OnStage Playhouse mounts first-rate ‘Diary of Anne Frank’

By Carol Davis

CHULA VISTA, California–“It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything that people are truly good at heart”.

“It is utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death. I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder, that one day, will destroy us too. I feel the suffering of millions. And yet when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more. In the meantime, I trust I must hold on to my ideals. Perhaps the day will come when I will be able to realize them!” –Yours, Anne M. Frank (The Definitive Edition)

For the better part of two years, (from age 13 to age 15) Anne Frank’s life became an open book. When she and her family were forced into hiding as a result of the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam in 1942, Anne made regular entries into an autograph book, later turned into a diary, given to her by her father, Otto, on the occasion of her 13th birthday.

The last entry in the diary was made Aug. 1, 1944. On Aug. 4th 1944, Anne and the seven other people hiding in the secret annex of her father’s warehouse in Amsterdam were arrested. Following the arrest, Miep Gies, Otto Frank’s secretary and later their link to the outside world, found Anne’s diary pages strewn all over the annex floor.

The Nazis, in their haste to get the Jews rounded up, left them behind. Miep gathered them up and put them away for safekeeping, having never read them. After the war she gave them to Otto, who later had them published in what is now known as The Diary of Anne Frank.

Several versions of the diary known as a), b), and c) have been published. From the first known published account in 1947 to the present, much more has been revealed about the contents in the original papers. Originally, Otto Frank felt the need to omit accounts of Anne’s feelings towards her mother. Anne claimed that she preferred her father to her mother (some think she was jealous of her mother). She also made no bones about the fact that she did not like her mother.

Frank also left out passages about her inquisitiveness regarding her sexuality. Nonetheless, Anne’s life before during and after the occupation is documented in the work. Those who denied the Holocaust and had challenged the legitimacy of it were proven wrong again by forensics that established the authenticity of the ink and handwriting.

The entries address in detail the turbulence, fear, anxiety, hopes and dreams of a young, spunky, rather self-centered, spoiled, fun-filled 13-year-old girl who still feels the world is her oyster. But more than anything, they give insight into her mind.

They also bring out the tensions and resentments of being in such tight confines, of intrusions into others’ space, of sharing everything including bedrooms. The best and the worst of humanity are shown by some stealing food for themselves instead of sharing equally, of personality clashes and of the relationships and alliances formed.

The latest incarnation is the play based on the book Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. This revival is by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett and adapted by Wendy Kesselman. It opened in Boston and then went to Broadway where it opened on Dec. 4, 1997 and ran for 208 performances. Most of the critics were critical of Anne’s budding sexuality being inserted into this newer revival and the show sank in the wake of its own weight.

As long as there are Holocaust deniers, there will always be a need for a theatre company to produce this play and an audience to see it. OnStage Playhouse, under the deft direction of Kym Pappas, who managed all the Hebrew pronunciations of the Chanukah blessings perfectly, is offering that opportunity now.

From this reviewer, who has seen this show more than once including Anne Frank, The Musical some years ago (in the SDSU experimental theatre), has read the diaries and visited every Holocaust Museum in every city and country I visited and that includes climbing into the annex while on a trip to Amsterdam, I assure you will not be disappointed in this oft-time endearing yet overall truthful and haunting production.

Bring tissues.

With a most competent cast in tow, the long stage at the playhouse shows a cutaway of the living quarters of the occupants of the annex. Set designers Chad Oakley and Bruce Wilde along with Oakley and Desiree Peters (who added the décor) show us the cramped sleeping areas, a central room where they met for meals and socializing (if you can call it that), the secret passageway with stairs leading to the annex hidden by a bookcase. There is a small platform with the one window providing some light that becomes Peter’s room. Terri Brown and Laurie Thibodeaux are credited for the accurate period costume design and Chad Oakley designed the effective lighting.

All around the theatre hanging from the walls in the lobby and into the theatre space itself one can look at Nazi propaganda posters. In the lobby along with the posters is a large timeline of the rise of Hitler’s regime along with the timeline of the Frank family’s (and hate moves against Jews in particular) and their struggle to survive. Next are posters depicting another time line, showing the progress, or lack thereof, this country has had in the desegregation of the south and other odious crimes including attacks on minorities of all persuasions. The mood is set and the characters take their places.

