I'm dubious that I will have any influence against the power of Christopher Isherwood's strikingly mean-spirited review of "Irena's Vow" in the New York Times. But I'm starting my blog on this improbable quest, urging everyone I know to see "Irena's Vow," and to tell others.
(If you can't resist a peek at the Times review, be sure to check out the readers' reactions below.)
I just saw "Irena's Vow" on Broadway, and found Tovah Feldshuh breathtaking as a young Polish Catholic woman who hides 12 Jews in the basement of her Nazi boss. A true story, stranger and more powerful than so much fiction.
It's an inspiring portrayal of courage, well worth the evening's ticket. I don't know when I've been part of an audience that was not just moved but transported, maybe some of us even transformed.
As Irena says - or was it Miss Feldshuh? - it is a story about "the power of one." This is not just a lesson about the past. It is for us, now, that we should not believe ourselves powerless, no matter how overwhelming the problems around us may seem.
I can't help but think the real problem the Times had with the play was that it conveyed a message, especially a message of hope.
How cynical of me.
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For information about the play:
http://irenasvow.com/?gclid=CMKV8sLI55kCFcxL5QoduTpBPw
For Mr. Isherwood's remarks: http://theater2.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/theater/reviews/30irena.html?pagewanted=1
For readers' reactions to the review:
http://theater2.nytimes.com/rnr/theater/rnr_read.html?_r=1&fid=.f6dba87&id=1231545255469&html_title=Irena%27s%20Vow%20%28Play%29&tols_title=Irena%27s%20Vow%20%28Play%29&byline=Charles%20Isherwood
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This is absolutely right! Maybe for critics "Irena's Vow" provides an insufficient "theatrical experience," but real theater-goers love this play. See it!
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