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2 Off-Broadway shows offer fresh perspectives on Anne Frank’s story
(New York Jewish Week) – A young woman imagines herself standing inside the office of a fast-talking, bowtie-wearing, pipe-smoking editor of a major publishing house in New York City.
She’s just submitted her diary — a memoir of her life in hiding from Nazis and subsequent detention in a concentration camp — for his review, and stands in front of him as he scrutinizes her experiences, deeming them plausible or not, appropriate or absurd.
The woman is Anne Frank, and the imagined scene is the premise of “Anne Being Frank,” one of two shows based on Frank’s diary that are running Off-Broadway in New York City this fall. The other is “Anne Frank, a Musical.”
The one-woman show, which opened on Sept. 4 at Manhattan’s Emerging Artists Theatre, presents a new version of the Anne Frank story in which she pens her diary while she is dying in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, rather than writing it while in hiding in Amsterdam. The show depicts her suffering from starvation and sexual assault in the camps, and eventually contracting a lethal case of typhus, all of which changes the tone of her writing.
“Instead of leaving people with this idea that all these people are really good at heart, she’s grown up and seen the atrocities and the things that have happened to her,” Amanda Lerner, the director of “Anne Being Frank,” told the New York Jewish Week, referencing a famous passage of the diary in which Frank writes, “I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.”
Lerner added that she wanted to represent the experience of Holocaust victims in the camps and depict the “truth of all of the other people who have lived these stories — without apologizing for it,” she said.
Frank’s story is among the most well-known Holocaust narratives, and the creators of both shows said that they saw it as an avenue for conveying the gravity of the Holocaust to audiences, especially non-Jewish ones. The two productions come during a time when works about Frank’s life have taken a central place in national debates about education and censorship. Recently, multiple school districts have banned a graphic novel based on Frank’s diary, and in September, a teacher was allegedly fired in Texas for reading it aloud to students.
Earlier this year, the National Geographic limited series “A Small Light” told the Anne Frank story from the perspective of Miep Gies, the woman who helped hide the Frank family.
“For me, the Anne Frank story is, and really should be, universal,” said David Serero, who directed and produced “Anne Frank, a Musical,” and stars as Frank’s father, Otto. “Of course, it’s a Jewish story, but I think it’s important to share that story so it will never happen again. It’s important for others to know the damage that such a thing can do.”
The diary has been adapted dozens of times in the more than seven decades since its publication, beginning with the 1955 Broadway show, “The Diary of Anne Frank,” which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play.
“In the 1950s when her diary came out, Anne Frank became probably the most well known victim of the Holocaust,” said Dr. Alex Sagan, a historian affiliated with Harvard’s Center for European Studies who has written extensively about adaptations of Frank’s diary. “It’s a very famous and resonant story. Everybody knows it, and it’s understandable that lots of people are inspired to retell it. The question is, what should our judgment be about what they produce?”
He said adaptations should be judged based on whether they “impart inaccurate information,” and added that observers should “ask to what extent does it teach us or make us feel something about the story of Frank, or about her diary, that is really meaningful.”
Sagan added that while adaptations and retellings should stay accurate to the diary, there is still plenty of opportunity for artistic license.
“They’re going to reflect the moment in which they’re created, the medium in which they’re created and the creators,” he said. “So it doesn’t mean that they have no individuality, and it means that when they’re created, they see where they might seem very relevant if they’re well done.”
The publishing house scene in “Anne Being Frank” speaks to the question of whether and how future generations will receive Holocaust stories. In the play, Anne (played by actress Alexis Fishman) imagines the conversation with the editor as she lays dying in her bunk in Bergen-Belsen.
She considers how an editor — and the world — might perceive her and her story after they learn the truth about humanity. The editor, while praising her as a writing prodigy, finds the details, especially the events in the camps, implausible.
“The reason that I have spent such a great chunk of my career in writing speculative history is that I truly believe that truth is stranger than fiction — that no writer can match the sheer unpredictability and madness of the real world,” said Ron Elisha, the play’s writer. “There’s nothing that happens in my play that could not have happened. These things happened. They need to be explained.”
“Anne Frank, a Musical” premiered at the Center for Jewish History in 2019. (Courtesy David Serero)
The second show out this fall, “Anne Frank, a Musical,” is less speculative about what happens after Frank was discovered in the annex in Amsterdam. Instead, it reinterprets the events depicted in Anne’s diary through song.
The musical, which was originally written in French by Jean-Pierre Hadida in 2007, was adapted for an American audience in English by Serero. It premiered in 2019 at the Center for Jewish History and opens this year on October 11 at the Actor’s Temple Theater.
“Of course, people in America and in New York were a little bit reluctant when they heard, ‘a musical about Anne Frank,’ but a musical doesn’t have to be about something joyful. It’s emotive,” Serero said. “I can assure you, I have a lot of respect in the approach of all the characters in order to make them believable onstage.”
The musical opens in the present day, with a group of teenagers visiting the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. When they start to ask questions about her life, they are quickly transported back in time to the same place in 1942.
