Prayer for the French Republic

​ "Prayer for the French Republic" is a moving- thought provoking play by Joshua Harmon (Bad Jews). The plays premise is how safe a Jewish family is in modern day France. Harmon through his characters gives us a history lesson about how Jews have been slaughtered throughout time and what the reason is behind man's inhumanity toward men. Directed by Davis Cromer, this three hour plays moves quickly and never lets you out of the action on stage; we stay transfixed and focused in this heartfelt play.
 Cromer has a great cast to work with... Betsy Aiden is a powerhouse theatrical actor; Francis Benhamou too is a fiery actress who is rapid fire when quoting history. Molly Ranson who is a third cousin to the Benhamou's is visiting from America. A woke Gen Z who see's Israel as an aggressor draws the ire from Elodie (Benhamou). Debate and humor is at the forefront of this behemoth play, however, this play has less meaning to it than it did when it played a year ago off Broadway. Politically written plays run the risk of being dis-proven over time and "Prayer" is one of those. The October 7th attacks by Hamas has changed the realm of this play and so has the off handed remarks by former president Trump.
 What the playwright has done well, however, is bringing forth the history of French Jews and Jews around the world. We hear about how the French emancipated the Jews, the Crusades and how Jews are being attacked on the streets of France. It is when Marcelle and Charles Benhamou's son, Daniel (Aria Shahghasemi) gets beat up for the second time that Charles ponders moving to Israel.
 On a turntable stage (Takeshi Kata), we are taken from 2017 and back to World War II. We meet the Solomon's, grandparents of Marcelle who have been spared by the Nazi's during the war. The mood, the nuance of the plot is deftly supported by excellent lighting by Amith Chandrashaker (MTC always seems to have superb lighting regardless of what show you see at the Friedman Theatre). Through the windows we see the Solomon's desperation of staying indoors during the last two years of the war. Even still, the father, Adolphe (Daniel Oreskes) is hopeful that his children will return from the war unscathed, and that his piano store will flourish as it did before the war.
 The three acts are broken up efficiently and acts two and three pick up steam as the play goes on. The acting is well done much to Cromer's credit. Doubling down in the action he almost tips the scales needlessly; maybe he had to because the times have changed since last produced only one year ago.