Review: ‘Indecent’ Pays Heartfelt Tribute to a Stage Scandal

The play had a great story, acting, stage design, music...But, it was flat. Ms. Vogel said in an interview that she wanted to juxtapose the alleged 'indecency' of Sholem Asch's play with the real indecency of 1920s America -- virulent antisemitism, rise of the KKK, censorship of speech, etc. It would have been a great play with obvious resonance to today had she been able to draw that contrast. However, she did not. The themes of America's indecency were touched upon only gently, minimally, and tangentially. I am sorry -- the play at best deserves a C. Pity.

I saw the play last night, and I must say, it was performed with great passion in one of the best ensemble performances I've seen in quite some time. (With a long standing ovation at the end.) This is a show that SHOULD be playing for a longer period than three-plus months. It is beautifully directed (kudos to Tony-winner Ms. Taichman) and acted by a wonderfully talented cast, and deserves to have a long life, even if not on Broadway. Our jaded audiences need to support a show such as "Indecent."

I saw this production yesterday afternoon. It is probably the best play I have seen in years......beautifully acted and directed. If you haven't seen it, do so before its closing on August 6th.

Kudos to the producers for deciding to keep "Indecent" open- - even after a closing notice had been posted for today (6/25). It will now stay OPEN THROUGH AUGUST 6TH due to their brave and almost unprecedented decision. I attended last night's performance and found it so moving and so well directed. (There's definitely a reason why Rebecca Taichman won the Tony for best direction.) The theater was full- - orchestra, mezzanine, AND balcony, and the wonderfully talented cast received a standing ovation. This show is true art. If you haven't seen it yet, please do yourself a favor and vindicate the producers' decision to extend it so that more people could see it before it closed. You won't be disappointed.

Saw the show last Friday and thoroughly enjoyed it for its commentary on art, integrity, and marginalized groups. It has been a while since I saw a Broadway show without a false note, and this cast is superb. Nelis and Lenk were standouts to me, but the entire ensemble is praiseworthy. The show is earnest, yes, but that felt refreshing to me. It doesn't posture. Its themes are clear and repeated in patterns, but it felt like the cycle of mistakes that human flaws lead to. The staging is deceptively simple but effective, and it felt like college theatricality in the best sense possible. I'm so glad I was able to see it, and glad the run will continue so others may as well.

Intelligent, but declamatory and expository, not dramatic. I saw it Saturday, just before the Tonys. It was playing to about 33% capacity. It's been well under 50% for weeks. What's the message? It's this: when it comes to viewers' actually personal money and time, highbrow reviews mean almost nothing and word of mouth means everything.
Sorry to be the one to note the huge number of empty seats.

Indecent was magnificently staged beautifully acted, but it did not bring me to tears as it did to so many others. In fact, it did not touch my heart at all. I love to be moved to tears at a show... it is not even that difficult... but this show never touched that part of my heart.

Yes, there are lots of songs. They're theatrical, and they establish the changing periods, but they stop the story dead in its tracks repeatedly. The songs are basically filler, and the story itself is very thin. (I won't spoil what little is there.) Without the songs, the play would have been an hour, which is just about right. (though there is a lot of repetition)

Halfway through, the main character seems to disappear from the plot, and towards the end, the play seems to be about another character who was relatively minor. Suddently it's all his play.

Towards the end, when the playwright has obviously run out of new things to say, she reverts to some tried and true references and depictions that never fail to wrench the hearts of some audience members.

A very small spoiler alert -- What is it with real rainstorms in the theater these days. It was new and exciting in Kenneth Branagh's Macbeth. Surprising in A View From The Bridge. Unnecessary in The Glass Menagerie. And completly gratuitous in Indecent. Again, they were running out of new things to say so brought out some theatrical tricks to fill out the evening.

Saw the play last night. Many -- including my date -- were dissolved in tears. I agree with Brantley -- "Indecent is not shy about explicitly stating and repeating its big themes ... there is little room for the subversive pull of conflicting subtext." A great deal of artifice goes into assuring us Vengeance is a great play, but it is seldom staged and Asch never wrote another -- is it great or is it just that its onstage lesbianism was unprecedented? Lemml, an obvious playwright's device with no life other than to be a stage manager, says the play changed his life, but he seems never to have worked on any other play for the next forty years. And other details stuck out. We are compelled (since we do not know the play) to accept Vogel's judgment that Vengeance is a supreme masterpiece. If it is, why does no one put it on? Why is Asch largely forgotten? Is she making a mountain out of a molehill? Her play is good but not overwhelming -- I resist art that relies on our knowing about the Holocaust to make its effect.

Brilliant production, brilliant acting, the "titles" are where we can all read them and their commentary is acrid and wise. But the play did not affect me deeply. It did make me want to read God of Vengeance.

I saw the play last night. I was so moved.. This is one of the best plays I have seen in a very long time. Historic, yet much about our current political landscape. So well acted, sets, costumes- everything was wonderful. Run to the Cort theatre!!!!

