Warsaw – A Musical Drama

-Act I-

Prologue, 1970s: Arie is practicing the Haftarah blessing for his Bar Mitzvah when he is interrupted by Papa, who gives him a family heirloom pocket watch. Papa begins to tell Arie the story of the family he lost in the war.

The stage transforms into the streets of Warsaw, August 1939 (Listen). Simon is urging his nephew Roman to take refuge in Hungary before war breaks out, but Roman is making plans to go to Palestine (Circling). He asks his gentile girlfriend Ana to marry him so they can leave together. But the invasion of Poland begins just as Roman is trying to get his family on a train out of the city, and they are trapped when Warsaw falls under siege. The Nazis take Warsaw and appoint Richter in charge of the city’s Jewish population (Let Them Believe).

Ana confronts Roman’s mother, Judith, who begins to understand Ana’s devotion to Roman (That’s the Moment). Jewish citizens discuss rumors of allied assistance and German plots (Rumors), while a wall is constructed around the ghetto (The Wall). Ana pledges herself of Roman as long as they are separated.

Benjamin, a Communist revolutionary, directs Roman to the ghetto crime boss, Strober, who can provide forged travel papers. Impressed by Roman, Strober hires him as a smuggler (Black Market). While leading a gang in smuggling food and supplies into the ghetto, Roman is caught and arrested by the Nazis. During Richter’s interrogation, Roman pretends to be a fool (Rozhinkes mit Mandlen). Ana, now Richter’s secretary, invents a distraction to help Roman escape.

Roman is surviving in the ghetto streets with his gang of smugglers when Simon comes in search of him. Richter discovers Simon on the streets and executes him.

Roman hides among a group of Communist insurgents, including Benjamin and Franya (Communism). Franya reveals to Roman the massacre of 30,000 Jews at Babi Yar. Roman finally understands the Nazi plan and convinces Benjamin to help get his family out of Poland.

Roman returns for Ana (Lost in the Darkness). She warns him of the Nazi plan to deport the Jews. On the streets, Roman’s siblings are selected for deportation. Roman offers a soldier his savings in exchange for the children. The soldier orders Judith to select one child (How Can I Choose?). She saves Moishe and joins her other children on the train. Roman clings to Moishe as the train pulls away.

-Act II-

Ana is caught stealing from Richter’s office – what we later discover to be a map to help Roman. She is caught by a soldier, but seduces him in order to escape.

Roman has resigned himself to fate (Stars) when Benjamin and Franya are brought to the ghetto after being caught trying to leave Poland. They reveal their discovery of the gas chambers in Treblinka. Roman rallies his friends to resist (A Revelation).

When Nazis enter the ghetto for another round of deportations, a small group of resistance fighters, led by Franya, overcome the soldiers with gunfire. In their first small victory they chase the Nazi soldiers from the ghetto.

Strober offers his spacious underground bunker as shelter for the resistance. Ana, who has been hiding there, gives Roman the map of the sewers she stole from Richter. She agrees to go into hiding on the Aryan side to wait for Roman (In Jerusalem). In a moment of peace, three of the female fighters recall their carefree lives before the war (Don’t You Remember). The resistance learns to fight with their meager and rudimentary weapons (We Want It More). Prepared for battle, they pray for strength (Two Prayers). The Nazi soldiers at last march into the ghetto and are overpowered. The Jews reclaim the ghetto and raise the Jewish flag in celebration.

After holding out for a month, the resistance is weakening (Let Them Burn). When Richter discovers their bunker, Roman surrenders himself to give the others time to escape into the sewers. Roman is killed (In Jerusalem reprise).

His story done, Papa asks Arie to recite the Haftarah blessing for him again. The spirits of Judith, the children and Roman watch over him proudly (Once Upon a Time).