Ethel Sings, The Unsung Song of Ethel Rosenberg
by Joan Beber
directed by Will Pomerantz
presented by Undercover Productions
at the Becket Theatre, Theatre Row, NY
with Ari Butler, David Fierro, Tanesha Gary, Sheria Irving, Kevin Isolaa, Kenneth Lee, Joel Leffert, Tracy Michailidis,
Serge Thony and Adrienne Moore.
This was the first of three Joan Beber plays that we would help shepherd to the stage in New York. Ethyl Sings focuses on the plight of the Rosenberg’s - accused and found guilty by the U.S. government of spying for the Russian’s, they were executed in the electric chair in 1953.
Joan’s lifelong fascination with the Rosenbergs stems from her family ties to the doomed couple; her father, a second cousin to Ethel Rosenberg, visited them in prison before they died, and he tried to help Ethyl win her freedom. That ‘failing’, has haunted Joan, and thus the Rosenberg’s became a focal point of her playwriting. Her second play, In Bed With Roy Cohn, takes a close look at Cohn, the lawyer that would win the cases against them, which we would manage two years later.
Ethel Sings, helmed by the immensely talented Will Pomerantz, is the better of the two plays, I think, and the one that focuses on execution itself. The production notes state that “Ethel Sings follows Ethel Rosenberg, the determined mother, singer, writer and actress, and her husband Julius, who become swept up in the fatal Red Scare hysteria of the 1950s. Julius’ need to “save the world” becomes his undoing, and Ethel’s love for her husband becomes hers.”
We had an incredible talk back after one of the performances with Robert Meerpool, one of the Rosenberg sons adopted after his parents were executed. He is the founder & Executive Director of the Rosenberg Fund for Children. It was quite a powerful evening.
The critics were mixed on the show, but we did receive a few good notices, including:
“Endlessly fascinating!” – Theatermania
“A wonderful piece of theatre…filled with Magic.” – TPR