INDECENT is the new play from Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel inspired by the true story of the controversial 1923 Broadway debut of Sholem Asch's God of Vengeance. Called "superbly realized and remarkably powerful" by the New York Times and hailed as one of the best plays of the year by critics, Indecent charts the journey of an incendiary drama and the artists who risked their lives to perform it. Created by Vogel and director Rebecca Taichman and set at a time when waves of immigrants were changing the face of America, this play with music is a riveting look at an explosive moment in theatrical history and comes to Broadway from its critically acclaimed, sold-out run at the Vineyard Theatre.
It's humbling, not to say near-impossible, to fully convey the thrumming resonance of Indecent, the evanescent shimmer of a show that arrived on Broadway tonight following its New York debut last spring at the Vineyard Theatre. But I'll give it my best and hope that you'll set aside any argument touting its importance - because Indecent ain't just spinach - and instead make haste for the Cort Theatre simply to share the astonishing power of this new play with music about a delicious ancient Broadway scandal that pulses through the decades to our own time.
I'm a total sucker for plays, movies and books about little known events that completely shake up our sense of history...Lesbian love was glorified in a popular Yiddish play in the early 20th century? Vogel tells her complicated, sprawling story with urgent economy. She uses the rain scene, enacted by Katrina Lenk and Adina Verson, as a leitmotiv. The words remain the same (and they're pretty graphic), but the meaning keeps changing, growing.
| 2016 | Off-Broadway |
New York Off-Broadway Premiere Off-Broadway |
| 2017 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| 2021 | West End |
Menier Chocolate Factory's West End Premiere Production West End |
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design for a Play | Christopher Akerlind |
| 2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Play | Paula Vogel |
| 2017 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | Indecent |
| 2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Rebecca Taichman |
| 2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Richard Topol |
| 2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Katrina Lenk |
| 2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design (Play or Musical) | Christopher Akerlind |
| 2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Play | Indecent |
| 2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Projection Design (Play or Musical) | Tal Yarden |
| 2017 | Theatre World Awards | Dorothy Loudon Award for Excellence in the Theater | Katrina Lenk |
| 2017 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Play | Rebecca Taichman |
| 2017 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Play | Christopher Akerlind |
| 2017 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Paula Vogel |
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