The People in the Picture

Tickets:

$40 from TDF. 2nd row mezzanine, a bit too far to the side

Why I Saw It:

I like Donna Murphy. my mother recommended it. also, I'm Jewish, which seemed to be a requirement to be in the audience of this show

Theater info:

Studio 54, 54th Street between Broadway & 8th

1 Sentence Plot:

A grandmother tells stories from growing up during World War II in Poland to her granddaughter 

Expanded Plot:

these stories that she tells are really complicated, such as how she was married to one guy but pregnant with the child of another. Mainly this show is about the grandmother reliving her stories during the holocaust and what it meant to be Jewish during that time, to her granddaughter, since the daughter was not interested in understanding her history.

Overall Performances:

Donna Murphy absolutely steals the show and is brilliant in her ability to switch between fragile grandma and her youthful 1940's version of herself. Performances from everyone are fully committed to this devastating story

Music:

while the music overall isn't very memorable, it captures the Jewish flavor and what I imagine the people alive at that time would want a musical about them to sound like

Choreography:

the musical contains little choreography, but the moments that are have Blankenbuehler's trademark, as thought he has swapped out the latin flavor of "Pacienca y Fe" from In the Heights with that of Jewish flavor for this show. It was satisfying, although owed credit to Jerome Robbins' iconic Fiddler moments.

Design:

as a whole the design was simple but clear. I loved the reoccurring theme of frames and boxes that hold memories. The projections at first were confusing to me and excessive, but soon fit better with the story and the plot about how the grandmother created movies in poland. 

Who I recommend this for:

my grandmother. Jewish people. 

Final Sentence:

Its very Jewish, and I kept telling myself before it that I was seeing a holocaust musical, but it wasn't Cabaret at Studio 54. The show dragged on at times, but overall was satisfying and an interesting idea for a story.