Agents provocateurs and theater makers Andrew Fox (music and lyrics) and Joel Sinensky (book) leave no woke or right-wing trope unturned in Slam Frank, their new musical now playing Off-Broadway at the Orpheum Theatre.
While the assemblage is, indeed, original, the source material is as pillaged as the Nazis’ looting of millions works of art and cultural objects. And if that comparison makes you uncomfortable, buckle in. Slam Frank takes no prisoners.
Content warning: everything
The musical-within-a-play follows young Anne Frank, aka Anita Franco (Olivia Bernábe), a LatinX teenager forced to go into hiding with her family amid the horrors of World War II. Joining her are her parents—neurodivergent Otto (Rocky Paterra) and her tell-it-like-it-is mother, Edith (Austen Horne)—and the Van Daan family, including their gender-questioning child, Peter (Alex Lewis).
For anyone who’s read Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, the loose threads of a desperate family in hiding remain, but quickly unravel. The fast-paced commentary dismantles our obsession with pop culture, amplified by video designer Zack Lobel’s fast-cut montages, even including a quick grab of disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes from the buzzy documentary You Can See Everything.
The Israel-Palestine conflict also receives plenty of attention, but to dismiss Slam Frank as “pro” this or “anti” that would simplify its stance. The playbill’s “Content Warning: Everything” earns its place. This is the bare-knuckle boxing of live theater. If you want sanitized satire, see Schmigadoon!
Director Sam LaFrage keeps the pace fast, with some bits inevitably flying by without a chance to land fully. But those with an ear for musical theater will pick up on Fox’s nods to existing works, including Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, In the Heights, and Suffs, which eventually feel derivative rather than propulsive.
Despite those qualms, Slam Frank is unabashedly unhinged. And beyond the musical Easter eggs, micro-editing, and maximalist intention, profundity hangs in the air. In “Anne’s Decision,” the laughter stops:
I never could’ve envisioned that this scenario
would happen in cycles—
when the final solution’s survivors
finally became its disciples.
Slam Frank
Amid all the provocation, the reality of history repeating itself proves the hardest punch.
Is ‘Slam Frank’ worth seeing?
Slam Frank takes aim at every ideology in sight, and its willingness to offend everyone equally makes it the most daring ticket Off-Broadway this fall.
- Orpheum Theatre, 126 Second Avenue, New York City
- Notable performers: Olivia Bernábe, Rocky Paterra, Austen Horne, Alex Lewis, Amelia Louise Barr, John Anker Bow, Jaz Zepatos, Walker Stovall
- Running time: One hour and 50 minutes, no intermission
- Performances through November 30, 2026
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