Elodie Benhamou (Irina Kaplan) launches into one of her long monologues as Molly (Casey Sacco) tries to follow along. (Photos by Magnus Stark)
What if you cannot be yourself without putting your safety or life in danger? Your instinct might be to turn to law enforcement, but when the threat is widespread, authority figures can only do so much. For many people today, this is the sad and sobering reality.
That is why Joshua Harmon’s poignant and eloquent, multi award-winning drama with dark humor, “Prayer for the French Republic,” is a vital play that audiences should experience.
The piece, which was extended during its New York productions and played to packed houses, is now playing in Coral Gables.
GableStage's production runS through Sunday, April 19 in the Wolfson Family Theatre next to the Biltmore Hotel.
Under Producing Artistic Director Bari Newport’s precise and sensitive direction, the production features a large, gifted cast and runs three and a half hours, including two intermissions. Despite the lengthy running time, the play is so compelling that you lose track of time and focus on the sympathetic characters and their plight. By the end, you feel you’ve known these people for years and are reluctant to leave.
The only shortcoming in an otherwise praiseworthy production is that the actors sound distinctly American, which slightly undercuts the Parisian setting.
Family members gather around Charles Benhamou (Stephen Trovillion) as he feels panicky. From left is Marcelle Salomon Benhamou (Elizabeth Price), Daniel Benhamou (Jeremy Sevelovitz), and Elodie Benhamou (Irina Kaplan). (Photo by Magnus Stark)
The piece alternates between a Parisian family in 2016–2017 and their ancestors in 1944–1946, with the production shifting gracefully between the two time periods. The Salomons/Benhamous are a mostly secular Jewish family forced to grapple with rising anti semitism after a family member is physically attacked because of his religion (he wears yarmulke), triggering a contentious debate over whether to flee to Israel.
In the contemporary timeline, the family confronts modern antisemitism, while in the earlier period, survivors return in the aftermath of the Holocaust. In both cases, family members question whether they are truly safe. Yet, as tense as circumstances become, they lean on one another and their traditions to endure.
A major part of the family’s existence is their piano business, which has stood for more than 160 years and five generations despite harsh conditions. Undoubtedly, the Salomon family’s piano business is a survivor, as is the family itself and the Jewish people more broadly.
In GableStage’s production, a “Salomon” brand piano remains onstage throughout as a symbol of resilience, continuity, and tradition. In fact, it is one of the first elements that lighting designer Jessica Winward illuminates.
A recurring musical motif underscores much of the performance, with characters often speaking over soft music. This heightens the production’s spiritual dimension and further draws us into the characters’ world.
The behind-the-scenes artists are equally deserving of accolades. They include scenic designer Frank J. Oliva, whose wide, detailed period set evokes an expensive home occupied by a well-to-do family.
Winward’s evocative lighting, Marina Pareja’s period costumes, and Sean McGinley’s crisp and clear sound design are also production strong points. Jamie Godwin’s projection design includes artwork that’s occasionally hard to make out, but Godwin helps flesh out the scenic design by including backdrops that clearly place the production in Paris.
Daniel Benhamou (Jeremy Sevelovitz) pauses during a scene from "Prayer for the French Republic" at GableStage. (Photos by Magnus Stark)
One reason the play is compelling is that Harmon doesn’t merely offer a dry history lesson. Indeed, the playwright presents a human story that tackles themes resonating especially in today’s climate, marked by increasing antisemitism, divisiveness, war, and violent attacks that have left many on edge. Without offering easy answers or preaching, “Prayer for the French Republic” explores antisemitism across generations, family dynamics, identity and belonging, safety, family resilience and tradition, and multigenerational trauma.
Harmon wastes little time before presenting the incident that drives the plot.
At the beginning of the play, in the 2016–17 timeline, young American cousin Molly (Casey Sacco) arrives in France to study abroad and connect with her distant relatives. GableStage’s production marks these laid-back opening moments with warmth and friendliness-moments that quickly give way to panic.
Shortly after Molly’s arrival, alarm sounds offstage: Daniel Benhamou (Jeremy Sevelovitz), a young math teacher who recently began wearing a yarmulke consistently, has been attacked while walking from school to the train station.
Blood stains his clothing and body. Though this is not the first time he has been struck, the severity of the incident forces the family to confront the rising antisemitism in their country. Marcelle (Elizabeth Price), Daniel’s high-strung mother, urges her son to stop making himself a target, while his father, Charles (Stephen Trovillion), suffers an anxiety attack after returning from synagogue and enduring hostile stares.
Irma Salomon (Patti Gardner) and Adolphe Salomon (Bruce Sabath) hold onto hope. (Photo by Magnus Stark)
Meanwhile, in 1944–46, family members who survived the Holocaust return home and face trauma and loss. Lucien Salomon (Jason Peck), son of Adolphe (Bruce Sabath) and Irma (Patti Gardner), survived but is deeply scarred. His wife and daughters were killed, and only his son Pierre (Holden Peck) survived; another child went missing, while daughter Jacqueline escaped to Cuba.
The parallels between the World War II-era scenes and the modern timeline are unmistakable: prejudice persists, shaping lives across generations.
Themes of identity and belonging extend to infighting within the Jewish family. Molly, for example, criticizes Daniel and others for holding beliefs or taking actions that make her feel less proud of her faith and heritage.
Also, during a family Seder-a Jewish ritual meal during Passover- Patrick (Michael McKenzie), verbally attacks Daniel for becoming swept up in “this Jewish thing.”
