slam frank
Music and Lyrics by Andrew Fox; Book by Joel Sinensky; Directed by Sam Lafrage
Asylum NYC | 123 East 24th Street, NY, NY 10010
Running though December 28, 2025
Photos by Jasper Lewis
In my experience of theater-going, I rarely enter a theater being slightly nervous about what I am possibly going to see. To be frank (no pun intended), this has been the exception. With all the press, opinions, and petitions for Slam Frank to be canceled, I thought for a brief moment, my goodness, if I review this, will it be the end of it for me? This particular play had me thinking: are you sure you’re willing to risk potential backlash for admitting you saw, let alone are writing an opinion piece on, this play given today’s political climate?
Now, this is where the irony of all this lies: why should I fear having an opinion, let alone voicing it? For a brief moment, I allowed myself to potentially cave in to what the play so brilliantly captures overall: freedom of expression.
The bold new musical Slam Frank, with music and lyrics by Andrew Fox and book by Joel Sinensky, has extended theater runs one after another. Upon my arrival to Asylum NYC, the line for entry was down the block, including a metal-detection scan (yikes!). I overheard audience-goers in line expressing their excitement, some now on their third viewing, relatives flying across the country! Something just can’t be right here. Could this new musical truly take a story so horrific and tragic just to poke fun at it or make light of it? This reservation could not be further from the truth. Case in point: sometimes you are best to see things with your very own eyes.
After thinking possibly the worst before the play even began, as the play ran for a solid 110 minutes, palm sweats aside, I sighed a wave of relief thinking this play is the best use of theater expression in a long time. Now hear me out… imagine using the power of theater to pique the interest, relive the telling of a prolific tragedy in a way that is digestible for a modern-day audience.
In this tik-tok, 5 second short attention span, instant gratification society, keeping an audience’s attention by engaging them in relatable instances is needed now more than ever. How often do tragedies stay relevant enough so that their legacy continues on? Imagine the power 13-year-old Anne Frank has over the world that a modern-day playwright would be inspired enough to use the foundation of her life to interpret it for the modern world of today. Is that not what any great author, or anyone with such a profound nature, could hope for in the years to come?
Anne Frank is reimagined with a different cultural identity, finding herself in a dynamic household representing ideologies, gender, race, sexual preference, all surviving under one roof. The year is set in the same time period (1942), but her struggles and those of all around her somehow encapsulate cross centuries. What does it say about our contemporary society? Through the lens of the play, we can see our evolution, but almost to a fault. Some call the play a poking at “wokeness”; I see it as a hyper-idealized world where characters are trying to survive under the pretense of class, oppression, oppressors versus the oppressed.
The use of the space at Asylum NYC is exceptionally used. Director Sam Lafrage has the actors move in all areas on and off the stage, even moving between audiences and engaging with them. This creates an immersive environment where even the audience becomes living, breathing theater. For instance with the use of the stage manager who becomes incorporated in the show as a performer himself from sweeping the stage, passing around a tip basket, to standing in and around the audience. Or how actors enter from behind the audience in order to appear out of nowhere to the actors on the stage. You find yourself looking backwards, sideways all throughout. You never know who or what might appear next!
The actors are ethnically diverse, all filled with passion, life and unparalleled energy. Anne Frank(Olivia Bernabe) raps on stage laying down the complexities of her world to literal high fiving audience members. You can sense the actors are having an incredible time and this work speaks volumes to their souls.
The music and lyrics illuminate the stage with powerful punctuations, alliterations and declarations. Modern and sensational there’s never a moment for the audience’s hesitation to jam their heads in true appreciation.
“Do you ever feel that the world’s on fire,
like there is a fire inside of your heart?”
This is just an example of the musical poetry that speaks exactly to your heart.
There is a disclaimer in the playbill that says: “This is a developmental production.” Perhaps the writers can strengthen their stance forward by removing the campy nature toward the beginning and hints throughout, with a sense of nodding heads toward the creator, toward an overall impersonal narrative arc. What is the message conveying for the playwright? At this time, it reads as ambiguity, shock value, and an overall umbrella of everyone’s struggle. While all this makes for a unique identity, what next? What for?
The music slams poetry, Nuyorican meets Hamilton meets Book of Mormon meets TikTok culture meets rage bait meets zillennial, millennial and Generation Y melting-pot medley. What’s the best medicine? Laughter. Laughter is the cure to understanding the complexities of the heart. Slam Frank manages to carry audiences with laughter and a smile, knowing that the very crux is made up of the fabric of the world at large, at odds with the trials and tribulations of injustice, striving for a harmonizing world.
The beauty in Slam Frank is how the creators, knowingly or perhaps unknowingly, kept true to the voice of the real Anne Frank: “In spite of everything, I still believe people are really good at heart.” This is a world where differences aside, no matter how much one has to hide, there will always be the ultimate price paid for living with pride.
Click HERE for tickets.
Review by Bianca Lopez.
Published by Theatre Beyond Broadway on November 23, 2025 All rights reserved.