A Shift of Opinion

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A warm meal on a cold winter’s day is welcome for many people. The meal is best served cold when the objective is not to be welcoming but to exact revenge. The exercise of governmental power as an instrument of terror and repression always carries the risk of backlash, sometimes in unexpected ways and with disequilibrating results. Those who indiscriminately wield the cudgel of state power must exercise care that the meal that is set before them is not a cold one but rarely is it the case.

A Shift of Opinion by Vadim Astrakhan and directed by Joe John Battista is a story of a cold meal of revenge set before the Czar of Russia by Jacob Schiff. He was an American banker and philanthropist who, as a man of Jewish faith, confronted the pogroms in Czarist Russia in the early 20^th century by helping to finance the overthrow of the Russian Empire.

The show opens with a prologue by Bella Greene (Christian Neal), the personal librarian of J.P. Morgan, who was a friend of Jacob Schiff (Michael Donato). She provides a limited sketch of Schiff and introduces a group of famous men who played a role in Schiff’s actions from 1903 to 1917; Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain (John Barilla), Teddy Roosevelt (Roger Gonzalez), O. Henry (Brian Sheppard), William Randolph Hearst (Michael Meth) and Jack London (Andrew Ryan Perry). Except for Neal and Gonzalez, all these actors play one other character. Neal and Gonzalez are the most effective in making their characters believable.

The opening scene is set in 1903 at a cocktail party where Schiff greets Nathan (Alex Notkin), the director of an unnamed Jewish hospital, who is thanking Schiff for his large donation. This conversation introduces the idea of America being Zion for the Jewish people, a concept that Nathan appears to embrace only a few years later to shift his idea of Zionism to a return to Palestine. It is an idea Schiff was against.

Clemens is depicted as being at this party, which provides Astrakhan with an opportunity to introduce some of Clemens’ ideas about Judaism and the Jewish people. Reference is made to his article “Concerning the Jews,” which appeared in Harper’s Magazine in 1898. The issue with the article over the years is a perceived ambiguity, with some of his descriptions being considered anti-Semitic generalizations. The show does not clarify the fact that Clemens was not anti-Semitic at all. Barilla’s depiction of Twain is uneven, with an indifferent reading of lines in one scene and an overacted presentation in a later scene.

In the scenes that include different groupings of the famous personages listed above, the discussions with and without Schiff’s presence cover issues of morality, nationalism, and philanthropy. They also explore the varying attitudes towards immigration, anti-Ssemitism, philanthropy, war, and America’s role as a “Promised Land” for Jews and others. There are moments in the scenes with Schiff when Donato seems emotionally detached from the words being spoken, giving the reading a flat affect.

The majority of the show covers the years 1903 to 1908, with a series of vignettes superficially covering that period and Schiff’s support of the Russo-Japanese War. The connection to the events in Russia is only loosely covered, with exchanges that indicate the Imperial Russian government’s indifference to the plight of the Jews. This perceived indifference is what led Schiff to his support of Japan in its war with Imperial Russia.

A number of additional characters appear during the interactions concerning the lead-up to the Russo-Japanese War and the events of the war. Three represent the Czarist Russian government including Ambassador Cassini, given a solid characterization by Notkin, who also represents the Czarist government in several scenes involving the treatment of Jews in Czarist Russia. The other characters are Minister Plehve and Minister Witte, who Barilla and Sheppard effectively embody.

Three other characters are more central to the Russo-Japanese war discussion: William Randolph Hearst, Jack London, and Baron Takahashi (Shuhei Kinoshita). Meth and Perry give Hearst and London believable presentations, and Kinoshita provides a solid presentation of Takahashi as the representative of the Imperial Japanese government.

There are a number of problems with these vignettes, ranging from the individual characterizations of the men involved to the superficial nature of the historical details of the events being discussed. Sheppard overacts in portraying O. Henry as a barely coherent alcoholic. It is not credible that a person as “drunk” as O. Henry would be engaged in any serious discussion with the likes of Mark Twain and William Hearst, let alone Teddy Roosevelt or even Schiff.

The performances don’t engage the viewer to care about who the characters are or what they have to say. In a number of the scenes, the dialogue seems contrived to present a particular socio-political viewpoint without any explication or depth.

The last three scenes, which take place in 1917, chronicle the Russian Revolution in passing. They suggest Schiff’s material support for some of the groups that had been working to overthrow the Czar but do not give any detail as to who the groups were or what support he provided.

An exchange with Congressman Albert Johnson, from Washington State, about the Immigration Act of 1917 that Johnson was instrumental in having President Wilson’s veto overridden presents the anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic views that would lead to the exclusion of Jews for 20 years with the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924. Perry depicts this character as a Southern racist, although Johnson was born in Illinois and lived in Washington state.

The last discussion is brief, with Nathan telling Schiff about Lord Balfour announcing the British government’s support for Palestine to become a homeland for people of the Jewish faith, achieving a first step in Nathan’s Zionist beliefs.

While showing the actions of Jacob Schiff in support of Czarist Russian Jewry and his efforts giving material support to the overthrow of the Russian Czar, this production does not achieve the level of dramatic impact that this man and his story deserve.

Lytza Colon and Mark Marcante’s set design is a realistic depiction of Jacob Schiff’s office and President Theodore Roosevelt’s home office. Props are used with projections to effectively depict other scenes, such as a table in a tavern. The lighting and sound design by Brian Park supports the settings and the movement of the action. Original music by Ljova Zhurbin works well with the projections at the back of the stage. Natalia Danilova’s costume design effectively defines the characters’ personalities and the time periods being depicted.

A Shift of Opinion (through January 5, 2025)

Theater for the New City

The Johnson Theater, 155 First Avenue, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit https://ci.ovationtix.com/35441/production/1218290

Running time: one hour and 45 minutes without an intermission