“To bring it through the medium of music is very important because we sing what we cannot say — there are things that only music can express,” Serero said. “When you add music, the diary of Anne Frank becomes the life of Anne Frank.”
And though the productions approach the story differently, they each reflect contemporary perspectives on the world. “Anne Being Frank” aims to show the graphic, violent suffering and death of Jews in the Holocaust, and to invite viewers to think about what happened next — rather than solely the hope reflected in the most famous passage of Frank’s diary. The show, in some ways, asks its viewers to interrogate other places or moments where the full story isn’t being told.
For Serero, the “secret of the musical’s success,” is that it connects Frank’s story to atrocities today.
“You could say that this story is over,” he said. “But still today, people are killed because of who they are.”
“Anne Being Frank” is playing at the Emerging Artists Theatre (15 W. 28th St.) through Oct. 29; tickets start at $59. “Anne Frank, a Musical” is playing from Oct. 11 through Nov. 5 at the Actors Temple Theatre (339 W. 47th St.). Tickets start at $36.50.
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Israel Strikes Hamas Leadership in Qatar Amid Gaza War
A damaged building, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders, according to an Israeli official, in Doha, Qatar, Sept. 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
Israel has carried out a strike targeting Hamas leadership in Qatar, marking an expansion of Jerusalem’s efforts to dismantle the Palestinian terrorist group as the war in Gaza continues.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Shin Bet security agency confirmed a “precise strike” in Doha targeting Hamas’s senior leadership, who orchestrated the Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel and directed the Islamist group’s operations for years.
“The IDF and ISA [Israel Security Agency, or Shin Bet] will continue to operate with determination in order to defeat the Hamas terrorist organization responsible for the Oct. 7 massacre,” the two organizations said in a statement.
The IDF and ISA conducted a precise strike targeting the senior leadership of the Hamas terrorist organization.
For years, these members of the Hamas leadership have led the terrorist organization’s operations, are directly responsible for the brutal October 7 massacre, and…
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 9, 2025
According to circulating media reports, senior Hamas officials — including leader Khalil al-Hayya — were targeted in the strike in Doha, though their deaths have not been confirmed.
A Hamas spokesperson said the group’s negotiating team was also targeted in the attack.
In its statement, the IDF assured that precautions were taken to limit civilian harm ahead of the strike, “including the use of precise munitions and additional intelligence.”
Qatar’s Interior Ministry said a member of the country’s Internal Security Force was killed and that other security personnel were injured.
Shortly after Israel claimed responsibility for the attack, Qatar denounced the operation, warning that “it will not tolerate this reckless Israeli behavior and the ongoing disruption of regional security, nor any act that targets its security and sovereignty.”
“The State of Qatar strongly condemns the cowardly Israeli attack that targeted residential buildings housing several members of the Political Bureau of Hamas in the Qatari capital, Doha,” Majed al-Ansari, a Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said in a statement.
“This criminal assault constitutes a blatant violation of all international laws and norms, and poses a serious threat to the security and safety of Qataris and residents in Qatar,” he continued.
The State of Qatar strongly condemns the cowardly Israeli attack that targeted residential buildings housing several members of the Political Bureau of Hamas in the Qatari capital, Doha. This criminal assault constitutes a blatant violation of all international laws and norms,…
— د. ماجد محمد الأنصاري Dr. Majed Al Ansari (@majedalansari) September 9, 2025
Alongside the United States and other regional powers, Qatar has served as a ceasefire mediator during the nearly two-year Gaza conflict, facilitating indirect negotiations between the Jewish state and Hamas.
However, Doha has also backed the Palestinian terrorist group for years, providing Hamas with money and diplomatic support while hosting and sheltering its top leadership.
According to media reports, Washington, which officially classifies Qatar as a “major non-NATO ally,” knew about the strike beforehand and gave it the green light, though the US did not participate in carrying it out.
The US Embassy in Doha issued a shelter-in-place order for all American citizens.
Earlier this year, the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism Policy released a report exposing the extent of Qatar’s far-reaching financial entanglements within American institutions, shedding light on what experts described as a coordinated effort to influence US policy making and public opinion in Doha’s favor. The findings showed that Qatar has attempted to expand its soft power in the US by spending $33.4 billion on business and real estate projects, over $6 billion on universities, and $72 million on American lobbyists since 2012.
In a joint statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed they had ordered security agencies to target Hamas leadership following attacks in Jerusalem and Gaza.
They said the strike targeted Hamas in retaliation for the Oct. 7 atrocities, Monday’s terrorist attack in Jerusalem, which left six Israelis dead and several more injured, and a separate attack on an Israeli tank in northern Gaza that killed four soldiers
Yesterday, after the murderous attacks in Jerusalem and Gaza, Prime Minister Netanyahu directed all security elements to prepare for the possibility of striking the Hamas leadership. The Defense Minister fully supported this initiative.https://t.co/dQDySUqQJv
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) September 9, 2025
This latest strike came just two days after the Trump administration unveiled its newest proposals for a ceasefire to end the war in Gaza.
On Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that Israel accepted the new deal, which calls for the release of all remaining hostages and the disarmament of Hamas.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump gave Hamas what he called a “last warning” to agree to this latest proposal.
