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Regional Reviews: St. Louis Trayf Also see Richard's reviews of American Idiot and Blues in the Night
Trayf was first developed and debuted at the Penguin Repertory Theatre in Stony Point, New York. And in the New Jewish Theatre staging, actors Jacob Schmidt and Bryce A. Miller are coaxed and nurtured into great, effervescent performances as Zalmy and Schmuel, driving a truck around Brooklyn and Manhattan and bursting with excitement over a chance to try out their zealotry on the streets. It's a bit like Book of Mormon in that sense. But any delightful music is heard only in the souls of these two delirious kids. And in our own heads, as well. The boys encounter a clerk from a record store, Jonathan, who's just lost his father, and found a birth certificate suggesting his dad was Jewish. The dazzlingly wise Spencer Sickmann plays their eager novitiate, in a turn that's full of maze-like moments: at one point I thought he might be the messiah; at another point, the devil. And in his mourning, he tries to vacuum up everything about his father's religion until it becomes an all-consuming passion. It's like the greatest Jewish fable you never knew existed, till now. Jacob Schmidt is ingeniously detailed as the giggling Zalmy, Jonathan's guide–though he seems permanently changed putting his new student on a path toward a spiritual home. Bryce A. Miller is Schmuel, wildly enthusiastic as the young man who drives the evangelical truck, with Zalmy by his side, delightful talking about exploring a future marriage and family life, but anguished as his life-long friend becomes a stranger. Annie Zigman is great in an all-too-brief scene as Jonathan's girlfriend, likewise feeling adrift as Zalmy and Jonathan's identities merge together. But then we hit a tipping point, and it seems like the whole world's gone mad, as Jonathan becomes more like Zalmy, and vice-versa. The very fine set is by Lily Tomasic, with perfect costumes by Michele Friedman Siler and laser-sharp sound design by Kareem Deanes. Trayf comes at you in unexpected ways, making you gradually and comically fear even the most harmless forms of "carnality." In a recent review here, I made a predictable remark about how Jewish theatre often seems like a struggle between modernity and tradition, with modernity finding its way out from under thousands of years of stifling rules and reasons. But in Trayf, playwright Joelle flips Jewish theatre on its head–to where a joyous thread of antiquity, a tzitzit on the hem, gleefully struggles to grow out from under the fashion of the day. Trayf runs through September 29, 2024, at the Jewish Community Center, #2 Millstone Campus Drive, St. Louis MO. During construction on the usual front entryway, follow the signs along Scheutz Rd. to the western-most entrance and then up to the northwest parking lot. For tickets and information, please visit www.newjewishtheatre.org. Cast: Production Staff: Additional Production Staff: Artistic Director: Rebekah Scallet * Denotes Member, Actors' Equity Association |
