Awake and Sing!
| Awake and Sing! | |
|---|---|
Playbill title page, Belasco Theatre, 1935
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| Written by | Clifford Odets |
| Date premiered | February 19, 1935 |
| Place premiered | Belasco Theatre New York City, New York, United States |
| Original language | English |
| Subject | A family struggles for survival amongst harsh conditions |
| Genre | Drama |
| Setting | The Bronx, 1933 |
Awake and Sing! is a drama written by American playwright Clifford Odets. The play was initially produced by The Group Theatre in 1935.
Contents
Summary and characters
The play is set in The Bronx borough of New York City, New York, in 1933; it concerns the impoverished Berger family and their conflicts as the parents scheme to manipulate their children's relationships to their own ends, while their children strive for their own dreams.
Characters
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- Myron Berger – the father of the family
- Bessie Berger – his wife
- Hennie Berger – their daughter, age 26
- Ralph Berger – their son, age 22
- Uncle Morty – Bessie's brother, a successful businessman
- Jacob – father of Bessie and Morty; a Marxist; he lives with the Bergers
- Moe Axelrod – a friend of the family who eventually boards with the Bergers
- Sam Feinschreiber – an immigrant who courts Hennie
- Schlosser – the janitor in the Bergers' apartment building
Productions
The play premiered on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre on February 19, 1935, running for 184 performances before closing on July 27, 1935; it returned two months later on September 9 for an additional 24 performances through September 28, 1935. Directed by Harold Clurman, the cast starred Luther Adler (Moe Axelrod), Stella Adler (Bessie Berger), Morris Carnovsky (Jacob), John Garfield (Ralph Berger) and Sanford Meisner (Sam Feinschreiber).
It was revived in 1961 at the Teatro Oficina, São Paulo, Brasil.
It was revived off-Broadway in 1970, 1979, 1993 and 1995.[1] It was revived on Broadway in 1938, 1939, 1984 and 2006.
A Lincoln Center Theater production on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre, opening on April 17, 2006, and closing on June 25, 2006 after 80 performances and 27 previews, won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. Directed by Bartlett Sher, the cast featured Ben Gazzara (Jacob), Zoë Wanamaker (Bessie), Mark Ruffalo (Moe) and Lauren Ambrose (Hennie).[2][3] Gazzara and Ruffalo repeated their roles (with Sher directing) in a 2010 L.A. Theatre Works recording of the play that also starred Jane Kaczmarek.[4]
A television adaptation aired on PBS March 6, 1972.[5] It featured Walter Matthau[6] (Moe), Ruth Storey (Bessie), Felicia Farr (Hennie), Robert Lipton (Ralph), Leo Fuchs (Jacob), Milton Selzer (Myron), Martin Ritt (Uncle Morty), Ron Rifkin (Sam), and John Myhers (Schlosser).[5]
It was produced at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon, in 1996.
In 2006, Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. produced the show with the director (and Arena's founding artistic director) Zelda Fichandler in a production featuring Robert Prosky as Jacob, and featuring the adoption of Yiddish in the script that conforms to Odets's earlier version of the play, titled "I Got the Blues."[7]
Following its American success in revivals, the play was staged in London at the Off West End Almeida Theatre, from August 31, 2007, through October 20, 2007. Directed by Michael Attenborough, the cast featured Stockard Channing as Bessie.[8]
The play opened in Toronto, Ontario, on June 6, 2009, for a two-month run at the Soulpepper Theatre Company.
The National Asian American Theatre Company in New York produced the play from August to September 2013 at the SoHo Walker Space. It won an Obie for Mia Katigbak as Bessie Berger. It is currently playing at the New York Public Theatre as part of National Asian American Theatre Company's 25th Anniversary.[9]
In 2014, a production at the Olney Theatre Center for the Arts in Olney, Maryland was directed by Serge Seiden and featured Rick Foucheux as Jacob and Naomi Jacobsen as Bessie Berger.[10] Also in 2014, a production at Boston's Huntington Theater Company, was directed by Melia Bensussen. [11] [12]
Awards and nominations
Tony Awards (2006)
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- Best Revival of a Play (win)
- Best Costume Design of a Play (win)
- Best Lighting Design of a Play (nomination)
- Best Scenic Design of a Play (nomination)
- Best Direction of a Play (nomination)
- Featured Actress – Zoe Wanamaker (nomination)
- Featured Actor – Mark Ruffalo (nomination) and Pablo Schreiber (nomination)
Drama Desk Awards (2006)
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- Outstanding Revival of a Play (win)
- Outstanding Set Design of a Play (win)
- Outstanding Ensemble Performance (win)
- Outstanding Lighting Design (nomination)
See also
References
- ↑ Internet Off-Broadway database listing, Awake and Sing lortel.org. Retrieved May 13, 2009.
- ↑ article on 2006 revival playbill.com, 2006
- ↑ Defying Poverty's Everyday Despair in Odets's 'Awake and Sing!' New York Times review of 2006 revival, April 18, 2006
- ↑ Awake and Sing, With Ruffalo and Gazzara, Begins L.A. Run Jan. 13
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 TV Guide, North Carolina Edition, March 4–10, 1972, pg A-45
- ↑ Internet Movie Database listing Internet Movie Database. Retrieved May 13, 2009.
- ↑ Awake and Sing! - Zelda Fichandler returns to Arena to direct Clifford Odetts' (sic) drama, All About Jewish Theatre, article undated jewish-theatre.com. Retrieved October 21, 2014.
- ↑ Almeida Theatre's 2007 London production almeida.co.uk
- ↑ http://naatco.org/productions/2013_awake_and_sing/
- ↑ Theater Review, Awake and Sing! at Olney Theatre Center Theater Review, 'Awake and Sing!' at Olney Theatre Center, Maryland Theatre Guide, Sept. 29, 2014. Retrieved October 21, 2014.
- ↑ Review, Awake and Sing! at Huntington Theater WBUR, 'Awake and Sing!' at Huntington Theater, Nov. 14, 2014. Retrieved November 16, 2014.
- ↑ Review, Awake and Sing! at Huntington Theater Boston Globe, 'Awake and Sing!' at Huntington Theater, Nov. 14, 2014. Retrieved November 16, 2014.
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Further reading
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