Still More Theater Saturday - The Pianist

We were given complimentary tickets to The Pianist for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: The Pianist 

Where: George Street Playhouse

             NBPAC

             11 Livingston Ave.

             New Brunswick, NJ 

Who: Recommended for Ages 16 and Up 

When: Through October 22, 2022

The Pianist is the story of Wladyslaw Szpilman and how music helped him survive the Holocaust. It is also the story of the complete eradication of Jewish life in World War II Warsaw. The show is based on Sziplman's memoir  which was also the basis for the 2002 film of the same name. The film won several Oscars that year, including one for Adrien Brody in the role of Sziplman, as well as numerous other awards.

The show is absolutely gut-wrenching and scarily relevant to what is going on in the world right now. Daniel Donskoy in the lead role of Szpilman displays a kind of tenacious intensity in the role. The rest of the performances are good as well. The actors are extremely expressive not only in their eyes and voices but in their whole bodies. It really helps the audience to put themselves in the characters' shoes and ramps up the overall intensity of the whole production.

Even though the set was not elaborate, it really added to the production. The way the escalating horror and destruction that was going on in the story was physically manifested in the ever-widening fissure in the backdrop really added to the sense of fear and somberness of the story. Music was used in a very deliberate way as well. For the most part, there were not really any instruments on the stage, but at just the most intense moment suddenly there was an actual piano.

Although admittedly a show like this can be hard to sit through and triggering for many people, the story is as important as ever and maybe, even more so. Clearly, we haven't learned from the past, and we need to keep reminding ourselves just how bad things can get. It's too bad the ones who can most benefit from this lesson probably aren't going to see this show anyway. 

And that's our view. For more about The Pianist or to purchase tickets, visit georgestreetplayhouse.org/shows/show/pianist.

Tune in tomorrow for this week's Sunday Scoop.

Photo credits: 

All The Pianist production photos by T. Charles Erickson

Images used in this post have been sent to us from publicists, artists, and/or  PR firms.
If there is a problem with the rights to any image, please contact us here, and we will look into the matter.