Willi Graf (Cole Thompson, left) and Christoph Probst (Kennedy Kanagawa, right) look on as Sophie Scholl (Jo Ellen Pellman) names their resistance group “The White Rose,“ for the flower she holds.
Those reflecting on history often use a wide brush and focus on major figures to the exclusion of perhaps less renowned but significant players. Hitler, the Nazi war machine, and concentration camps are front of mind as regards World War II in Europe, but how many people remember dissidents and resistance from within Germany? The White Rose, one such resistance group, presented a credible threat to Nazi lies, propaganda, and blind devotion to the Führer. Brian Belding’s White Rose: The Musical is an homage to some of those “good Germans” who risked their lives and paid the ultimate price for defying Hitler and his henchmen.
Willi listens to Kurt Haber (Paolo Montalban, right), his professor, who is grappling with life under fascism. Photographs by Russ Rowland.
A group of idealistic University of Munich students are frustrated about the Nazis’ policies and brutality. Led by Sophie Scholl (Jo Ellen Pellman), her brother Hans (Mike Cefalo), friends Christoph Probst (Kennedy Kanagawa) and Willi Graf (Cole Thompson), they express their disgust with Hitler and the Third Reich. Hans, Willi, and Christoph, conscripted as medics, witness but decry violence and atrocities. Willi sings: “Good moral people like us, / could forget what was right and what’s wrong. I don’t care what they say, don’t care what they do, ’cause there’s no hope that’s left for me or for you.”
His attitude is comprehensible when Christoph explains to Sophie how Willi was deployed to Poland’s Warsaw Ghetto and witnessed rampant murder there. Willi vividly recounts:
The girl in the Warsaw Ghetto clutching her doll. … The soldiers laughed and ripped the girl from her mother’s arms. … A pistol was then brought to the girl’s tiny head. I still hear it. The gunshot. The laughter. I know what evil sounds like.
Sophie Scholl is the catalyst for the group’s call to action against the Third Reich, although her father, not seen onstage, has been arrested. Her brother Hans, an ex-Hitler Youth member, and Willi have also been in trouble with the authorities. Lila, (Laura Sky Herman), is a Jewess on the run, who leaves the group a mimeograph machine and a white rose outside her abandoned store. Unwittingly, Lila has given the group its name—the White Rose.
Kurt Huber (Paolo Montalban), their anti-fascist philosophy professor, encourages Sophie. He sings, “You need inspiration and now you have a choice, / I think I can help you to find your own voice.” The students and Huber unite as the White Rose. Despite the clear risk to them all (especially married father Probst), the group reproduces and randomly disseminates anti-Nazi leaflets, which publicize Hitler’s madness and disregard for millions of victims.
“Sophie Scholl is the catalyst for the group’s call to action against the Third Reich, although her father ... has been arrested. ”
There are 19 songs in this 90-minute show. Although some cast members—in particular, Pellman, Cefalo, and Montalban—have powerful voices, the singing is at times uneven, and some of the lyrics repetitive. In addition, the flow of the narrative is occasionally hampered by the number and length of the songs. Nevertheless, the songs’ messages collectively reinforce the group’s anger, frustration, and commitment to their cause, which Sophie pushes to the next level of resistance.
Policeman Frederick Fisher (Sam Gravitte), Sophie’s ex-boyfriend and Hans’s former best friend, whom Huber expelled to save him from arrest, intervenes on Sophie’s behalf when she risks arrest and warns her to be careful. The danger reaches a climax, and the efficacy of James Noone’s set and Sophia Choi’s precise Nazi-era costuming heighten the drama after the Scholl siblings empty a suitcase full of leaflets over the balcony in the university. They are subsequently caught and tried, and the Nazi puppet judge’s blood-red robes and black hat make him look more like a devil than a judge.
Frederick Fischer (Sam Gravitte, right) tries to convince Sophie (Pellman) to leave Germany with him.
Belding’s script jumps from the Scholls’ balcony scene to the courtroom verdict. In doing so, the play seems to miss a beat. Despite that, the final scene, where Sophie, Hans, and Christoph smoke cigarettes and bravely prepare for the guillotine, within a few minutes of one another, is quite moving.
The White Rose is generally well written, ably performed, and worth seeing. Although the subject matter can hardly be described as enjoyable, its salience in today’s geopolitical climate and its theatrical significance are undeniable.
White Rose: The Musical runs through March 31 at Theatre Row’s Theatre 3. Performances are at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and at 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Matinees are at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. For more information, or to purchase tickets, contact the box office at (212) 713-2442, ext. 45, or email boxoffice@theatrerow.org.
Book & Lyrics: Brian Belding
Music: Natalie Brice
Music Direction, Supervision & Arrangements: Sheela Ramesh
Orchestrations: Charlie Rosen
Movement Direction: Jordan Ryder
Director: Will Nunziata
Scenic Design: James Noone
Lighting Design: Alan C. Edwards
Costume Design: Sophia Choi
Hair & Wig Design: Liz Printz
Sound Design: Elizabeth Weidner
Projection Design: Caite Hevner
