Prayer is a surge of the heart, it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.
– St. Therese of Lisieux
When I saw Manhattan Theatre Club‘s 2022 NY City Center production of Joshua Harmon’s Prayer for the French Republic, it seemed to be an accurate representation of the situation Jews faced in France. Opening last night on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, it seems eerily and terrifyingly representative of what confronts Jews in the United States.
Anthony Edwards
The drama is a memory play narrated by Patrick Salomon (Anthony Edwards), an assimilated, secular Jew whose family has lived and sold pianos in France for generations. He is the son of Pierre Salomon (Richard Masur), who survived the Holocaust with his father Lucien (Ari Brand). Thus the play alternates between scenes that take place in 2016 Paris, not long after the Charlie Hedbo terrorist firebombing incident, and Paris under the 1940s German occupation.
Molly Ranson
After Patrick’s opening monologue, the play shifts to the home of Patrick’s sister, Marcelle (the marvelous Betsy Aidem), as she welcomes a distant American cousin, Molly (Molly Ranson), who is spending her college year abroad in France. Marcelle has just finished explaining the complicated family genealogy and scolding her troubled daughter, Elodie (the formidable Francis Benhamou), who spends far too much time brooding in her room, when her husband, Charles Benhamou (Nael Nacer), walks in with their bruised and battered son, Daniel (Aria Shahghasemi).
Francis Benhamou
Marcelle is convinced that Daniel, who teaches at a Jewish school, has made himself a target by insisting on wearing a yarmulke. She wants to call the police. Charles, who fled Algeria when he was young, and Daniel, who became more observant thanks to an ex-girlfriend, want her to calm down. Molly wants the family to understand the implications of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Aria Shahghasemi
As the family argues about the safety of Jews in the modern world, Harmon supplies historical perspective through scenic shifts, where we see Marcelle and Pierre’s great-grandparents, Irma (Nancy Robinette) and Adolphe (Daniel Oreskes), in their Paris apartment, waiting for news from their scattered family. They have miraculously been saved from the death camps through the intervention of a neighbor, and they are hoping their children have had similar good fortune.
Betsy Aidem, Nael Nacer
In the 21st-century, the family is facing a kindred dilemma. Will the family again be separated when Marcelle and Charles take the Salomon-Benhamous to Israel? The family talks and argues. Daniel, shirtless, plays the guitar for Molly. The family talks and argues. Elodie (in a glorious monologue) elucidates her views for Molly at a neighborhood café.
Molly Ranson, Francis Benhamou
David Cromer’s direction has made the show’s transfer to a Broadway stage seamless and straightforward. He has also made the play’s three hour duration fly by, although this is also due to a great extent on Harmon’s nuanced writing. Cromer has added no needless bells and whistles. Amith Chandrashaker’s lighting and Takeshi Kata’s revolving stage platforms take the audience from the 20th to the 21st century; Kata has placed two arches that remind us unmistakably of the Arc de Triomphe center stage, along with the iconic Salomon baby grand.
Aria Shahghasemi, Molly Ranson
Today, white supremacists continue to believe Jews are non-white usurpers, while those on the political left are convinced Jews are white oppressors. The Jews in Prayer for the French Republic would say the two views are merely opposite sides of the same coin. And this coin is the currency of antisemitism.
Molly Ranson, Francis Benhamou, Nael Nacer, Aria Shahghasemi, Betsy Aidem, Anthony Edwards
photos © Jeremy Daniel, 2023
Nancy Robinette
Prayer for the French Republic
Manhattan Theatre Club
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 West 47th Street
3 hours, two intermissions
ends on February 18, 2024 EXTENDED to March 3, 2024
for tickets, call 212.239.6200 or visit Telecharge
Nancy Robinette, Daniel Oreskes, Richard Masur, Ari Brand, Ethan Haberfield
