Awake and Sing

The New York Times has deemed this extraordinary collection to be "the crown jewels of public and network television>"

Walter Matthau heads the cast of this television re-creation of Clifford Odets' 1935 hit Broadway play- the first-full-length work performed on the commercial stage by the legendary Group Theatre. This portrait of a Jewish family in a Bronx tenement perfectly captures the spirit of the Depression years, and is suffused with details of character and place that combine to be affecting even now. The Bergers, burdened by financial difficulties, have taken in a boarder- Moe Axelrod (Matthau)- who lost his leg in World War I. Cynical and outspoken, Moe adds a spark to the somewhat accepting lives of the Bergers. The family fights to survive on sixteen dollars a week while the intellectual, Marxist-leaning grandfather (brilliantly played by famed Yiddish star, Leo Fuchs) tries futilely to spur his family to action with the injunction, "Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust." (Isaiah 26:19)