The play juxtaposes such snide remarks against cherished traditions, including lighting candles for Shabbat, celebrating Hanukkah, and observing Passover. Under Newport’s direction, GableStage’s production imbues these rituals and ceremonies with reverence, reinforcing the ways that cultural practices anchor identity and family bonds.
One thing that’s unclear is the observance level of the family members living during 1944–46. Perhaps they want to make their rituals less obvious due to the ever-present threat of antisemitism. But their love for each other is crystal clear, as is their trauma, and their hope for better days.
There's sincere concern in Gardner's voice as Irma as she questions whether her teenage grandson, Pierre, needs medical attention after surviving the Holocaust. A mild argument escalates as Lucien briefly recounts the family’s losses, his anguish unmistakable as he punctuates his shouting by banging on a desk.
Jason Peck as Lucien Salomon and Bruce Sabath as Adolphe Salomon. (Photo by Magnus Stark)
Past and present converge at moments, as when young Pierre, with genuine emotion, encourages one of his 2016–17 relatives to reach out to his sister. It’s a touching moment that symbolically suggests the past endures. It’s heartening to see that Pierre not only survives into the modern era but also continued running the family business and refused to abandon it.
Don Bearden believably portrays the aging Pierre, lending him a contentedness that suggests he did the right thing by never leaving the business. He also conveys a moving gentleness and positivity that reassures Marcelle, his daughter, that she is not abandoning him at the end.
Price injects Marcelle with credible intensity while remaining entirely natural. When she’s upset, her voice rises, and her gestures and facial expressions reveal her struggle to remain in control. Price’s smile conveys subtlety, whether her character is genuinely pleased or masking discomfort. Her adamancy never suggests hostility toward her family; her love for them shines through in every moment.
Stephen Trovillion endows Marcelle’s husband, Charles, with an easygoing aura during laid-back scenes, such as one in which he prepares jelly donuts for Hanukkah. His calm, quiet voice, along with his relaxed posture and mannerisms, suggests a man at ease. Trovillion makes this demeanor contrast markedly with Charles’s state during an anxiety attack.
Shortly after returning from synagogue with Daniel, he can barely move-bending over, appearing to choke, and gasping for breath. The moment feels so real that you worry about him.
In another moment, Trovillion’s Charles erupts, his raised voice conveying a mix of anxiety and anger as he desperately insists that the family move to Israel to be safer. While we sense his dread, we feel some ourselves. We know that as dangerous as things might seem for Charles at the moment, the play takes place before the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks. This lends his fear an added layer of dramatic irony for contemporary audiences.
Patrick Salomon, Marcelle’s brother, also serves as the show’s narrator. In this role, Michael McKenzie, with wavy gray hair and dressed in a dark suit, projects a pleasant, professorial air, like an enthusiastic academic eager to share his family’s story with the audience. As Marcelle’s confrontational brother, however, McKenzie’s Patrick delivers biting sarcasm, while adopting a more understated, wry tone as the narrator.
Patti Gardner as Irma Salomon and Jason Peck as Lucien Salomon. (Photo by Magnus Stark)
Jeremy Sevelovitz radiates charm and conviviality as Daniel, a young man whose easygoing nature suggests he did not initiate the conflict that leaves him blood-stained. While the performer convincingly conveys Daniel’s laid-back demeanor, we never underestimate his convictions. Sevelovitz also shares strong chemistry with Casey Sacco as Molly, making us root for the pair to remain together.
Sacco portrays Molly as a mild-mannered young woman with an endearing eagerness to learn and explore life. She imbues the character with a sensitivity and inexperience that distinguish her from Elodie Benhamou, Marcelle’s volatile and opinionated daughter, who struggles with manic depression.
Irina Kaplan fully commits to Elodie’s eccentricity. It is not an easy role; the actor must deliver lengthy, rapid-fire monologues about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other weighty topics with clarity and precision, and Kaplan proves consistently up to the task. Wild-eyed, with mussed blondish hair, her Elodie sometimes seems to have just rolled out of bed after a long night. Yet when needed, Kaplan sharpens her delivery, sounding coherent and self-assured-even arrogant-as she launches into impassioned arguments, seemingly unaware she may be overwhelming her listener.
“Prayer for the French Republic” can feel like a heavy play, but Harmon, a playwright known for his sharp-tongued work and writing about uncomfortable truths, leavens the dark material with enough hope and humor to make the piece palatable.
The ending, underscored by soft music as the characters leave their beloved home with suitcases in hand, evokes the conclusion of “Fiddler on the Roof,” in which danger similarly forces families to uproot. Yet these characters retain a deep pride in their French identity, expressed in a stirring rendition of the national anthem with “Les Misérables”-like fervor.
In the end, the optimism and resilience of the younger and older generations, which include Irma and her husband, Adolphe (a soft-hearted Bruce Sabath), remind us that even during dire times, tradition, love, and courage persist and endow us with the strength to carry on.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: GableStage’s production of Joshua Harmon’s play, “Prayer for the French Republic.”WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 2 p.m. Wednesday and Sunday. 1 p.m., Saturday. Through Sunday, April 19.
WHERE: GableStage in the Biltmore Hotel, 1200 Anastasia Ave., Coral Gables
TICKETS: $65 and $75 including fees.
INFORMATION: (305) 445-1119 or visit www.gablestage.org.
