it is hard to take to the girl.
The most effective performances are those of Rob Brownstein as Anne’s father, Otto Frank, and Kevin Matsumoto as Peter van Pels, the son of the family sharing the Franks’ hiding place. Brownstein is every inch the wise, benign leader of the group, and a loving father. His presence is gently authoritative, and he provides one of the few genuinely touching moments with his speech at the end in which, as the sole survivor, he relates his family’s ultimate fate.
Matsumoto is very appealing, especially in the scenes depicting a budding romance between him and Anne. The actor has an infectious charm and displays a winning youthfulness and sincerity.
There is also an engaging quality about Schon. Though her role is not the most prominent, she has a very effective moment as she talks yearningly of a hoped-for experience of love.
Aylam Orion as Hermann van Pels and Mary Gordon Murray as his wife (who also doubles as Miep Gies, one of the group’s protectors), along with Brown and Tony DeCarlo (in three separate roles) acquit themselves satisfactorily, as does Andrea Gwynnel as Anne’s mother, although she is a bit too American in her cadence.
The play is accompanied by the Anne Frank Exhibit at the Museum of Tolerance, which includes videos, artifacts, documents and texts, and which is actually more impactful than this production.
Museum of Tolerance, 9786 W. Pico Blvd., Pico-Robertson; Sun., 3 p.m. & 7 p.m.; Mon., 8 p.m.; extended through Aug. 5. (310) 772-2505 or www.museumoftolerance.com. Running time: 85 minutes with no intermission.
