For most people, Anne Frank's story is sacred. It's one of the most personal and haunting accounts of one of the most unthinkable evils in history.
For others, it's a joke. Or a way to poke fun at woke culture while still coming off as offensive. Or both. Or something like that. Okay, admittedly, I haven't seen this musical, and I probably never will, so I can only write about it via others' reviews. My conclusion is that some things should probably just be left alone... but let me start from the beginning.
The musical "Slam Frank" is currently running in New York, not on Broadway, but at a bar and performance space called AsylumNYC. It opened on September 17 and closes on October 26, and the majority of the shows have sold out.
It's a retelling of Anne Frank without her "white privilege." The Times describes the Anne character as "Anita," a "pansexual Latina hiding from the Nazis in a radically inclusive attic with her militant black mother, her neurodiverse father, and assorted other disordered personalities."
The show's own website says, "'Slam Frank' imagines what happens when a progressive community theater company decides to transform Anne Frank’s true story into an intersectional, multiethnic, genderqueer, decolonized, empowering Afro-Latin hip-hop musical."
At first glance, it sounds highly offensive. At second glance, it still sounds highly offensive but with a caveat. The play's creator, Jewish composer Andrew Fox, claims it's not exactly what it sounds like. Rather than being woke garbage, it's meant to make fun of woke garbage. Liberals laughing at themselves and all that — who knew it was possible?
But does it work? Depends on who you ask. I've read numerous reviews, and many people seem to love it. Others claim it's hard to be in on the joke when the joke is not so obvious. Either way, most of them seem to agree that it's hard to tell if the play's — presumably left-leaning — audience realizes it's satire or thinks it's just another notch on the belt of performative virtue signaling that has taken over the theater, television, and film industries these days.
Ben Kawaller of The Times called it the "most brilliant new musical in New York City." He also said, "But when the audience erupts in whoops and cheers, it does make you wonder: are they getting the joke — or are they taking this new adaptation at face value? Having watched the show twice, I suspect it’s a mix of both. And Alex Lewis, who plays Peter, told me the show appeals to audiences across the political spectrum — 'from centre-left to near-far-left and everything in between.'"
Olivia Haynie of The Forward, a progressive Jewish independent publication, wasn't quite as generous:
When it comes to Slam Frank, it seems that the only true conclusion is that there is no certain message, which is frustrating for audiences who want to understand what they’re watching. It is particularly hard when we’re living in a time where society seems to constantly demand we proclaim a socio-political opinion on everything.
As a musical, Slam Frank actually holds its own, with pretty catchy — if not politically correct — songs and good performances. But every time I was compelled to laugh with the audience, my amusement was mixed with apprehension and guilt. I knew why I thought the overdone Black American Accent and caricatured Jewish stereotypes were funny; but it’s hard to relax when you don’t know if the rest of the audience is laughing with you or at you.
Haynie also writes that whenever Fox does any sort of interview or media, he's in character, pretending to be an ultra-woke playwright, making it even harder to understand where the joke might begin. He says things like, "Latinx girlies feel included in the Holocaust." Looking at his background, as well as the backgrounds of the rest of the creative team — including Sam LaFrage, the artistic director of an LGBTQ-themed children’s theater company — doesn't help either. It's all leftists making fun of leftism. How very meta of them.
Whatever the case, it all still feels icky. What's next? A parody of 9/11? Admittedly, I have a pretty dark sense of humor, and I'm all for making fun of today's fixation on identity obsession, but using a little Jewish girl who died in a concentration camp to do so just feels wrong, even if it's been 80 years.
