Diary of Anne Frank Little Brown Theater (Springville, Utah). Genre: Theater
Reviewed by: Harlow S. Clark

Well, for some reason, The PG Review has had this review for 3 editions and not run it. I wanted to give them a chance before I posted it. Oh, well, maybe next time. This could easily have been twice as long -- lots of good to say about the show. It's playing tonight, tomorrow, and Monday.

When I sent this out the return mail brought a note from my city editor with the following comment, "I tried to get him (the editor) to run the Anne Frank review, which we both agreed was really well written, but he just didn't have room." I was thinking that might be the reason, that or the penultimate paragraph, which is a bit weak, but I'll probably bring that up in a separate post. We had a murder in PG last week, Mina Pajela (Fillipino, I believe, despite the Finnish name), that's taken a little space. I mention her name because, as one caller pointed out on NPR's Wednesday broadcast, "The Execution Tapes," the victim's name often gets lost or forgotten.

I also wrote 2 profiles of JessErica (they made a comment about the shared final syllables) which I'll post next week. My PG editor said she wants to run it next week, so I'll probably post it Wednesday. The Herald profile might come out that day, too.

As a sidelight, it's worth noting that the big Mormon news this week is that the Church agreed to take Anne Frank's family and other famous Jews out of the database of posthumous baptisms. As Howard Berkes explained, to non-Mormons it can feel like we're saying, "Your religion, the religion you lived and died with, wasn't good enough. We're going to give you another one."

Berkes is a scrapper. At the news conference for the Freedman Bank records project he raised that question: Are we going to extract names from the records to baptize former slaves and their ancestors, and given the Church's history with race, would that be an ethical thing to do? Tough questions, but someone's gott to ask them.

Review of The Diary of Anne Frank

Jessica Woahn and Erica Glenn, the Pleasant Grove teenagers who delighted audiences in last year's productions of Erica Glenn's Dancing Shoes are now alternating as Anne Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank, Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays until May 7 at the Little Brown Theatre, 289 S. Main in Springville.

"After a great pain a formal feeling comes / The nerves stand ceremonious," wrote Emily Dickinson. That captures the mood and much of this play's action, as tender, funny, or joyous moments are marred by the tension of living in fear and hiding.

At the end of the play Otto Frank says, "It seems strange that someone could be happy in a concentration camp -- but Anne was away from these rooms and in the sunshine she loved so much." Woahn shows that loss of sunshine. Her Anne is a girl determined to be normal, but not quite sure how in her highly stylized, formal surroundings -- thirteen and mischievous, full of energy that can't be expressed in silence and cramped quarters, but must be.

Glenn plays Anne more as someone able to bring her sunshine into the cramped rooms, which makes her cast a little less somber, the nerves a little less ceremonious.

Both show how remarkable Anne Frank was, how ironic it is that someone who had so much life, and recorded it in wonderful detail, may be known to us only because she died. Commendations to Bill Brown for casting young performers in such a challenging role.

The other performances are also strong. Mel Taylor, as Otto Frank, begins and ends the play with powerful, somber images as he comes back to the annex in 1945, the only survivor, to say goodbye to Amsterdam. He walks slowly around the room, lightly touching, stroking, the cupboard where the families kept their food, remembering, mourning.

Tisha Thornhill as Miep Gies, who brought food and supplies, provides a break from the tension, the monotony of days spent in silence because the workers below could hear any noise, especially the flush of a toilet.

She wants to bring good news, but one day she brings another resident, a dentist her fiance needs to hide. Mr. Dussell knows the bad news Miep has not been telling her friends, that the deportations have begun. James

Gritton plays Dussell as a nervous man who feels doomed, uncomfortable in hiding, and uncomfortable being with other people.

Scott Tarbet as Mr Van Daan gives a complex portrait of a man struggling to maintain civilization, to keep some pleasure -- tobacco -- in his life, and get enough to eat. Wendy Asay, as Edith Frank mirrors Van Daan's struggle to stay civilized. "They are our guests," she tells Anne, who has been arguing with Mr. Van Daan as if he were family, yet she has very harsh words when he is caught stealing food.

Marie Knowlton as Mrs. Van Daan fights with her husband, flirts with Otto Frank, and carries great loss. She strokes a fur coat her father gave her in delicious, fragile memory. "Remember, Mr. So and So, I'm a lady," her father told her to say, and she lets Anne wear it.

Anne teases Mr. Van Daan by hiding his pipe and as he shouts for it she says, "Remember, Mr. So and So, I'm a lady," and sticks it in his mouth. A nice comic moment, but then Anne spills some water on the coat, enraging Mrs. Van Daan.

Margret Milius plays Anne's older sister, Margot with good humor and calm, despite having to be Anne's example. Genna Gardner also plays Margot, and has some nice business as she pleads silently with Anne to give Van Daan's pipe back.

This is a rich, detailed production. I missed that business Monday night, but Saturday, from a different seat I saw it, and there's a lot of unemphasized business to see. When Anne gives Hannukah presents the focus is on her and the adults, but Peter Van Daan and Margot are sitting on a bench looking at the crossword book Anne gave Margot.

Later, when Anne is getting ready to call on Peter, the spotlight is again on her, but Peter is quietly shaving with the razor Anne gave him. Jeff Carter plays Peter as a shy boy who opens up to Anne, first as a friend then almost as a boyfriend -- if there were time for Peter and Anne to grow up. Michael Crockett also plays Peter, but not the nights I saw.

James Glenn, as Mr. Kraler, the gentle man who suffers from ulcers hiding eight people above his business, radiates such peace and calm that his presence onstage is a relief after intense scenes.

And there is Peter's cat, Mushi. Towards the end of Act I Mr. Van Daan threatens to throw Mushi out, and in Act II, a year later, Mushi is gone, a fine symbol of loss. After the show, watching Mel Taylor carry Mushi out to his car I thought, "of course the cat's still in the theatre, just not onstage."

This is an enjoyable and sobering evening. Tickets are $8 for adults, $7 for students with ID, and $6 for children, or $35 for a family. Show starts at 7:30. For more information call 489-3088.

Harlow Clark
http://harlowclark0.tripod.com/index.html