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Beate Hein Bennett
Life on the
Outskirts of Society January 8 – January 25,
2026 On the surface, the two chamber pieces by Leonard Lehrman have little in common in terms of plot and style, except both are works of music theatre. While “Sima” is a chamber opera with multiple characters and a small orchestra on stage, “E.G.” is a monodrama about Emma Goldman accompanied by a sole pianist who duologues with E.G. as her various lovers. The plot of “Sima” is an imaginary story about Sima, a poor Jewish girl that has been orphaned, like many other children, during a 1905 pogrom in the Ukraine. A wealthy Jewish couple, factory owner Yakov Krasovitsky and wife Regina, come to the orphanage to adopt one of the children. Regina is the motivating force behind the adoption attempt—in fact she tries to motivate other wives in her social circle to do the same--while the husband is more hesitant because he has other problems, namely revolutionary stirrings within his factory. The plot of “E.G.” takes us through the actual life journey of protest, rebellion, and forced exile of Emma Goldman (1869-1940), told largely in her own words. The production augments the story of E.G., as she referred to herself, with projections of archival photos and materials. Both works have had a separate performance history, dating back some forty years, but have never been performed in New York City until Crystal Field and TNC invited Mr. Lehrman to do both in tandem. The timeliness of both works is palpable, given our present political climate.
There are some common threads or motifs that run through both works. First of all, it is the undercurrent of social unrest and the struggle against the injustices foisted upon the weaker members of society. These injustices take the form of social oppression through prejudicial laws and economic oppression through unequal opportunities, resulting in persistent poverty. “Sima” is based on the historic fact of violent pogroms against Jews during Czarist Russia that led to mass displacement and migrations, mostly to America which saw a large increase in the Jewish population in the 19th and early 20th century until the US government instituted a harsh quota against immigration from Russia and eastern Europe, retained throughout the 20th century, often with tragic results, especially during the Holocaust years in Europe. Emma Goldman immigrated to the US from Russia in 1885/86 and settled with her family in Rochester, NY where her father functioned as an orthodox rabbi. While she eked out a living as a 16 year-old seamstress, she began to distance herself from her orthodox family and, provoked by the injustice and the violence wrought against workers in the increasingly industrialized capitalistic economy, she began to join anarchist leaning organizations, often led by charismatic personalities, chief among them her long-time lover and friend, Alexander “Sasha” Berkman. Thus Mr. Lehrman and his librettist Karen Ruoff Kramer for “E.G.” center both works on the perennial struggle against social injustice and the problem of finding solutions. “Sima” portrays the bumbling personal attempt at alleviating the pain of social outcasts, namely children orphaned by violence, perhaps triggered by a well-meaning but ultimately unsuccessful sentimental and weak motivation. “E.G.” presents Emma Goldman as a hard-nosed fighter who never flinched in her march toward progress, albeit she was ultimately unsuccessful against the government. The US deported her in 1919, and she went first to Bolshevik Russia where she realized quite quickly that she would not survive. Thus she became a person without a country, deported, exiled, and legally stateless. Mr. Lehrman and Ms. Kramer set “E.G.” in 1933 in St. Tropez where she had found some refuge but she felt the need to go “home” which for her was the US. While the performance of “Sima” with a cast of seven characters and a children’s chorus of ten orphans plus an orchestra of ten musicians, led by Mr. Lehrman on the piano, and directed by Lissa Moira was perhaps too ambitious a project given (probably) limited rehearsal time, the attempt is nonetheless admirable. (I saw the first performance which was probably premature because it was marred by musical uncertainties with a complex score, and a singer/actor who was hampered in her portrayal of Regina, by not yet being off-book because of a short notice replacement.)
However, there were some very good performances: Young Hannah Grace Hollingsworth played the title character Sima with an assured grace and considerable emotional range. Perri Sussman sang and played Manya, the badgered Ukrainian maid to Regina, with a great range of expressivity and vocal strength. In a touching final aria, Manya is the one who accepts and shelters a frightened lost Sima. Samantha Long as Lyuba Borisovna, the supervisor of the orphanage, affects a strong emotional performance in guiding the children.
The choristers, performed by children of various ages, worked hard at being individuals while at the same time portraying their common fate with hope in their eyes and irrepressible life energy.
Bennett Pologe as the factory owner Yakov Krasovitsky, who is pre-occupied with his workers’ discontent and pre-revolutionary activities, presents a malleable husband to a domineering wife but he holds his own in a vocally complicated musical duo. Lytza Colon designed the sets, Marsh Shugart designed the lighting. Period costumes are by Billy Little. “E.G.” is definitely a star vehicle for superb Caryn Hartglass who presents the character of Emma Goldman as a formidable but engaging woman. While the chosen archival photographs of the historical E. G. project a rather dour looking woman with no apparent sense of humor, except for one photo of a young pretty Emma with a slight smile, Ms. Hartglass plays her with wit, grace, and an insouciant charm that makes her many love affairs quite credible. Also admirable is her vocal range and expressiveness that makes the mostly sung text feel natural to her character. She engages with the series of male characters in her life portrayed by Mr. Lehrman at the piano. He simply dons a different head cover, such as different yarmulkes, caps, and hats, or a scarf around his neck to indicate the various personalities. He is lively in his presence and obviously relishes playing the diverse characters, especially the lovers. It is a delightful portrayal of a complicated character in complicated times.
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