Barrington Stage has done it again! Another winner!
Tonight Alice, David and I saw a performance of The Golem of Havana at Stage 2. The music is by Salomon Lerner, the lyrics by Len Schiff, and the book and direction by Michael Hausmann.
The complicated book details the lives of a Jewish family who has fled Prague to come to Havana where the father wants to open a clothing store. The daughter, played by Julie Benko, is a writer. She has written a book about Golem, a creature straight out of the old testament. Adam was a Golem, made from mud. Golems have mystical powers which the girl want to include in her story.
Her mother,Yutka Frankel, played by Jacqueline Antaramian, and her father, Gordon Stanley, want her to forget her writing; they call it a comic book.
Into their lives stumbles the son of their maid. Teo is a rebel in the Cuban revolution. Ronald Alexander Peet play this role and Rheaume Chrenshaw plays his mother.
Danny Bolero plays Arturo Perez, a sinister character who pretends to help the father develop his business but who is really working for Batista, who is played by Felipe Gorostiza
Gabriel Kadian portrays Olga, the sister of Yutka, who was killed in a concentration camp and appears in dreams.
In a complicated story line, the Frankels try to hide Teo from Batista's thugs and are finally arrested along with him. In the meantime his mother has been killed by the authorities who are looking for him.
Eventually, under Fidel Castro, the government changes and a Communist State is set up, taking Mr. Frankel's business away from him. The family leaves Cuba for Miami.
This is more or less The Sound of Music in Spanish. The very good score alternates Jewish music with Cuban music in a convincing way. The strong cast carries the plot along with energy, singing the songs with passion and drama.
It's a lot to put into a musical but, in this case, it works.
Great show!
