FIDDLER ON THE ROOF • Fly North Theatricals

After learning that there was going to be a production of Fiddler on the Roof at the Greenfinch Theater & Dive I thought, “Fiddler? In an 80-seat black box theatre?” Fly North Theatricals answered with a thunderous, “absolutely!”, offering a nimble, high-octane staging of this much-loved musical theatre classic. Set in the turn-of-the-century shtetl of Anatevka, Fiddler is teeming with equal measures of the joys and sorrows revolving around Tevye, a humble milkman, his wife Golde, and their five daughters, all living in the ominous shadow of Czarist Russia.

In arguably one of the best opening numbers ever written, “Tradition” doesn’t waste any time introducing the characters, their way of life and the show’s central themes. Anatevka starts off as a nearly bare stage, but quickly comes to life with the everyday activities of its residents as set pieces are brought onstage and frameworks of the shtetl’s buildings are rolled into place. The members of this community endure through their traditions, but change always looms just around the corner. When societal shifts happening in the world outside of Anatevka creep their way into town, the ground beneath Tevye’s feet starts to crumble. How far is he willing to adapt and bend long-held conventions for the sake of his daughters - three of whom have dared to find their own love interests without the help of the local matchmaker?

THE END OF THE WORLD CABARET • Upstream Theater

When Earth, more specifically its inhabitants, disturb the cosmic balance, a comet is sent to annihilate those reckless humans and restore harmony to the solar system. That’s the set up for Austrian playwright, poet, journalist and political activist Jura Soyfer’s 1936 satire, Der Weltuntergang (The End of the World). By combining different versions of Soyfer’s surviving texts, Upstream Theater’s artistic director, Philip Boehm, has given Der Weltuntergang a smart, terribly relevant adaptation, continuing the season’s theme of “When Worlds Collide”. Soyfer’s play was performed in the basement cabarets of Vienna during a time of Austro-fascism, economic depression and the growing influence of Nazi Germany. The underground cabarets were one of the few places where Soyfer’s sharp criticisms of Austria’s authoritarian regime could be expressed. Similar to Netflix’s Don't Look Up, The End of the World Cabaret makes its point not in the impending extinction of humanity, but society’s reactions to it. Tyrants, diplomats, the well-heeled and the hard up are equally skewered, displaying a range of responses that pivot around foolish denial and an opportunistic resilience that would be admirable if it weren’t so depraved. Still, the playwright holds redemption for Earth within reach - a mercy that proved unattainable for Soyfer, who was deported to Dachau and later Buchenwald, where he died at only 26 years old, just days before his scheduled release.

THE HALF-LIFE OF MARIE CURIE • St. Louis Actors' Studio

Polish-born Maria Skłodowska-Curie, better known as Marie Curie, was a brilliant physicist and chemist. In 1903 the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Curie, her husband Pierre, and Henri Becquerel the Nobel Prize in Physics for their shared research in “radiation phenomena”, making her the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize. In 1911 she was awarded another Nobel Prize, in Chemistry this time, for the discovery of radium and polonium, earning her the distinction of being the only woman to win twice, and the only person to win in two different scientific disciplines. But that same year, an affair with a married man landed her in scandal. Her husband had died years earlier, but that didn’t matter. Curie’s adoptive home of France maligned her as a wicked, foreign homewrecker. Curie’s good friend, Hertha Ayrton, an electrical engineer and suffragette who was notable in her own right, came to the rescue and sped Curie away to her seaside home in England to escape the constant hounding from the public and press. This is the setting for St. Louis Actors' Studio’s current offering, co-produced with The Orange Girls theatre company, featuring Meghan Baker as Marie Curie and Michelle Hand as Hertha Ayrton.

Marie Curie (Meghan Baker)
and Hertha Ayrton (Michelle Hand).
Photo credit: Patrick Huber

The Orange Girls strove to find artistically challenging work for female actors, directors and designers, and it's fitting that they are co-producing Half-Life, since Baker and Hand (along with Brooke Edwards) were the founders of the company. The real-life chemistry (no pun intended) between these two actors is evident, and greatly elevates a play that keeps its characters confined to rather narrow registers. With both women excelling in the male-dominated arena of science, Curie and Ayrton could relate to one another on levels that few others could, and the slings and arrows that accompanied their successes made their alliance all the more vital. Hand’s sharp wit and outspoken nature plays well off of Baker’s melancholy, and watching them interact with each other is most engaging. But while there’s no question concerning the gender-biases they faced, playwright Lauren Gunderson's intentions are undisguised, reiterating these issues without providing much depth of character, and little exploration of what sparked their lofty scientific pursuits.