Awake and Sing!

By: Darryl Reilly

I’ve been working for years, bringing in money here putting it in your hand like a kid. All right, I can’t get my teeth fixed. All right, that new suit’s like trying to buy the Chrysler Building. You never in your life bought me a pair of skates even-things I died for when I was a kid. I don’t care about that stuff, see. Only just remember I pay some of the bills around here too, just a few … and if my girl calls me on the phone I’ll talk to her any time I please.

Clifford Odets’ searing poetic dialogue spoken by his downtrodden characters is welcomely heard again in this enthralling revival of his masterwork Awake and Sing! The cast is multi-racial, and the presentation is minimalistic, yet the production is simultaneously faithful and universal. Odets’ Ibsenesque plotting combined with his documentarian-style depiction of the working class remain timelessly wrenching. The play takes place in the Bronx in 1933 as the Great Depression rages. Some people are steely survivors, others are disillusioned dreamers.

Bessie Berger is the ultimate warrior Jewish mother; her battlefield is a cramped apartment where she keeps her family together no matter the cost to their feelings. Her law school dropout husband Myron ineffectually shuffles around. Her old country retired barber father retreats to his room to listen to opera recordings after railing on in favor of socialism. Her free-spirited 26-year-old daughter Hennie is a seamstress who loves going to the movies. Her fiery 21-year-old son Ralph has an unacceptable poor orphan girlfriend, and he is stymied by having to work in Bessie’s overbearing brother Morty’s clothing factory to help support the family. Sam Feinschreiber is a gentle immigrant who has romantic feelings for Hennie. Cynical one-legged W.W. I veteran Moe Axelrod is a gambling rogue who boards with the Bergers and has had a tempestuous involvement with Hennie. There is also the unseen beloved family dog Tootsie. Odets renders them all with depth and his unique eloquence. Excised from this production is the minor character of the building’s janitor without detrimental effect.

Auteurist director Erwin Maas’ physical staging is a marvel of precise placement, glorious tableaus, and entrancing stage pictures. Mr. Maas has also assembled a charismatic cast and achieved majestic performances from them, emotions ceaselessly flare. With her melodious voice and domineering presence, Debra Walton towers as Bessie. Ms. Walton relentlessly embraces the character’s self-justification for depriving her family of love in favor of survival and is chilling. Youthful and magnetic Trevor McGhie breathlessly veers from explosiveness to tenderness as the put upon Ralph. Mr. McGhie totally embodies Odets’ sensibility with his beautifully delivered speeches. McGhie and Walton’s blistering clashes are highlights.

Christopher J. Domig achingly channels the hard-edged Moe’s bitterness and passion with his thrilling performance. Mr. Domig gets laughs throughout but also tears with his soaring romantic aria to Hennie. Bearded and bespectacled Gary Sloan is heartbreaking as Jacob. Mr. Sloan’s smooth voice and mature mien endow his characterization with genuine pathos.

The animated Juan Carlos Diaz offers a haunting portrayal of the dispirited Myron. Beaming and suave Alfred C. Kemp coolly switches from gladhanding to menacing as the regal Morty. Sunny Daisy Wang poignantly conveys Hennie’s fading girlish optimism with her touching turn. Employing an Eastern European accent, the personable and brooding Sina Pooresmaeil makes an effective impression as Sam.

This Off-Broadway incarnation of Awake and Sing! is produced by the Sea Dog Theater which is devoted to exploring “questions of alienation and reconciliation.” It is performed in a chapel at Manhattan’s St. George’s Episcopal Church. This high-ceilinged and ornate space with stain glass-windows is used for meetings and services, so it must be cleared after showings. Scenic designer Guy De Lancey surmounts this obstacle with ingenious spareness. The contained playing area is runway-style with rows of audience seating on either side. In the center is solely a long rectangular wooden table and chairs. The only prop is an apple, a telephone and other objects are clearly though subtly indicated by the actors’ gestures.

There are also four television sets which broadcast the images of actors who are offstage via Mr. De Lancey’s stark projection design to emphasize that they’re really never alone in that oppressive living environment. De Lancey’s vigorous lighting design relies on overhead fluorescence, bursts of blue and red hues, and striking fades and dimness. Enrico Caruso’s vocals, outside ambience, and effects are grandly rendered by sound designer Fan Zhang. Hanxiao Zhang’s vintage-style costume design is of urban authenticity. The performance under review was efficiently overseen by production stage manager Abby Fry.

Philadelphia born, Bronx raised, high school dropout, and firebrand Clifford Odets (1906-1963) began his monumental theater career as an actor in the 1920’s. In 1931 he joined the Group Theater, for them in 1935 he wrote Waiting for Lefty about striking New York City taxi drivers and Awake and Sing! It ran on Broadway for 184 performances, had a brief return engagement and two late 1930’s revivals. Circle in the Square Theatre performed it in 1984, and Lincoln Center Theater presented it to commemorate Odets’ centennial. This stirring 90th anniversary revival is fiercely true to Odets’ humane vision.

Awake and Sing! (through November 8, 2025)
Sea Dog Theater, 209 East 16th Street, in Manhattan
For tickets, visit www.seadogtheater.org
Running time: one hour and 40 minutes with no intermission