A TRIUMPHANT SAGA OF
A VIENNESE FAMILY
The Huntington and director Carey Perloff bring Tom Stoppard‘s beautifully written Leopoldstadt to Boston with engaging performances that make the complex relationships of three generations of an extended family surprisingly easy to follow and appreciate. A cast of over thirty actors, set in four different time periods, portray a familiar story: An extended family of highly assimilated Viennese Jews and their non-Jewish spouses, wealthy, well-educated, cultured — who believe themselves to be fully Austrian — are betrayed by their country’s embrace of Nazism. Yet in Stoppard’s hands, this familiar story takes on fresh twists and echoes as the characters grapple not only with the anti-Semitism that destroys them, but with their own difficulties in embracing their Jewish identities.
The cast of Leopoldstadt. Brenda Meaney and Rachel Felstein in front.
Mishka Yarovoy, Nael Nacer, Brenda Meaney
The play — which opened last night at The Huntington Theatre — begins on Christmas 1899, and a family gathering of Jews and their non-Jewish spouses have come together for the holiday. Young Jacob (played alternately by Quinn Murphy and Elias Wettengel) places a Star of David ornament on top of the Christmas tree, to the amusement of the adults. It’s a mistake to be expected from a boy with a Jewish father and a Christian mother, a boy who was baptized and circumcised in the same week. Successful businessman Hermann (Nael Nacer) proclaims that “Vienna is the promised land”. He dismisses the efforts of Theodor Herzl, a fellow-Viennese, to create a Jewish state in Palestine. Jews are prominent in banking, science, music, art, and literature, Hermann says. There is no need for such a state, especially since the Arabs don’t want them.
Holden King-Farbstein, Joshua Chessin-Yudin, Quinn Murphy, Firdous Bamji
The Cast
But this tale, which begins in 1899 and ends in 1955, is full of surprises that will not be revealed in this review. Parentage is complicated, and so is religious identity. Wonderful acting by Nacer and Brenda Meaney as his beautiful and yet insecure wife Gretl, as well as from Samuel Adams as the charmingly repulsive Fritz (and later as the heroic and sympathetic Percy Chamberlain) help us keep track of the shifting relationships. Rebecca Gibel and Joshua Chessin-Yudin are fine as Rosa and Nathan, who carry the joy and the burden of memory into their lives as survivors. Leopoldstadt is acknowledged by Stoppard as his most autobiographical play: born in 1937 to Czech Jews, Stoppard’s father died when he was young, and his mother emigrated to England (by way of Singapore and India) where she married Kenneth Stoppard and changed her son’s name from Tomáš Sträussler to Tom Stoppard. It was only while visiting Prague at the age of 57 that Stoppard learned of his Jewish ancestry. Mishka Yarovoy plays both Leo, Stoppard’s autobiographical stand-in, and Jacob, another character whose existence offers multiple surprises. There are scenes that charm; scenes that startle; and scenes that are chilling. While Sigmund Freud is not a character in the play, his presence is felt throughout. Characters discuss Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams and there are references to the challenges of memory in the face of trauma, themes that are brought to a satisfyingly poignant conclusion in the final act.
The Cast
Brenda Meaney, Samuel Adams
The beautiful set (Ken MacDonald, scenic design) places us in the elegance of a fin de siècle domestic interior, while Jane Shaw‘s sound design and original music, offer Viennese waltzes, romantic orchestral music, and jazz era dance tunes as appropriate. Projection design by Yuki Izumihara moves us deftly and efficiently through the historic events of the time.
The cast
photos by Liza Voll
Leopoldstadt
Huntington Theatre Company
The Huntington Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue in Boston
2 hours 20 minutes, no intermission
Tues-Thurs at 7; Fri and Sat at 7:30; select Wed, Fri, Sat, and Sun at 2pm
days and times vary; see performance calendar
ends on October 13, 2024
for tickets, call 617-266-0800 or visit Huntington
then plays Shakespeare Theatre Company
Harman Hall, 610 F Street NW in Washington, DC
November 30-December 29, 2024
for tickets, call 202.547.1122 or visit STC
