"Leopoldstadt" star Brandon Uranowitz reflects on new Broadway play's important and timely story
NEW YORK -- The new Broadway play "Leopoldstadt" shows the horror and heartbreak an extended Jewish family faces when the Nazis occupy Austria during World War II.
Actor Brandon Uranowitz sat down with CBS2's Dick Brennan to talk about the rise of antisemitism on stage and what's happening today.
It is a searing family drama of love, tragedy and human suffering sprawled over decades. The play follows an Austrian-Jewish family through the joy and prosperity of the turn of the 20th century and then into the darkness of Kristallnacht and the scourge of Nazism.
It is in part based on the life of Tom Stoppard, one of the most successful playwrights in Broadway history, and features a giant cast portraying a family tree that withers under the burden of hatred and oppression.
"I think if you've never experienced what it's like to be oppressed or be marginalized, it can be very difficult to step into the shoes of someone who has," Uranowitz said.
Uranowitz takes on two roles, Ludwig and Nathan, over a five-decade period from 1899 to 1955.
"There's a very terrifying parallel between that apartment and this theater, and everything that's happening outside of it," he said.
Today's headlines prove that antisemitism never really goes away.
"'Leopoldstadt' is sort of bringing to life the kind of Holocaust education in a pop culture sense," said Scott Richman, regional director for the Anti-Defamation League.
Richman says the play sends an important signal to society at precisely the right time.
"I'm really glad that a show like this, which has a message about the Holocaust and where hate can lead ... is a very important message," he said.
Web Extra: Actor Brandon Uranowitz on antisemitism, empathy & education
"In one way, it adds a sense of urgency to the play, which lifts it to another level, I think. You know, I think before, just for me personally as a Jew and someone who's sort of engaged with the political landscape, antisemitism is something that's always sort of flowing underneath the surface ... But it's only in the last few weeks started really bubbling to the surface in less nuanced, sort of more overt, indiscrete ways. That has sort of lifted the play into the now in a way that it wasn't necessarily before. I think before it was always very important. Sort of always, I think the headline writ large for the play, when we first started doing it was, 'never again, never forget,' you know. Keep this in your experience. The history lesson is important, and it will inform the way that we move on in the world. But now it feels like now, as opposed to a look back. That sense of urgency is I think very effective for the way that the piece lands now. On the flip side, it's also really scary," Uranowitz said.
"Is there a way to say, oh, we can educate our way out of hatred?" Brennan asked.
"I mean, it's a good question. I mean, is empathy something that can be learned? I don't know. I mean, is empathy something that can be taught? I would hope. I would hope that my sense of empathy was sort of given to me by my unbelievably supportive and wonderful parents and their family. I mean, that's a hard question to answer. I don't... I don't know. I think education is part of it, yes. I think understanding oppression and oppressive systems, and how, you know, small, seemingly inconsequential things can lead to, I mean, as our play shows, you can lead to very tangible, consequential tragedy," Uranowitz said. "It's something I experience when I have to talk to my neighbors who don't know what it's like to be discriminated against. And I think it goes back to that question of education. Can education, can empathy be taught?"
Uranowitz says sometimes he worries that hate could lead perhaps right into the theater.
"I'm finding myself sort of experiencing some, like, irrational fears that come up ... I'm finding myself a little bit scared to step on stage every day," he said. "Part of your brain that thinks, 'Well, what if? What if today's the day that something crazy happens?' You know, it's just, it's, and that's a direct result, that's a direct byproduct of what's happening outside the walls of the theater."
Generally what awaits Uranowitz outside the theater is adoration from people who may have experienced what they just saw or who've had family who did, and he says they become an important part of the play itself.
"Any time I'm rehearsing a play, it always comes up that like, well, we've gone as far as we can, until we introduce the last character, which is the audience. And it does feed their performance, it uplifts their performance, and it validates their performance," Uranowitz said.
"If there was some one thing, one theme ... that is a message of this play and that perhaps might resonate beyond the doors here..." Brennan said.
"For me, the biggest thing about the play is memory and remembering," Uranowitz said. "I think my biggest hope for this play is that it doesn't exist in a vacuum or it doesn't exist in an echo chamber. I don't want the themes of this play, to just be presented to people who already understand them and know them."
Web Extra: Uranowitz discusses why he keeps coming back to the stage
Uranowitz is a three-time Tony nominee who has worked in film and TV, including "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," so what keeps him returning to the theater?
"Theater to me is just, it's my life blood because there's nothing else like it in the world. And you know, when you do film and TV, you sort of jump into the middle of a scene, you jump into the middle of an 'act,' and in theater, you start at the beginning and you go through the middle and you go to the end, and you experience something in real time with people and then it's done. And there's something ethereal about it. And yes, we do it eight times a week, yes, it's repetitive, I guess, but every single performance is entirely unique because everyone here [in the audience] is different. What we're bringing into the theater every day is different and that informs how we talk and listen and react. Theater to me is the greatest thing on Earth because there's nothing else like it, and we all experience this one thing together and then it disappears," he said.
"Leopoldstadt" is running at the Longacre Theatre through March 2023.