This adaptation of Chaim Potok's famed novel closes the George Street Playhouse's season out in fine fashion.
The last time New Brunswick's George Street Playhouse combined a play about an artist with the powerful stage presence of Bob Ari was the theater's sizzling 2012 production of "Red." Happily, the three-ingredient cocktail of George Street, Ari, and an art-themed play seems to be a trustworthy elixir, as the theater's current production of "My Name is Asher Lev" reaches heights rivaling those of "Red."
It is an excellent play full of tender, often raw emotion produced with real grace under the direction of Jim Jack.
In "Red," Ari was the domineering Mark Rothko, and much of the production's success came from its star challenging his young co-star, Randy Harrison, to rise and meet his level of performance.
"My Name is Asher Lev" is perhaps able to take a step beyond "Red," because now Ari's chops are pushed to be at their best by the excellent performance of the play's lead, Miles G. Jackson. As the title character and confessional narrator, Jackson dominates the stage, running Lev through a seemingly limitless gamut of emotional registers.
Along the way Ari and the cast's third member Lena Kaminsky -- also wonderful -- seem aware that they must be at their best to complement the power of Jackson. It is as though Jackson is maestro to a three-piece orchestra demanding us much passion from the others as he gives himself. The results are stunning.
The play is Aaron Posner's 2009 adaptation of Chaim Potok's novel of the same name (Posner had earlier adapted Potok's "The Chosen" for the stage). It follows the arduous struggle of a Hasidic Jewish boy who is inspired to draw and paint against the wishes of his devout father, who would much rather see his son pour himself into scriptural study. Asher's refusal to be deterred from his art, coupled with his inability to understand why and how he is distressing his parents so much, strains the family unit. The artist's penchant for nudes and images of the crucifixion doesn't help matters, either.
Lev opens the play by introducing himself as the Asher Lev, who has recently gained notoriety for work that shocked his religious community and garnered him the reputation of sacrilegious betrayer who cares nothing for his family or his faith. "I am none of those things" says Lev, defiantly confident, after enumerating his most grievous charges. The 100-minute play weaves in and out of Lev's narration and the dramatization of his story. Jackson plays his character convincingly at several ages of his youth: precocious at first, before slowly grows into a world of self-awareness. Ari is most frequently Lev's father and Kaminsky his mother, but both move nimbly through a variety of roles in the artist's story.
The central conflict is between the budding artist and his overbearing father, but Jackson and Ari do not allow Posner's characters to become bickering archetypes of iron-fisted tyrant and rebellious youth. Instead we see how Asher and his father both want desperately to express themselves and to understand the other, even as they struggle to find a common language in which to communicate.
Miles G. Jackson's performance as the title character in "My Name is Asher Lev" is commanding and moving. (Photo by T. Charles Erickson) Jack's directorial work seems at times to be closer to choreography, as he moves the play smoothly in and out of its narrative frame and guides his cast confidently through their multiple parts. He and Jackson wisely choose to have Lev look very directly and intently at the audience as he narrates: this is not a character wistfully musing on his childhood, but a person passionately telling his story to a room full of people and urgently needing for that story to be heard and understood.
Scenic designed R. Michael Miller has constructed a sparse, evocative set that complements perfectly the play's bittersweet tones of memory. Lev tells us his story as much for himself as for us, and many of his memories he would rather forget or alter. But giant pillars on stage seem forebodingly to hold those memories captive where they cannot be ignored.
Nor should this production be ignored, as George Street closes out their season in fine style. The play is delicate, moving, and deeply human, and this production deftly does it justice.
My Name is Asher Lev
The George Street Playhouse, 9 Livingston Ave, New Brunswick, through May 1
Tickets $51-$74; available online
Patrick Maley may be reached at patrickjmaley@gmail.com. Find him on Twitter @PatrickJMaley. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.