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LETTER FROM WARSAW

ABOUT THE MUSICAL

 

The story that Gary Guthman and Doman Nowakowski created along with their music and lyrics is a quintessential work of a lifetime - and it couldn’t have been written about something more important than their beautiful Poland and its remarkable 1000-year relationship between Catholic Poles and Jewish Poles, unlike any place else in the world.


A country and its people who are rich in heritage, culture, heart, and courage. A country brave enough to constitutionally and democratically protect Jews, give them autonomy and their own culture to flourish for 500 years. Jews themselves during this time called Poland a "Jewish Paradise,” while the rest of the world denied them this, their right to exist. Poland was indeed the Israel of the world for Jews for centuries.
 
"Letter from Warsaw” underscores the misunderstanding and division of these two great nations told through the experience of a Jewish family living in Brooklyn, NY, comprised of Holocaust survivor grandma Sarah, her daughter Hannah, and Hannah’s son Abraham, who returns to Poland and discover how history and tradition on both sides have all but been forgotten and replaced with propaganda and hidden truths, perpetuating centuries-long suspicions of hate and distrust.
 
In the end ...they discover the REAL truth!

 

 

CREATORS

Gary Guthman 033 [internet]_edited.jpg

GARY GUTHMAN

music I libretto

orchestrations | lyrics

 

more...

DOMAN NOWAKOWSKI

libretto| translation and lyric adaptation

more...

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Director and Lighting – NATALIA KOZŁOWSKA

Set and Costumes Design – PAULINA CZERNEK

Choreography – BARTOSZ FIGURSKI

Costume Collaboration Designer – ANNA PUCHALSKA

Vocal Coach – AGNIESZKA HEKIERT

 Assistent to the Director – MAGADALENA MAŁECKA

Make-up – ANNA SAWICKA

Poster Design – ANDRZEJ PĄGOWSKI

Stage Manager– URSZULA HAJDUKIEWICZ

Project Assistent – MONIKA WINIARSKA

Producer – Fundacja otoKultura.org

 SEBASTIAN KAZUBSKI/ ADRIAN NOWAKOWSKI

Lighting -  WOJCIECH ŁYSIK

Sound - SZYMON MONTEWKA

Technical Director - WOJCIECH ŁYSIK 

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Letter From Warsaw - demo
00:00 / 00:00

 

CAST OF CHARACTERS

 

Granny Sara - AGNIESZKA KUROWSKA
(Polish Jewish Holocaust survivor)

Hannah - IZABELLA BUKOWSKA

(Sara’s daughter)

Abey - PIOTR BAJTLIK
(Hannah’s son)

Director - DAREK KORDEK
(Theatre artistic director in Warsaw)

Alice - SASHA STRUNIN

(Theatre director’s daughter)

Misha - PIOTR CYRWUS

(Theatre building owner before the II WW)

Young Sara - MAŁGORZATA KOZŁOWSKA

(Warsaw Ghetto 1943)

Kazik - PRZEMYSŁAW NIEDZIELSKI

(Polish freedom fighter 1943)

Marek - SŁAWOMIR MANDES

(Jewish Ghetto Uprising freedom fighter)

Pedestrians, Uprisers -

ALEKSANDRA JACHYMEK

PATRYK GNAŚ

MIKOŁAJ WNĘT

WOJCIECH WÓJCIK

 

 

TESTIMONIALS

 

"Letter From Warsaw" is an ambitious and provocative artistic venture that underscores the desire and need for communication, understanding, and peace. In my recollection, it is the only musical ever to tackle this very important theme, and the way the creators have composed it, I'm sure, will be meaningful. I do hereby support their efforts and wish this musical "Letter From Warsaw” every success.

- Michael Schudrich (Chief Rabbi of Poland)

 

I believe that the new artistic production "Letter From Warsaw" - The Musical speaks to one of the most important dialogs concerning Poland and the Jewish community, the ongoing relationship and understanding between two great nations. I highly support "Letter From Warsaw" and the creative efforts of the authors in presenting this musical theatrical production.

- Professor Szewach Weiss

(Past Deputy Speaker, Israeli Knesset and Past Israeli Ambassador to Poland)

"Music soothes manners," one would like to say. But let’s not allow this banal truth to deceive us because the authors' intention was not to calm the turbulent waters of the mutual relations between the Poles and the Jews, but rather try to tap into this non-controversial way, the stereotypes that live in each of us, to cause us to think, and make immune the lies and half-truths that escalate a spiral of hostility. The dramatic action develops surprisingly, teleporting us to the cruel times of war, engaging the characters' emotions, and, as the genre would imply, leading to the triumph of love. Some might call it naïve and sentimental; others say it banalizes evil. 

"Love is all-encompassing... And this can be fully understood only in extreme situations when you see that you cannot live without it ..."
"If you can succumb to love, offer yourself to another person, you will remain human in the worst conditions" – were the words of Marek Edelman, who would have invited us to the performance, being a great supporter of staging it in the Warsaw theatre.

- Paula Sawicka (Open Respublica Foundation)

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