Composer/Co-Librettist/Pianist/Director/Producer:
Leonard Lehrman
Co-Librettist: Karen Ruoff Kramer
Advisor to the Production: Lissa Moira
Starring: Caryn Hartglass
Lighting: Marsh Shugart
Stage Manager: Geoffrey Carlson
Lighting Assistant: Helene Williams Spierman Lehrman
Emma Goldman, famous 20th Century anarchist, had a lot to say about disturbing trends in American government, which remain relevant today. The bonus that you get in the musical version by Leonard Lehrman and Karen Ruoff Kramer is the story of Emma’s love affairs.
Whatever you might know about Emma, come see this exciting show. It has been performed around the world, often with a large orchestra. This production (running at T.N.C. in repertory with “Sima”) features Caryn Hartglass as Emma and Lehrman as solo pianist as well as playing all of the rabble-rousing men in Emma’s life.
Many of us might be forgiven for thinking that Emma Goldman’s anarchist activities peaked in 1917, when she and her lover Alexander Berkman were arrested for protesting the World War I draft. Berkman went to prison (again) and Goldman was deported to her native Russia. By 1933–with apologies to fans of Mussolini and other dictators–the world was in even worse shape than in 1917. At this most interesting moment, Emma was given a visa by the U.S.A. to come back for a lecture tour. Lehrman strikes up a rousing tune to follow Emma’s visa application process. All the history, all the defiance, all the romance are nicely framed in this moment.
We hear about the good old days in the late 19th Century. Emma comes under the sway of radical journal publisher Johann Most, as well as Berkman, who makes anarchism sexy. Doctor Ben Reitman sells her on the idea of free love. Agitating in the U.S.A. makes her famous. Back in Europe, she heads for the Spanish Civil War.
Caryn Hartglass is indeed a powerful presence. She brings to life a figure who for 70 years did not stop fighting for the rights of the people. Lehrman’s music and charming narration show great devotion to this history.
