Indecent is the true story of a Yiddish play, God of Vengeance, which was written in 1907. Following the play’s successes in Europe, it is translated into English, opens on Broadway in 1923 where the entire cast is arrested for indecency. At the core, a lesbian relationship. Dreamlike staging and imagery only add to the thought provoking frankness of the characters’ Jewish heritage at that particular moment when both immigration restrictions and anti-Semitism prevailed. I loved how the story proceeded along, with pieces of the original play interspersed with the history of the actors and the musical interludes which firmly establish a mood and a people. The payoff by the end is both glorious and riveting. The cast is uniformly excellent, especially Katrina Lenk and Adina Verson as the ladies at the center of the controversy. Go see this. It speaks to the importance of theater and history in helping us shape the direction of the world we want to live in.
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