Dan P

Incredibly impressive amount of work the actors must do to memorize all of this, as it is so narrator-focused, it is almost like reciting a book out loud. The play itself lacks interesting substance and emotional connection to any of the characters. I want to respond to the goons saying this play is antisemetic: it is not. I am Jewish by the way. Jews immigrated to America and started businesses. In the 19th century, these businesses used slave labor. The Lehmans were middle men who exploited not only slaves, but also their plantation owners. These are standard capitalists who built a fortune on stealing labor value and, ultimately founded middleman business practices. I don't get how showing them experiencing Jewish holidays or saying Yiddish/Hebrew phrases at times is antisemetic: it is showing you a bit of how THEIR world was + the characters personalities. I enjoyed seeing the traditions change as time went on, such as how shiva used to be a week long, ultimately reduced to 3 minutes of silence. If you want to be angry at something from this play, it should be capitalism. The Lehmans found its shortcomings and took advantage of them. They just happened to be Jewish. Bad people can be Jewish (look at the Israeli government, for example). These are two mutually exclusive events. You don't have to cry like a child when a character who does something morally wrong happens to be Jewish. **In NO way does this play depict all characters who owned slaves or exploited others to be Jewish.** The Lehmans were also sexist and misogynist. One reviewer cries about this without realizing the historical accuracy. Perhaps that reviewer forgot the first half of the play took place in the 19th century? Marriages were business arrangements, and the patriarchy culturally featured rating women. This is historical accuracy, not a detail added by the author for fun 🙄. I wish the play featured more about modern day and how they lost everything so quickly. I also wish it was just more...acting and less narration.