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Awake & Sing!
Reviewed by Lovell Estell III
Odyssey Theatre
Through Nov. 29
RECOMMENDED:
The Odyssey Theatre’s sturdy revival of Clifford Odets’s Depression-era drama brings together some familiar faces from the much heralded 1994-95 production that ran here for nine months. Among these is director Elina de Santos, who helms this show with consummate perception and skill.
Awake & Sing is about the Bergers, a lower-middle-class Jewish family living in a Bronx apartment who are doing their best to get by in hard times. Bessie (the outstanding Marilyn Fox) is the family’s anchor and taskmaster, who rules the roost with an iron will and is a font of bitterness and disappointment. Her husband Myron (Robert Lesser) is a nice fellow, but a plodding milquetoast, unlike her outspoken, rabidly Socialist father Jacob (Allan Miller.) Then there is son Ralph (James Morosini), and daughter Hennie (Melissa Paladino), both of whom chafe under Bessie’s maniacal need to control their lives, and Moe Axelrod (David Agranov), a crippled war veteran and bookie, who rents a room. Richard Fancy portrays Uncle Morty, a tough-as-nails millionaire who doesn’t share a dime of his fortune with his family and harbors a blistering disdain for the poor.
In the course of two hours, this clan’s homey arrangement blows up with a “disgraceful, out-of-wedlock pregnancy, an arranged marriage, a tragic suicide, a tempting insurance policy, and heated discourses about the virtues of capitalism versus socialism.
Notwithstanding its heavy melodramatic contours and dated signature, this is a compelling play by Odets (one that is often viewed as a backseat passenger to his Waiting for Lefty), and this excellent revival is powered by superb cast performances. Pete Hickock provides a neatly designed and handsome apartment mock-up, Kim DeShazo’s costumes are equally striking, while Leigh Allen adds a cleverly conceived and highly effective lighting schema. Rounding out the cast are Dennis Madden and Gary Patent.
Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., WLA.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; through Nov. 29. (310) 477-2055 ext. 2, www.OdysseyTheatre.com
