Otto Frank NYC Reviews and Tickets

78%

(4 Ratings)

Positive

100%

Mixed

Negative

Members say

Great acting, Resonant, Ambitious, Relevant, Absorbing

About the Show

A new work exploring the life of Anne Frank's father.

Obie Award-winning collaborators Roger Guenveur Smith and Marc Anthony Thompson have created new work inspired by Otto Frank, the father of diarist Anne Frank. Smith's intimate meditation, scored live by Thompson, brings to light our modern era through a relentless interrogation of our not-so-distant past. Smith's Frank addresses his daughter beyond her time and his own, navigating his loss as the sole survivor of his immediate family, and negotiating his subsequent service to the living and the dead as the steward of her work.

Show-Score Member Reviews (4)

Masterful, Relevant, Sad, Stunning

See it if you can appreciate Roger Guevener Smith's masterful imagining of a real-life survivor tie lessons learned to subsequent historical events

Don't see it if you cannot tolerate a very sad, very realistic monologue about how very horrible humans are to one another & continue to be Read more

Thought-provoking, Resonant, Great writing, Intelligent, Absorbing

See it if you enjoy solo performance, are interested in Anne Frank, are interested in the intersection of Jewish and African American history.

Don't see it if you only love musicals, hate solo performance, need a lot of staging - the actor sits in his chair the entire show. Read more

Great acting, Intense, Resonant, Confusing, Ambitious

See it if R G Smith's latest for UTR is a dark, deeply moving monograph to Anne Frank from her father (and eternal guardian) His grieving is palpable

Don't see it if While the work is an intense howl of pain & regret, its also strangely morally forthright & contemporary Smith tends to swallow the dialogue

Great acting, Disappointing, Ambitious

See it if into a poetic monologue expanding on the legacy of Anne Frank by a great actor. At times moving and thought-provoking.

Don't see it if sensitive to "poetic monologues" that utilize cliches and can feel manipulative. Read more

Critic Reviews (3)

“I sometimes felt in ‘Otto Frank’ that the names of the camps and the litanies of loss were being dragooned into dramatic service illegitimately. ”
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“ ‘Otto Frank ’ gives one plenty to think about and, just as obviously, it left me feeling decidedly ambivalent. Even in this unsatisfying production, however, it is likely to stick in your head for days after you've seen it.”
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welcome timing [to have] an old Jewish man, embodiment of the ravages of antisemitism, interpreted by an African American actor and writer…I found so many of the disparate verses in “Otto Frank” admirable – evidence of a politically-informed imagination and a lyrical sensibility – that I wish “Otto Frank” had worked better for me as a whole. It wasn’t the indirection or the ricocheting that tripped me up. It was the delivery.
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Trailer

Creative team