It is indecent not to have given this well designed play a more rousingly positive review. The wonderful chemistry of the ensemble endears all of the characters to your heart and makes you truly believe in them and their passion for their craft and the play that sustains and elevates them. A truly moving and important play you definitely will not want to miss. Enjoy!

The night I saw Indecent, people all around me wept, and with good reason.

Saw Indecent tonight. It does help that I recently saw the Yiddish version of God of Vengeance, which was fabulous. Nevertheless, this shorter play does pack a heavy punch, especially as it picks up steam.

I saw "Indecent" in an early preview. After the show I went home and immediately bought a ticket to see it the following week. It was the most imaginative, exhilarating and inspiriting production I'd seen in ages. The actors were some of the most talented I’ve seen on stage, people who could sing, dance, play instruments, and, above all, act and speak their lines with immediacy and truth. I understood every syllable. How often does that happen with U.S. actors? I must say, the words "glowing with devotion to their craft" sounds a bit off-color to me, coming from someone with questionable craft himself.
The play was 1 hour 45 minutes, without intermissions, and I didn’t feel the least bit weary or impatient. Nor did the people sitting around me, as we strangers gathered spontaneously to share our excitement and enjoyment.

I saw this at the Vineyard and on Broadway, and remain entranced by it. It is both the story of the play and the story of the Jews in the 20th century. Neither story is just told, both are lived through the actors, who play many parts. It is the most moving piece of theater I have seen in a long time. Don't miss it.

I saw this play last year when it was presented at The Vineyard Theater, and enjoyed it very much.

"Indecent" is an astonishingly beautiful and powerful play; it took my breath away. Not sure where to start in describing it.

What it is to be a Jew in all its complexities, then and now? The Yiddish language? The love of two women in an historical moment? Or at any time for that matter?

"A blink in time" one of the super titles, in English and Yiddish sums it up.

My advice: Run, don't walk to see this production. You won't regret it.

Actually, the show was first staged at the Yale Rep (world premiere) before it was staged at the Vineyard theater.

Indecent was the finest play and production I have seen on Broadway in many years. It was a powerful, moving combination of so many theatrical elements that were seamlessly woven together. It was refreshing to see a play that presents noble and very human characters. I experienced this production as something unique and I treasured the experience. It was a moving dream.

I applaud Ms. Vogel's work and attempt to convey this story. However, I thought it needed some serious editing; 1 hour, 45 minutes is too long for a show with no intermission.

I found it deeply troubling in its parallels to our world today. It goes from 1905, when Jews were marginalized and ridiculed, to 1952, when 6 million of them were dead. I found myself identifying with 1905 -- that moment when they way "First they come for others, then they come for you," to paraphrase. It was a cautionary tale telling us to be careful, to resist, and to support others who resist. The most depressing scene was when the rabbi of Temple Emmanuel in New York City ranted that the makers of the play should be thrown out of the country. Sound familiar.
In the cast, Tom Nelis was a powerful presence throughout, and the young girls were fragile and funny. All the actors were skilled in more than one art -- dancing, singing, and playing musical instruments.
The play could use a second, maybe a third look, to unearth all that is in it.

If "God of Vengeance" was such a thrilling piece of theatre, why not put that on instead of building a frame around it? The answer was available up until just a few weeks ago when "God of Vengeance," presented in the original Yiddish, was finishing up an off-Broadway run. My elderly father, who walks with a cane, climbed up many stairs with me to see what all the fuss was about. The 'fuss' was about twice as long as "Indecent" and with subtitles placed too high to both read them and watch the actors at the same time, an exercise in futility and frustration. Maybe they were right and the work should have been burned, not for being too scandalous, but for being clunky and chock full of exposition with every line of dialogue. It sounds like Ms. Vogel understood this and took the high road a la "Shuffle Along," and gave us something now in the present that really wasn't much to begin with other than the trysty, twisty risque-ness of it's premise. Taken the way Mr. Brantley describes what is going on, it sounds like "Indecent" is the more worthwhile endeavor and thank God there's no time-travel to go back only to discover that the scandal itself is really all that was there. Vogel is a shrewd playwright who could tell how the approach was everything and more power to her for providing this high concept play and not resurrecting something that would have made us all go 'Huh?'

The Guthrie in Minneapolis is doing "Indecent" next season. Can't wait to see how their production will be different.

No, Paula Vogel's play directed by Rebecca Taichman does not have a big reveal, since the reveal happens again and again and the lyricism of this reenactment shows an ongoing journey through history to bring this play to a time that can suit it. The scandal of "indecency" that it tells is the complexity of history that both moves forward even as it repeats itself. This is not a play looking for a dramatic formula. Also the Yiddish actor referred to who played the 1920s brothel owner was Rudolph Schildkraut, not Joseph his son. Joseph went on to play Lilliiom and many other roles on stage and screen including Otto Frank in "The Diary of Anne Frank."