"The Chosen" at the Cleveland Playhouse

The Cleveland Playhouse's new production of "The Chosen," based on Chaim Potok's bestselling novel, is a humorous, poignant, and sometimes very moving story of two teenage boys growing up during the 1940s in a mostly Jewish neighborhood of Brooklyn. However, within that neighborhood there was a vast spectrum of beliefs. Reuven Malter (played by Jeremy Rishe) is the son of a liberal writer; Danny Saunders (Andrew Pastides) is the son of a Chasidic rabbi. The boys, outwardly seem to have little in common. Yet a deep friendship develops--one that will help them through the angst and confusion of growing up. The story, narrated by a grown-up Reuven (Adam Richman, pictured above) follows the boys from the schoolyard ballfield to success in college.

Though "The Chosen" centers around two Jewish families, the tight, well-choreographed play has something for non-Jews to appreciate as well. The theme is universal--that human beings have much more in common than we often realize at first glance. The play both begins and ends with the Hebrew phrase that translates "Both these...and those...are the words of the Living God." A contradictory phrase at the beginning of the play, but one that has meaning by the time the play's final words are spoken. "The Chosen" is another solid production by the Cleveland Playhouse.

"The Chosen" runs until November 25 at the Playhouse's Drury Theater. Tickets start at $38. Student tickets start are just $10.

^{(photo credit: Steven Mastroianni/courtesy of the Cleveland Playhouse)}