On & Off Broadway

‘If I Forget’

Review by Elyse Trevers

Posted

Gathering around an aging parent has become a frequent theme in movies and on Broadway. Siblings share their memories, emotions arise and rivalries play out. If I Forget, by Steven Levenson (Dear Evan Hansen), begins in a familiar way. Michael, Holly and Sharon meet at their old home to celebrate the 75th birthday of their father (played by Larry Bryggman.) Except for a couple of scenes, one especially moving when he’s describing the liberation of Dachau, the father is merely the catalyst for other events.

Sharon (Maria Dizzia), the youngest child, is a teacher who lives nearby. She resentfully assumed much of the responsibility when their mother had taken ill many months before and has now done the same for the father. Kate Walsh plays the oldest child, Holly, who is pretentious, blunt and slightly dishonest. Asked how things are, she responds cheerfully rather than truthfully. Michael (Jeremy Shamos) is a Jewish studies professor up for tenure who has written an inflammatory book suggesting that people “forget the Holocaust.” He explains that his thesis is a political and academic idea meant to provoke conversation, but ultimately it costs him his job and embroils him in a costly lawsuit.

When the father has fallen ill and becomes incapacitated, the three meet again to determine how to care for him. The main item of contention is his haberdashery, a building in an up-and-coming neighborhood. Sharon has gotten romantically involved with the present tenant, a married Guatemalan storekeeper, and doesn’t want to evict the family. Holly wants to rent the store herself to start an interior decorating business. Michael is facing his own financial issues, including caring for his daughter, Abby, who developed Jerusalem Syndrome after her Birthright trip to Israel. When he turns to Holly’s husband, Howard, he learns that Howard has foolishly given his credit card information to a woman he met online who has bilked him of much of his money.


Directed by Daniel Sullivan, If I Forget expends much of its early energy on Judaism, especially through discussion of Michael’s book and Sharon’s former boyfriend, who had an affair with the cantor. With allusions to politics, the play takes place right after Bush’s victory over Gore. Interestingly, for many in the audience it was hard not to connect to the present political environment.

By the second act, religion becomes less important given Howard’s convoluted story about losing his money, Sharon’s relationship with the storeowner and Michael’s financial problems.

The three actors playing the siblings are fine. As Michael, Jeremy Shamos is impassioned and burdened. Kate Walsh is sophisticated and sarcastic and Dizzia is the needy one.

Levinson has written a play with provocative ideas and biting remarks. The siblings make comments to one another that friends would never forgive. They also easily reveal the ‘secrets’ they promised to keep. But maybe it’s all okay because it’s family.

The book is dense, with much to absorb within the timeframe. Though the title is evocative of the Holocaust, the destruction, though pivotal, is merely a small part. The events keep piling up. Howard’s dalliance and eventual loss of money seems contrived and a way to dispatch of him. By the end of Act I, I felt moved but by the end of Act II, I felt almost beleaguered.

Joey (Seth Steinberg) plays Holly’s Neanderthal teenage son who answers in rude monosyllables. Yet by the end, he’s the one who offers a tender moment when he goes to his Uncle Michael offering to help his cousin, Abby, now in a mental facility. “After all, she’s my cousin.”

So despite the politics and the religion and all, If I Forget is about family. Not tradition or religion or politics. Family.