Review: PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH REPUBLIC at New Jewish Theatre Grips with Cataclysmic Force

The St. Louis premiere of Joshua Harmon’s epic Prayer for the French Republic opened at New Jewish Theatre on Thursday evening. Programmed and directed by NJT’s Artistic Director Rebekah Scallet, it tells the story of five generations of a Jews living in Paris from 1944 through the present day.

Harmon’s play premiered on Broadway in 2024 following a sold-out Off-Broadway Run in 2022. The Off-Broadway production was the winner of the Drama Desk Award for Best Play and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play. The Broadway production, nominated for three Tony Awards including Best Play, was extended due to audience demand.

Harmon’s intense family drama looks at a modern French family’s fear provoked by two anti-Semitic attacks on their son. The central theme running through Prayer for the French Republic is the horrific genocide and devastating loss of family during the holocaust as seen through the eyes of survivors who either evaded capture or were liberated from the internment camps at the end of World War II.

Harmon’s script, set in both 1944-46 and 2017, goes back and forth in time between the lives of the elderly matriarch and patriarch Irma and Adolphe Salomon and their granddaughter Marcelle’s family. Their grandson Patrick acts as both narrator and antagonist, challenging the beliefs of his sister and her husband.

The play asks three questions that cannot be answered:  Is there anywhere that Jews can live and feel safe; (2) Why are the Jews a hated people; and (3) is shirking your faith and living a secular life a successful survivor strategy to avoid persecution?

Prayer for the French Republic takes on decades of religious and political intolerance set in modern era anti-semitism. Harmon’s powerful hard-hitting writing and Scallet’s riveting direction creates a visceral and unforgettable experience.

One picky note about Harmon’s lengthy, but profound and often funny script; there are few scenes with repetitive dialogue that wains on for too long. With thoughtful editing, those scenes could have been easily trimmed without diminishing their emotional impact. But even with its more than 3-hour run time, Prayer for the French Republic is engrossing theater that needs to be seen.

The playwright’s main focus is on Marcelle Solomon Benhamou’s (Jenni Ryan) nuclear family. Her husband Charles (Dave Cooperstein) immigrated to France as a child when his Sephardic Jewish family fled Algeria. They have two adult children, Elodie (Hailey Medrano) and Daniel (Bryce A. Miller), who live with them in an upscale Parisian apartment.

The tension of Benhamou Family is cratering under the weight of the stress caused by the attacks on Daniel. They are edgy and curt with one another. Conversations are abrupt. Ryan, Cooperstein, Medrano, and Miller execute Harmon’s quarrelsome dialogue with contentious precision. Their timing and explosive assertiveness are without a doubt the result of their fierce portrayals and Scallet’s directorial vision.

 John Wilson’s Patrick is the antithesis of what his sister Marcelle has become. He narrates the story with aplomb. His Patrick seems cool and controlled, until the time comes when he must confront his sister about her acquiescence to her husband's distinct religious customs. He believes it makes them a target for violence. Wilson and Ryan create tension so palpable it feels physically tangible.

Molly, played by Lilah Kreis, is an American student visiting Paris. Based on the description in program notes she is probably Marcelle’s fourth cousin, once removed. Kreis’ gives Molly a naïve sweetness with an underlying confidence. The agnostic college student further tips the fragile Marcelle’s apple cart when she becomes a more regular presence in the household.

The action takes place in the Benhamou’s elegant apartment interior on David Blake’s finely appointed set design. A hardwood floor thrust from a fake proscenium background to create a living space, dining room, and sitting area. The open proscenium space is adorned with an elegant lilac hued background painted with a faint replica of the lower legs and arches of the Eiffel Tower. In the foreground of the backdrop thick piano wires hang diagonally giving the space depth and a skeuomorphic nod to the Solomon’s defunct family business. It’s an artistic tribute to the family’s legacy in piano sales.

On the upstage riser in front of the proscenium sits an antique grand piano bearing the name Salomon on the fallboard. The piano spins on a turntable to indicate whether the action is taking place in the 1940s or the twenty-teens. When the piano turns the ancestral patriarchs and matriarch appear. With the time jump there is a shift in the styles of Michelle Friedman Siler’s tailored costume designs, Heather Reynolds lighting design, and Mary Robinson’s original music and sound design. Scallet and her technical teams have created a seamless and transcendent way to time hop across eight decades.

Kathleen Sitzer as Irma, Bill Stein as Adolphe, Adam Flores as their son Lucien, and Ben Hammock as their grandson Pierre fill in the family's backstory from 1944-1946. Sitzer, Stein, Flores, and Hammock, create a warmth that illustrates a loving familial bond. Flores shows strong resolve in attempts to protect his parents from the distressing heartbreak that many Jews faced post-holocaust. Their emotions are laid threadbare in honest and devastating portrayals. Bob Harvey appears in a charming late third act cameo as the elderly Pierre dispensing wisdom.

Rebekah Scallet has once again brought St. Louis audiences a newer work to the NJT Wool Studio Stage with resounding success. Her production of Prayer for the French Republic is a gripping story with cataclysmic force. The Salomon and Benhamou Families face paralyzing fear steeped in the long history of Jewish persecution expertly captured by a gifted powerhouse acting ensemble. This deeply gripping and devastating production leaves the audience filled with empathetic catharsis.

Prayer for the French Republic continues at New Jewish Theater through May 3, 2026. Visit newjewishtheatre.org for more information. Click the link below to buy tickets. 

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