Musical Celebrating Diversity Plays Off Terror of Sept. 11

Like most Americans, Kimberly Grigsby wanted to do something to help after Sept. 11.

The answer came two weeks later when she was handed the script to a musical version of “The Immigrant,” the story of a Russian Jew who fled oppression and tried to make a living by selling bananas in rural Texas.

Grigsby took a leave of absence from conducting the 12-person orchestra of “The Full Monty” on Broadway, and now is at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, leading an ensemble for this musical remake of a play that premiered here in 1985.

“I do shows. So this is what I could do. It moved me. The time was right for this story to be told,” said Grigsby.

The time was right because, in the words of playwright Mark Harelik, “We as a nation are experiencing massive alternating waves of fear and loathing of the stranger and pride in diversity.”

For Harelik, writing the play--he played the parts of his grandfather and father in the first production--”was a valentine to my family. I am deeply moved by the idea that some believe it is more important to do it after Sept. 11.”

The musical received rave reviews during a three-week run at the 98-seat CAP21 in New York last year.

“I think the show should have a long, long life. It is why we came to the United States. It is what we are fighting for,” said Frank Ventura, artistic director of New York’s Collaborative Arts Project.

“The Immigrant” was the first production in CAP21’s new theater. This was to be its first full production season, plans that had to be canceled because funding collapsed after the terrorist attacks. Its development work, the kind that led to production of “The Immigrant,” continues.

“The Immigrant” may have been one of the safer bets CAP21 has made at its Blackjack Theater Festival.

From the moment the play was first produced there was talk of making it a musical. The transition has worked well. The New York Times said of the workshop production, “a deeply satisfying new musical, with much on its mind about history, humanity, man and God and the American Dream, is beckoning to theatergoers with a taste for rich characters in a tale that touches the heart, glows with humor and soothes the ear.”

Most of the dialogue is sung--all this while retaining much of the intensity of the play, the most-produced in the nation in 1991.

“I had a couple of people telling me this was something new. It is almost like an extension of the form,” said lyricist Sarah Knapp. “We wanted the music to carry the story. We wanted it to seem like the music was coming out of the actors, not placed on them.” She collaborated with husband Steve Alper, who wrote the music.

Grigsby, whose usual enthusiastic direction was visible to those near the front, agreed. “Music should be a character,” she said.

Harelik said there is more than a little irony in the fact that the play about immigrant Jews might make life a little easier for Arabs. An Arab arriving in small-town America today would be no less strange than a Jew hustling bananas in rural Texas near the turn of the century.

“They are both Semitic people. There is a certain physical similarity you will find.”

The story takes up about where “Fiddler on the Roof” leaves off. Harelik’s grandfather has come to the U.S., but instead of passing through Ellis Island ends up in Texas as part of the Galveston Movement. Philanthropist Jacob Henry Schiff financed the immigration of 10,000 Eastern European Jews between 1907 and 1914.

Three of the four members of the CAP21 production came to Denver.

Adam Heller, in “A Class Act” on Broadway and in the national tour of “Titanic,” is the newcomer and brings an enthusiasm that almost bowls over the audience.

Walter Charles, who appeared on Broadway in “Kiss Me Kate” and “La Cage Aux Folles,” plays Milton, the stern banker who can’t resist befriending Harelik. His powerful performance makes his appearance at the end in a wheelchair, unable to mumble more than a goodbye that is too late for Harelik to hear, even more dramatic.

Cass Morgan, who appeared on Broadway in “Capeman,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Pump Boys and Dinettes,” plays Milton’s wife, Ima, a Christian. She seems bewildered when she finds out Harelik is a Jew, but also cannot resist extending the hand of friendship. She brings some humor, especially when she takes a sip of wine during a Sabbath ceremony. Tears flow when she berates her recently deceased husband for refusing to be baptized, only to wail that she doesn’t want to go to heaven if he won’t be there.

Randal Myler, who directed the play, also directs the musical. He was nominated for a Tony for writing “It Ain’t Nothing But the Blues” and wrote “Love Janis,” based on letters Janis Joplin wrote to her sister.

His direction is helped by Ralph Funicello’s spare set, and landscapes of the region’s rolling plains painted by Texas artist Carl Rice Embrey help retain the documentary style of the play.

The show runs through Feb. 23 in Denver before moving to the Cocoanut Grove Playhouse in Miami, and the producers hope to get it to Broadway.