Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story at Theater J

Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story

Theater J
1529 Sixteenth Street, NW Washington

Sex, religion, and refugees-Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story has it all! A funny and edgy love story interwoven with a high-energy klezmer concert; this folk musical is inspired by the true tale of two Jewish Romanian refugees finding love on the shores of Canada in 1908. Featuring a spectacular performance by genre-bending Canadian sensation Ben Caplan, Old Stock has been wildly popular with audiences and critics alike across Canada, Great Britain, and in New York, and now makes its long-awaited DC debut.

Thru - Sep 25, 2022

Show Type: Comedy/Drama

Box Office: 202-777-3210

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Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story Reviews

Average Rating based on 4 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

Washington Post - Recommended

"...Playwright Hannah Moscovitch, drawing from her grandparents' real-life story, and songwriters Ben Caplan and Christian Barry have deftly calibrated the mix of cheer and grimness, crafting a chiaroscuro that is life-affirming but rarely sentimental. Most appealingly, "Old Stock," directed by Barry, manages to stay bracingly quirky while feeling timely and resonant, reflecting the world's refugee crisis and headline-making xenophobia, bigotry and violence."

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- Celia Wren

DC Theater Arts - Recommended

"...On stage, the large, bushy-bearded, Caplan is a non-stop whirlwind of what he has called “bombast, energy, [and] exuberance.” With a strong, sometimes gravelly, wide-ranging voice, and rapid, agile movement around the stage, Caplan delivers with equal conviction and effectiveness songs ranging from the polemically angry “Plough the Shit” to the quiet, tender “Lullaby,” a song of peace as much for parents as for children. “Lullaby” is a fine example of Caplan’s impressive skill as a lyricist: “And the sun will shine in the ocean tonight, and the cool of the water makes everything right. The ocean once dreamed it could shine up above, but protecting, reflecting, the sun is enough.”"

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- Bob Ashby

MD Theatre Guide - Highly Recommended

"...A dark, wonderful, and unusual musical graces Theater J at the Edlavitch DCJCC this month. “Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story” threads the relationship of two refugee Romanian Jews in Canada between high-energy Klezmer music, a musical tradition from Central and Eastern European Ashkenazi Jews."

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- Charlotte Selton

BroadwayWorld - Recommended

"...This season's opening production, Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story, is based on playwright Hannah Moscovitch's paternal family's journey from Romania to Canada in 1908, and the new life they built in their new land. Following Chaim, a young man who lost his family in the Pogroms, and Chaya, a young woman who lost her husband during her family's escape from Romania to Russia, Old Stock traces their stories as refugees and as a young couple, navigating the intricacies of finding one's place in the world and within the relationships that define us."

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- Rachael F. Goldberg

Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story at Theater J