Awake and Sing! is a drama about a Jewish family and their friends living in the Bronx during the Great Depression. All of the characters struggle to achieve their goals in life, despite the challenges they face. The main characters are the Berger family and Moe Axelrod. Bessie Berger, the mother of Hennie and Ralph Berger, has sacrificed many of her own hopes to make sure that her children are taken care of, making her bitter and quick-tempered. Her husband, Myron Berger, drinks to escape his own negative emotions. The two children also face problems. Bessie forces Hennie to marry a man whom she does not love, while she forbids Ralph to marry his girlfriend. Bessie’s father, Jacob, is an immigrant who has been disappointed with capitalist society and seeks relief in the Communist teachings. Throughout the course of the play the characters face many difficulties that spring from conflicting ideas about the true course to happiness.Awake and Sing! sends the message that even though the small conditions of every day life can often feel all-consuming, people must choose their own paths to ultimate happiness. Awake and Sing was written to show real life on stage rather than to distract from every day issues. The actors in Awake and Sing! were challenged to give the audience the impression that the characters they played were real struggling people dealing with issues of the time. All in all, I think that the actors did a wonderful job of getting the message of the play across to the audience. Key elements such as eating actual food on stage, period furniture and costumes, and a theater in the round setting, set the tone for the show. The audience was made to feel as if they were peeking in on the life of struggling family in the mid 1930’s, rather than watching a group of performers.
I would recommend Awake and Sing! to people who are looking for a deep and engrossing play that will make them contemplate the true meaning of happiness. Awake and Sing! is not a typical comedy or tragedy, but rather a realistic tale of human struggles. Many people today can relate to the situations that the characters face. Bessie and her brother Monty are caught up in the idea that money leads to happiness. But, as Ralph Berger said, “We do not want life printed on dollar bills.”
This is Megan Routbort, blogging for Main Street Theater!
You might also want to take a look at these other reviews:
The Houston Chronicle
The Houston Press
The Wall Street Journal
AWAKE AND SING! plays our Rice Village location through June 7, 2009. For tickets, please call 713-524-6706.
And that's the word on the street!
Charles Swan appears as Ralph Berger in 
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