Among the family members, Laura Preble is the least convincing in this noble drama as Edith Frank, Anne’s depressed mother who favors Margo to Anne.
On opening night her movements on stage looked robotic and by the numbers. At times she seemed outside the play and distant rather than the frustrated and harried mother who longed for some recognition by her teenaged daughter.

Sven Salumaa is very effective as her warm and accepting father, Otto. It is his difficult obligation, in the end to tell us what happened to the family. Rachel Throesch has the rather thankless role as Margot, who takes a back seat to her more vivacious younger sister. She does the best she can under the circumstances. They make up the Frank family unit.

After they get settled arranging their household goods, the van Daan’s are led in by Miep Gies. Mr. van Daan was Otto Frank’s business partner. Greg McAfee’s Mr. van Daan is a sympathetic character who works at balancing his relationship with his self-absorbed wife while coming to grips with his own shortcomings.

Michael Pfitzmeier is Peter van Daan, their son. He is very convincing and somewhat charming and shy young man who is rather surprised and bewildered by Anne’s spunkiness. He is also confused by Anne’s affections.

Teri Brown is splendid as the high brow Mrs. Van Daan who comes to this little gathering in her mink coat carrying her own private chamber pot. Try as she may to co-exist with what I’m sure she regards as underlings, she manages to annoy just about everyone there.

Rounding out this capable cast is Nick Young as Mr. Dussell. He was a dentist in his past life and is now thrown into a do or die situation but has trouble adjusting to the do part. Aside from the fact the he is a fussy hypochondriac in the beginning and a thorn in Anne’s side since they have to share sleeping arrangements by alternating i.e. who sleeps during the day and who gets the bed at night, he turns out to be useful in the long run.

Anya Tuek is consistent throughout, blond wig et al. as Miep Gies the go-between the exiled world of those in the annex and the transporter of their food supplies and outside news. Even though there is a radio in the annex they can only listen to it after the workers downstairs close up shop for the night.

The least effective are the SS storm troopers who come at the end to arrest the group after someone tipped them off. They looked like the Keystone Cops in Nazi uniforms. If it wasn’t for the very emotional final scene that just about makes you forget what they looked like, it could have been a spoiler.

At its heart of the show is young Lucia Vecchio as the spirited Anne Frank.

Saving the best for last, Ms. Vecchio’s portrait of Anne Frank is about as honest and raw (particularly in the last scene) as I’ve seen. She vacillates from moody to excitable at the prospect of a meeting with Peter. She is thoughtful as she talks about her not having a best friend or friends for that matter, or naming her diary her imaginary friend’s name, Kitty and entering each page with a “Dear Kitty’ hoping she can confide in someone since she acknowledges that she has no one.

Ms. Vecchio’s acting skills show an Anne mature beyond years as she expresses her inward feelings or childlike charm or as she dreams of becoming a famous actress or writer, and finally Anne is more than prophetic as one entry reads:

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere thy can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As longs as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.”– Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

*On September 3, 1944 all eight are sent in a cattle car to Auschwitz. Once there, the men are separated from the women.

*On October 28, of the same year, Margo and Anne Frank are transported to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

*On January 6, 1945 Anne’s mother dies of starvation in Auschwitz. That same year the Russians liberate the remaining survivors in Auschwitz, including Otto Frank.

*In March 1945 Margo and Anne die of typhus in Bergen-Belsen. The camp was liberated by British troops on April 15th.

*Over one million children perished in the Holocaust.

Kudos to OnStage Playhouse for their diligent work in mounting this important show.

See you at the theatre.

Dates: Through Dec. 4th
Organization: OnStage Playhouse
Phone: 619-422-7787.
Production Type: Drama
Where: 291 Third Avenue, Chula Vista, CA
Ticket Prices: Check with playhouse @ onstageplayhouse.org

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Davis is a San Diego based theatre critic. She may be contacted at carol.davis@sdjewishworld.com