Review Roundup: HANS LITTEN: THE JEW WHO CROSS-EXAMINED HITLER

The World Premiere of Hans Litten: The Jew Who Cross-Examined Hitler, just celebrated opening night off-Broadway. Based on a remarkable true story, Hans Litten centers on the brilliant young Jewish lawyer who, in 1931, did the seemingly impossible: he called Adolf Hitler to the witness stand and publicly exposed the future dictator’s embrace of political violence, two years before Hitler rose to power. The play moves from the charged atmosphere of Berlin courtrooms to the brutal reality of Nazi concentration camps, tracing Litten’s unwavering commitment to justice, reason, and human dignity.

The cast features Daniel Yaiullo (Off-Broadway: 1+1) as Hans Litten, alongside Stan Buturla (The Country Play), Zack Calhoon (It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play), Robert Ierardi (West Side Story, West End), Whit K. Lee (The Far Country, Atlantic Theater Company), Barbara McCulloh (Peter Pan, Broadway), Dave Stishan (Once), Marco Torriani (The Green Veil), and Mark Eugene Vaughn (Richard II).

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Deb Miller, DC: The debut of Hans Litten: The Jew Who Cross-Examined Hitler is an intellectually compelling, historically informative, and emotionally impactful must-see production, which also serves as an urgent warning that those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it. My advice is to see it – and don’t ever let this happen again.

Jonathan Mandell, New York Theater: It’s a somewhat baffling choice that the trial takes up only about twenty minutes of a play that runs two hours (including intermission.) The playwright, who is also a professor of philosophy, fills the rest of the play with biographical scenes, philosophical and political debates, some dozen songs and poems from the period, and lots of scenes of post-trial Hans in prison and concentration camps, during which he shows up for visits by his mother exhibiting the latest injuries from his various tortures (These were early iterations of the camps, but did they really allow family visits?) All of this material outside of the trial might have worked better if it were presented with more subtlety and subtext. For all the playwright’s effort at indicating Hans’ “inner life” (as he informs us in a program note), Lackey’s writing is too often on the level of a school play, all spelled out and on the surface.

PJ Grisar, Forward: Despite the title, the play, directed by Alexander Harrington, is not a courtroom drama. It begins in 1924 in Königsberg, with Litten’s law professor father, Friedrich (Stan Buturla), discussing his son’s career prospects and handily alluding to the family’s Protestant conversion. Hans (Daniel Yaiullo) is convinced to pursue law, not as a calling, but as a kind of default — tempted, perhaps, by Friedrich’s sunny view of the profession.

Average Rating: 80.0%