Aaron Posner’s play, My Name is Asher Lev, adapted from Chaim Potok’s novel, has a convincing premise about art: An artist must be true to his inner consciousness and pursue the nature and inspiration that God gave him, or he can become a whore. The drama also sets up a good conflict: an Orthodox Jew paints Jesus, to the consternation of his father (Mark Nelson, who also plays The Rebbe and an old artist who guides the boy). Jenny Bacon plays the understanding mother (as well as an art dealer and a model).
Here’s the good part of the production: the set by Eugene Lee, an artist’s studio, including skylight, is terrific, and so is the lighting by James F. Ingalls, which perfectly creates moods. I had problems with some of the rest. With much of the play narrated by the young Asher (Ari Brand), an artist driven by his talent, although there are some interesting ideas explored, most of the arguments are simplistic and redundant, including a discussion on painting nudes — should Art have boundaries? – which is belabored. Performances by the men are intense and emotion-filled, but the father cries all of his lines, and Brand has a head bob – yes, or no, or just an emphasis on everyword, which undercuts the emotions of his remembrances. It’s distracting, but not as much as the unrestrained ham given us by Nelson as both the father who doesn’t understand art or artists, and as the Rebbe. (He’s more real as the artist/teacher.) Bacon is a contrast to the men: she gives a lovely performance as the mother, with a sense of reality -- of being,and is wonderful in her other two portrayals (except that the director, Gordon Edelstein, has her smoking on stage, which drifts into the audience). I believe that only a non-painter could write this worshipping of the art. But even good material spoken by the father is diffused by his crying recitations dripping with over-acting and a quavering voice chewing up the scenery. A lot of people can be fooled by this kind of performance, but I believe what Alfred Lunt said: “The secret of acting is: say your lines loud and clear, and don’t bump into the furniture.” I kept imagining how the lines spoken would impact if said simply and without demonstration.
