INDECENT is the new play from Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel inspired by the true story of the controversial 1923 Broadway debut of Sholem Asch's God of Vengeance. Called "superbly realized and remarkably powerful" by the New York Times and hailed as one of the best plays of the year by critics, Indecent charts the journey of an incendiary drama and the artists who risked their lives to perform it. Created by Vogel and director Rebecca Taichman and set at a time when waves of immigrants were changing the face of America, this play with music is a riveting look at an explosive moment in theatrical history and comes to Broadway from its critically acclaimed, sold-out run at the Vineyard Theatre.
...'Indecent' arrives on Broadway as one of the season's most respectable - and respectful - plays. Yes, that notorious scene that never made it to the main stem, even in the licentious Jazz Age, is fully rendered here...The dominant note of this erotic encounter isn't prurience, though; it's piety...What's more, 'Indecent' delivers not only a history of styles of theater and their political contexts but also a portrait of Asch...as he progresses from youthful enthusiasm to embittered old age. This is achieved by a tight ensemble of chameleon performers...glowing with devotion to their craft and its possibilities.
A new play based on real events, 'Indecent'...finds the writer in both familiar and exemplary form...Telling a tale that spans many decades against the backdrop of history on two continents is an ambitious assignment. Taichman uses almost every Brechtian device at her disposal (supertitles, direct address narration, musical scoring and cabaret interludes among them,) creating some beautiful stage pictures along the way...Cumulatively, the many elements of the staging affords us the scope to think as well as feel. Vogel and Taichman provide the audience with many signposts to navigate and much to ponder, so much so that we can become preoccupied with tracking the morphing of the characters, as opposed to investing emotionally in their singular inner lives.
2016 | Off-Broadway |
New York Off-Broadway Premiere Off-Broadway |
2017 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2021 | West End |
Menier Chocolate Factory's West End Premiere Production West End |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design for a Play | Christopher Akerlind |
2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Play | Paula Vogel |
2017 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | Indecent |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Rebecca Taichman |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Richard Topol |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Katrina Lenk |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design (Play or Musical) | Christopher Akerlind |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Play | Indecent |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Projection Design (Play or Musical) | Tal Yarden |
2017 | Theatre World Awards | Dorothy Loudon Award for Excellence in the Theater | Katrina Lenk |
2017 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Play | Rebecca Taichman |
2017 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Play | Christopher Akerlind |
2017 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Paula Vogel |
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