How to Handle a Difficult Topic on Broadway (And How Not To): Giant Vs. Fear of 13

I’m back! For those of you just joining, my name is Miren. I’m a teenager born and raised in Manhattan who absolutely loves Broadway, and here on Encore By Miren, I share my unfiltered takes on the latest shows, interview people from the industry (coming soon!!) and give you a look at Broadway from the

perspective of an NYC teen!

Today we have two plays to review, both closing this week. Giant and Fear of 13 address serious issues that feature prominently in the news these days touching on larger societal questions about criminal justice and anti semitism. These shows handle these themes in completely opposite ways so let’s get into it.

Giant

This show tackles a massive, and very nuanced and important topic but, honestly, it left me wishing for a lot more complexity. It’s a snapshot of a moment in time in the life of Roald Dahl, the celebrated children's author l in the 1980s, right as he gets caught up in a controversy after writing a book review where he is very critical about Israel’s actions during the 1982 war with Lebanon. When people call him out for his generalization of all Jewish people, and the hurt that it caused his Jewish readers, he doubles down into a tirade of disgusting, blatant anti-semitism.

Background

The show follows Dahl during the time he is writing The Witches and right before he publishes Matilda (which, as we all know are some of his biggest books). When he writes an offensive book review, a Jewish publicist who grew up admiring his work comes to him to help him clarify his statement, giving him the benefit of the doubt. But Dahl is incredibly stubborn and refuses to apologize. After hours, he agrees to apologize, but then later and calls a newspaper directly and proceeds to make deeply anti-Semitic statements, clarifying his position in hatred.

What I liked about this show is how it forces you to think about a massive question: Can we actually separate the art from the artist? Our beliefs completely influence our art, so his bigotry definitely leaked into his work in some regard. This question is interesting to think about, even today when we see celebrities who espouse questionable ideals like JK Rowling or Kanye West) yet produce amazing pieces of art. Can you still like a song or a book by a person whose morals and ideals are diametrically opposed from your own?

What Didn't Work

This is a two-hour show that is incredibly talky. I understand this isn’t a musical but between the English accents and the non stop dialogue, you really felt the minutes ticking by. In all honesty, half of the first act could have been completely cut. It absolutely could have been shortened into a punchy, one act play.

But the biggest fault of the show? It completely missed the opportunity to drive its most important point home! The play ends right after he makes that terrible phone call to the newspaper without talking about the aftermath at all... In real life, absolutely nothing happened to Dahl after this, which is the main idea of the show! He still went on to publish Matilda and remain a beloved household name. When Dahl is mentioned today, the LAST thing people think of is his prejudice.

As a teenager on the internet, we see people in the media today are called out for their unjust behavior all the time, so I found it incredibly frustrating that the show totally ignores the sheer injustice of how he got away with such blatant bigotry. It really highlights how society treats anti-semitism differently. The show could have been so much more poignant and deep if it actually emphasized that lack of accountability, especially since these themes are so relevant to what's happening in the world today.

Overall…

Giant had the potential to be a powerful observation on Dahl and the disconnect between the man and his work and how they did or did not affect his legacy, but instead, it felt a bit boring and missed the mark on its most necessary message. It’s a fascinating history lesson, but it just wasn't as deep or as impactful as it wanted to be.

Rating: 5/10

Part 2: Fear of 13

The Plot

This show is about a man named Nick who gets wrongfully jailed and convicted for a homicide. He was sexually assaulted as a child, which led him into a path of drugs, alcohol, and petty theft. He went to jail for stealing cars, but he desperately wanted to get out, so when the police asked him if he knew anything about a certain murder case, he lied and said he knew something when he didn't.

Because his story didn't add up, they tried to pin the murder on him. Even though there was no DNA evidence or anything connecting him to the crime, he was sent to jail for life and put on death row.

Most of the play focuses on the love story between Nick and a woman who visits him in jail as a volunteer for the Innocence Project. She works hard to reopen his case and prove his innocence, using DNA to prove he didn't do it. But it takes over 10 years for the results to come. By that time, she reaches a breaking point and leaves him.

Nick finally gets out 5 years after she leaves, but never sees her again since she has moved on and started a new life.

Redemption

What makes this play so poignant is that it deals with a very real topic and puts a spotlight on the injustices of the criminal justice system. It really begs the question: Is it better for someone who has been caught up in a life or crime to go to jail rather than to be rehabilitated?

The show makes you realize how jail is not rehabilitative. It doesn't address the root cause of the crime, which is often that people are in dire circumstances and don't have enough money or resources to get the help they need. Instead, the experience of going to jail only breaks someone down further, crippling them to the point where they are unable to function when they get out.

Many of these people get jailed when they are teenagers or young adults before they have lived their lives. They get out when they are 40 and don't have the skills to make a living, finish high school, or go to college. Because they don't know anything else and can't get a job, a lot of them end up breaking their parole or purposely reoffending just to go back to jail.

This play does an amazing of addressing these issues and humanizing Nick, (through both Adrien Brody’s wonderful performance and seeing him through the eyes of this volunteer). There is usually little sympathy for people deemed to be criminals, as they usually cannot be separated from their crimes.

Ultimately, it forces you to think about whether people deserve redemption. We shouldn't condemn people to life in prison without the possibility of parole if they did something they could come back from. Our system is so backwards: so many people who do terrible things aren’t given enough time in jail, and so many people are given too much for minor crimes. People with the privilege of wealth like Ghislaine Maxwell and P Diddy get reduced sentences and the privilege of low-security prisons where they get to ride horses and do arts and crafts. Meanwhile those who do not have the financial means or afford the best legal counsel are often sent to prison for crimes they didn’t commit or given sentences that have no connection to the nature of their crimes. It makes you rethink the death penalty, given that many people who receive it are in fact innocent.

The most surreal part of this show is that it is based on a true story, and the man whose story it is, Nick Yarris, made it his mission to attend the performance every day. I actually saw him sitting in the audience, and only realized it during the bows!

Overall…

Giant had the potential to be a powerful observation on Roald Dahl as a flawed figure whose morals cast a shadow on his genius, instead, it felt a bit boring and missed the mark on its most necessary message. It’s a fascinating history lesson, but it just wasn't as deep or as impactful as it wanted to be.

Unlike Giant, which missed the mark on its message, Fear of 13 was incredibly poignant and did an amazing job highlighting the real flaws in our criminal justice system while completely humanizing the people inside it. It makes me super sad that Fear of 13 is closing on the 28th— it should definitely run for longer!

Final ratings:

Giant: 5/10

Fear of 13: Rating: 8.5/10