The terrorist group said it was ready to negotiate the release of all remaining Israeli hostages still held in the war-torn enclave in exchange for “a clear declaration to end the war, a full withdrawal from Gaza, and the formation of a committee of Palestinian independents to manage Gaza.”
However, senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said on Monday that the group will not accept disarmament — one of Israel’s core demands for ending the war, thus seemingly rejecting Trump’s ceasefire plan for Gaza.
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‘No Basis in Truth’: Authorities Reject Claim by Gaza-Bound Flotilla That Boat Struck by Drone at Tunisian Port
A Global Sumud flotilla vessel floats in the waters as Tunisian Maritime National Guard boats conduct an inspection in Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia, Sept. 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jihed Abidellaoui
Tunisian authorities have rejected as false a claim by the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) for Gaza that one of its main boats was struck on Tuesday by a drone at a port in Tunisia.
Tunisia’s interior ministry said that reports of a drone hitting a boat at its Sidi Bou Said port “have no basis in truth,” and that a fire broke out on the vessel itself. The flotilla had said that all six passengers and crew were safe despite the alleged strike.
The Portuguese-flagged boat, carrying the flotilla‘s steering committee, sustained fire damage to its main deck and below-deck storage, the GSF said in a statement.
In tandem with the denial from Tunisian authorities, video circulated on social media apparently showing that the fire was caused by a crew member misfiring a flare that landed back on the boat, not by a drone.
BREAKING: New footage from Greta’s boat shows a crew member misfiring a flare, which lands back on the boat.
These people lie for sport. There was never any drone. pic.twitter.com/GSSSvjy23I
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) September 9, 2025
The flotilla is an international initiative seeking to break Israel’s naval blockade and deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza using civilian boats supported by delegations from 44 countries, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and Portuguese left-wing politician Mariana Mortagua.
A video posted by the GSF on X purportedly showed the moment “the Family Boat was struck from above,” capturing a luminous flying object hitting the vessel with smoke rising soon after.
After the incident, dozens of people gathered outside the Sidi Bou Said port, where the flotilla‘s boats were located at the time, waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Free Palestine,” a Reuters witness said.
Israel has imposed a naval blockade on the coastal enclave since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, saying it aims to stop weapons from reaching the internationally desgnated terrorist group.
The blockade has remained in place through the current war, which began when Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages.
In June, Israeli naval forces boarded and seized a British-flagged yacht carrying Thunberg, among others. Israel dismissed the aid ship as a propaganda stunt in support of Hamas.
The GSF also said an investigation into the drone attack was underway and its results would be released once available.
“Acts of aggression aimed at intimidating and derailing our mission will not deter us. Our peaceful mission to break the siege on Gaza and stand in solidarity with its people continues with determination and resolve,” the GSF said.
The United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, who was at the port, told Reuters: “We do not know who carried out the attack, but we would not be surprised if it was Israel. If confirmed, it is an attack against Tunisian sovereignty.”
Albanese has been widely accused by critics of using her position to denigrate Israel and justify Hamas’s use of terrorism against Israelis.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli side.
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Britain Concludes Israel Not Committing Genocide in Gaza
A picture released by the Israeli Army says to show Israeli soldiers conducting operations in a location given as Tel Al-Sultan area, Rafah Governorate, Gaza, in this handout image released April 2, 2025. Photo: Israeli Army/Handout via REUTERS
Britain has concluded that Israel is not committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza but criticized “utterly appalling” civilian suffering there, in a government letter, ahead of a meeting between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the Israeli president.
Israel has been accused of perpetrating genocide in Gaza despite its military campaign there targeting the ruling terrorist group Hamas, which openly seeks the Jewish state’s destruction and started the current war with its Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israeli communities.
Jerusalem rejects the accusation, citing its right to self-defense following the Oct. 7 attack, in which Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages.
Israel also says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication.
Another challenge for Israel is Hamas’s widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.
Starmer is due to meet Israeli President Isaac Herzog, a leader who has a largely ceremonial role, at Downing Street on Wednesday, his spokesperson said.
The Gaza war has strained Britain-Israel relations. The Israeli government is enraged by Britain‘s plan to recognize a Palestinian state and block Israeli officials from attending its biggest defense trade show this week.
Starmer is facing criticism from some of his Labour lawmakers for agreeing to meet Herzog.
Asked whether the government’s legal duty to prevent genocide had been triggered, David Lammy, Britain‘s foreign minister until Friday, wrote in a Sept. 1 letter to a parliamentary committee that the government had carefully considered the risk of genocide.
“As per the Genocide Convention, the crime of genocide occurs only where there is specific ‘intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group,’” he said in the letter seen by Reuters.
“The government has not concluded that Israel is acting with that intent.”
Lammy was foreign secretary from mid-2024 until Friday when he was replaced by Yvette Cooper and appointed deputy prime minister as part of a reshuffle.
His letter added: “The high civilian casualties, including women and children, and the extensive destruction in Gaza, are utterly appalling. Israel must do much more to prevent and alleviate the suffering that this conflict is causing.”
The long-held British government position has been that genocide should be determined by courts.