Paula Vogel attends a dress rehearsal of her play “Indecent” at the Ahmanson Theatre. The choreography by David Dorfman allows the actors to scamper across geography and chronology with grace even when the condensed storytelling gets jumbled. The elegiac score by Lisa Gutkin and Aaron Halva is redolent with the buoyant melancholy of klezmer. These musicians interweave themselves in the stage action of a play that behaves more like a musical - or music drama, to be more precise. The performers playing the cast members of “God of Vengeance” play a variety of other roles in “Indecent.” As they rise from their seats, ash pours from their sleeves as though they are being granted, through the miracle of theater, an opportunity to resurrect themselves from the ash heap of history.įour of the seven cast members and two of three musicians were in the original Broadway production. Under a projection of the play’s title in English and Yiddish are the words “the true story of a little Jewish play.” This production isn’t as sharp as the Broadway original, but the epic narrative derived from the history of Asch’s play is hauntingly captivating all the same.Īs theatergoers enter the Ahmanson, they’ll see a troupe of actors already seated on the stage in overcoats with suitcases at their sides. Taichman won a Tony for her direction of “Indecent,” which is as much a performance work as a scripted drama - an exemplary marriage, if you will, between writer and auteur.

2015 play by paula vogel