Second Thoughts on ‘Slam Frank,’ a Holocaust Satire of Wokeness

When “Slam Frank,” a show imagining how a modern theater company might revisit the story of Anne Frank as an “intersectional, multi-ethnic, genderqueer, decolonized, anti-capitalist, hyper-empowering Afro-Latin hip-hop musical,” premiered off-Broadway last year at Asylum NYC, it stirred up considerable controversy, not only in town but internationally. An article in the Times of London hailed it as “the most brilliant new musical in New York City,” while noting that more than 600 people had signed a petition calling for its cancellation, on the grounds that it trivialized the Holocaust.Detractors notwithstanding, “Slam Frank” proved a big draw; a planned engagement of three to six weeks was eventually extended to four months. Now it’s enjoying a second run, at the Orpheum Theatre, where it’s playing to mostly sold-out audiences (with a closed mezzanine) and where I saw it for the first time just recently. To my surprise, I found most of the satire goofy and genial to the point of seeming tame, poking fun at identity politics while taking care, I thought, not to alienate audience members who might embrace them.Towards the end, though, the show abruptly changes course to broach a subject that has become increasingly divisive, and it does so with unabashed ferocity. I couldn’t imagine that the creators — composer and lyricist Andrew Fox librettist Joel Sinensky — would go there without endorsing, or at least respectfully acknowledging, a narrative espoused by many prominent members of the theater and wider arts communities.In my review, I called the final segment reductive and noted that the show in general did nothing to address how Jews can be cast as oppressors in those circles. The segment’s introduction of villains based on harshly antisemitic tropes had given me some pause—they can’t be serious about this, I realized—but the delicate subject matter and sudden tonal shift threw me. “If this is intended as parody,” I wrote, “I didn’t get the joke.”Well, upon further reflection, and after a couple of debates that I readily conceded, I’m here to admit that I may not have gotten the joke.If I’ve been a bit oblique in offering details, and describing my evolving perspective, it’s because Messrs. Fox and Sinensky requested in a statement that critics “keep the structure of the show and its surprises intact,” explaining, “The last act is designed to leave audiences in a state of shock and awe, disoriented, provoked, and compelled to continue discussing the performance long after the curtain falls. Protecting that visceral experience is essential to us, and to the integrity of the work.”Shawn SalleyGiven how deeply visceral my original reaction was, I thought it would be only fair to give the creators a say in re-addressing their work, and Mr. Fox was kind enough to oblige me. I asked, via email, what had inspired him and Mr. Sinensky to tackle this third rail of our cultural and political conversation, or made them feel compelled to do so.“I had long felt that the subject of the final twenty minutes,” Mr. Fox responded, “was an issue that had the potential to split open and re-configure the political and ideological alliances of the era that we had been living through. For me, grabbing onto that third rail was absolutely essential for the meaning and experience of the play. Until we go there, ‘Slam Frank’ is a play about some of the more ridiculous aspects of ideological certainty and tribalist identitarianism. The final segment of the play plunges us into the moral vacuum caused by the logical endpoints of those same belief structures, and forces us to confront their life and death consequences.”He added, “A rule that we followed was that it is not the job of the play to reflect our own geopolitical views or goals; once we had our story outline it was our job to follow the logic of the play to its inevitable conclusions, and to do so in as powerful and effective a manner as possible.”When I then asked how he felt about the varied and often conflicting responses to the show, he mused, “I confess I’m often disheartened when I see responses that amount to mere speculation as to which political side our play is on, since I think that’s just an outgrowth of the same petty tribalism that we’re trying to write about. More and more people just seem to want art to be propaganda for their own side, and can’t conceive of a play that is attempting to zoom out to issues that go beyond a ballot initiative.”Mr Fox then noted, “But at the same time I do love…the questioning, the uncertainty… I think that the widely opposite interpretations of the show on various political issues speak to the fact that we were successful in creating a play that refuses to give easy, bullet-point-ready political solutions.”It could be that this refusal is part of the show’s appeal. According to a press representative, “Slam Frank” has drawn so many repeat viewers, including fans from across the country and outside it, that they’ve instituted what she describes as a “frequent flyer passport”: If you see the show four times, you get a stamp serving as a free ticket to a fifth performance.Out of respect to the show’s mission, I won’t spell out my own, amended interpretation of what may be the most polarizing 20 minutes of musical theater in recent memory. But I have decided, after careful consideration, that Messrs. Fox and Sinensky probably have more chutzpah than I initially gave them credit for.

Second Thoughts on ‘Slam Frank,’ a Holocaust Satire of Wokeness

Second Thoughts on ‘Slam Frank,’ a Holocaust Satire of Wokeness

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