Handling a heavy subject matter with a delicate touch is no easy feat. By the mere act of dipping toes into a controversial topic, large portions of the audience can become alienated. Leave it to the exceptionally powerful new play, Here There Are Blueberries, to retell a true story using authenticity and actual photographic visual aids in a deeply affecting way. The takeaways are so dramatically potent that it’s hard to imagine anyone who watches it not being affected in some way. With an excellent ensemble cast, a disturbing visual element, and immersive storytelling and monologues, Here There Are Blueberries is some of the most powerful theatre I’ve seen all year.
What’s in a photograph? Around the time when World War II began, the advent and accessibility of portable cameras brought a whole new way to catalog one’s life. In an introduction by Brandon Flynn and Michelle Beck, we learn the true importance of cameras throughout history. Once the ensemble emerges, the entire stage opens up to reveal an intimate set with screens and archival tables bathed in overhead lights. We are then immersed in the throughline of this story: U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, one which receives constant submissions and carefully curates its items, has just been gifted a rather controversial piece. This collection of photographs is said to be from the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp. This notorious death camp located in Southern Poland killed over a million Jewish people from 1940-1945. Very few individuals were put to labor within the complex, with a vast majority sentenced to death for merely being deemed unuseful. In a shocking surprise, the discovered photos, however, do not depict any prisoners at the camp. Instead, they appear to be an intimate collection of private photographs that catalog the life of the Nazi soldiers in their leisure time.
This real life 2007 event sparked further interest in the Holocaust, and moreover, painted a compelling portrait of a moral quandary. Were the stories of these Nazi soldiers as vital as the Jewish prisoners that they killed? What could be gained from viewing matters through the eyes of the Nazis? It turns out that the answer is a whole lot more complicated than it would initially appear. Many people wish to view the Nazi regime as strictly horrible, irredeemable monsters with zero humanity. But by seeing these people and how they function within their own family unit puts a different perspective into motion. A gaggle of women called Helferin were involved at early ages, and appear equally complicit. In fact, hundreds of women served as guards, radio operators, nurses, and secretaries within the larger framework of the SS operation. How aware were these Nazis of what they were actually doing at this concentration camp? Should the descendants of horrible men be destined to inherit the same awful traits as their poor fathers? The show presents all kinds of compelling arguments and points of interest, using the words of historians and holocaust experts, survivors and descendants, German war criminals and trial dialogue. Here There Are Blueberries even goes into the complexities of discovering a family member has secretly served under the fascist regime.
Not a single one of the questions posed has an easy answer. Atrocities occurred, and people carried out these horrible deeds in record numbers. But it didn’t just take one person to carry out the horrific executions. The play, written by Amanda Gronich and Moisés Kaufman, goes to great lengths in not only revealing more detail about the everyday life of a Nazi soldier and the shocking ways they would unwind, but it refuses to sugarcoat the actual deeds that occurred as well. There’s a reason the genocide of the holocaust continues to be one of the biggest hot button issues in American history nearly a century removed. It’s hard to wrap one’s head around the ability of people to compartmentalize their own feelings about a subject. How can we come to terms with individuals who would rather destroy a problem than figure out how to solve it? Some concepts and ideas here are not so far removed from our current reality. In the show’s words, a genocide doesn’t start from actions, but from words. People’s minds are malleable, and their actions often unfathomable. If we try to assess the motives behind certain people‘s actions in the grand scheme of things, a sheep mentality could emerge that is even more chilling to the bone. Perhaps they did this just because they believed in their country, and nothing more.
While its morals and actual content are ferociously upsetting and often disturbing, the ensemble is more than up for the task of delivering the material. The most successful among the cast are able to slip into various characters to fill in the pieces. The moments when the cast adds their own extra bit of sound effects to the proceedings add yet another layer of immersion. Brandon Flynn plays piano accordion, and also delivers one of the show’s most potent monologues as grandson of the infamous Rudolf Höss. Conrad Ricamora is also quite good as Tilman Taube, who recognizes his grandfather within the collection. Kathleen Chalfant effortlessly plays Judy Cohen, director of the museum’s photographic collection. But the star player here is Delia Cunningham. As Rebecca Erbelding, the lead archivist of the collection was a stellar choice for an audience surrogate. Cunningham also delivers a searing emotional suckerpunch in the finale as a Holocaust survivor with a decidedly different set of photographs. Cunningham is practically revelatory, feeling just on the verge of tears as she unpacks the wild complexities of her character’s discoveries. The show also really does make full use of these photographs, highlighting the real people from within, and blowing up the photographs to extra large size on their screens to assess and review. Even when the historians are reviewing the content, we get to see up close and personal every single detail they are looking at.
The show remains firmly grounded in reality, while brief spurts of narration helped to drive home some of the broader themes and ideas. It never feels preachy, but instead incredibly vulnerable and authentic. These were real people, with real lives, and real photographs nakedly depict their activities without making it black and white. This would make a particularly excellent field trip show for students studying World War II or the Holocaust. It’s not an easy watch by any means, and the more sensitive in the audience may likely be driven to tears. The human element is what works so well and keeps the subject matter grounded in honesty. With a bevy of shows on Broadway, Here There Are Blueberries stands out as a riveting, documentary-style play that demands to be seen, and never backs down from answering difficult questions. Despite the obviousness of culpability and the race-driven hatred at its core, there’s much to be said about director Moisés Kaufman’s approach to depicting this story on the stage. With plenty to unpack and a haunting, unforgettable finale, Here There Are Blueberries is a true masterclass.
Here There Are Blueberries takes a snapshot of the past, now playing performances on Broadway through January 10th, 2027. For ticketing information, head over to the official website.
