Shawshank Redeems YCDS

Melodrama at its best, YCDS presented The Shawshank Redemption to the greater Yeshiva community earlier this month. The Shawshank Redemption is a story of hope, the lack thereof, and finally redemption.

Andy Dufresne, an honest banker, is incarcerated for the alleged murder of his wife and her lover. During his sentence, he befriends Red who represents the illegal black market of the prison. Andy soon learns he can manipulate the system using banking skills to survive the harsh prison life. Andy fights desperately against the corrupt prison system to realize that "hope is a good thing...and no good thing ever dies," finally escaping through a back door he created through years of work in his cell. The escape route led to a pool of feces and eventually freedom.

The performances of Andy (Joshua Summers) and Red (Yaacov Silberman) instilled hope in the entire audience. The bond created between Red and Andy in the original Steven King novella was felt within the onstage relationship of Silberman and Summers.

Red carried the play on his shoulders as the story’s narrator, as well as leader of the inmates. His passion from the play’s start set the tone for the entire production.

Noam Greenberg portrayed a harsh Warden Samuel Norton, a scholar of corruption who managed to amass a minor fortune before being ruined financially and emotionally, eventually leading to the simple decision to take his own life before being subjected to the same brutal treatment he had enforced on others in Shawshank.

Ben Franz was masterful in his portrayal of Brooks, the Shawshank librarian and birdkeeper extraordinaire. Hadar Weiss powerfully played a man whose word was law as Captain Hadley. Though his performance seemed almost comical at times, his night stick restored order on the cast and crowd. Joey London’s performace was stellar, as he successfully portrayed a young man willing to trade in experience in crime for a GED under the tutelage of Andy.

The inmates were a collective group of crazies portrayed as such by a cornucopia of student personalities, and the Shaw-shank guards were well positioned throughout the play.

While the cast certainly acted to their potential, and then way over and above, it was the lovable staples of all YCDS productions, that gave Shawshank the Beukas Signature. Intricate lighting schemes added immensely to the truly wonderful set which successfully accommodated each of the play’s eight different scenes. Fading to black was commonplace within the play, properly delineating one scene from another. Cast members utilized the entire Schottenstein Theatre as their stage, weaving in and out of the audience enhancing the overall comfort of all in attendance. Special effects included the increasingly popular smoke clouds, and a glass bottle which shattered over Rooster’s head for a terrific effect minus the black and blue.

The show ended with a YCDS special effects triumph. As the floodwaters opened in the play’s final scene, the rain prompted a standing ovation.

Overall, Shawshank was truly one of the best shows produced by YCDS in recent times. Dr. Beukas and the entire student body should take pride in the performances of a truly talented cast and crew.

The direction was terrific, the casting, blocking, and lighting were simply excellent on all accounts. A success all around, The Shawshank Redemption will certainly go down in YCDS history.