Playing Anne Frank The Forward

In the first episode of "Playing Anne Frank," discover how "The Diary of Anne Frank" became one of the most iconic plays and movies of the 20th Century. Hear how the diary was written; how Otto Frank found a publisher for it; how it was adapted by Meyer Levin — first as a radio play then as a stage play, then how he got fired from the job and replaced by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett (enough drama for a whole podcast series, let alone an episode); and finally, how the show was cast and staged for Broadway.

The original Broadway production of "The Diary of Anne Frank" told the story of two families hiding out from the Nazis. In the second episode of "Playing Anne Frank," hear three stories about how the show itself became a refuge from persecution in Russia, Nazi-occupied Europe and McCarthy-era America for its crew and actors. Featuring interviews with Marc Aronson, whose parents, Boris Aronson and Lisa Jalowetz, designed the set; Joe Gilford, whose father played Mr. Dussel on Broadway; and Eva Rubinstein, who originated the role of Margot Frank on Broadway.

For many actors who appeared in "The Diary of Anne Frank," the show proved to be a pinnacle they would never again attain. We talk to six actors who left theater and film after Anne Frank and went on to lead very different lives. Some went on to become world-famous photographers, television directors, and some never spoke about their role in the play at all. Featuring interviews with Leonora Rogers Schildkraut, Peter Dan Levin, Arnold Margolin, Hale Gabrielson, Renee Pessin and Eva Rubinstein.

After "The Diary of Anne Frank" closed on Broadway, the show toured in over 100 U.S. cities, where many audience members encountered stories of Jews and the Holocaust for the first time. We talk to two of the actors from that tour — Pauline Hahn and Steve Press — who read scenes together for the first time in more than 60 years.

Hear how "The Diary of Anne Frank" became an Oscar-winning movie and how that movie changed the lives of its stars, Millie Perkins and Diane Baker, and its assistant director George Stevens Jr., whose father, George Stevens Sr., directed the film. Featuring interviews with Millie Perkins, Diane Baker, and George Stevens Jr.

After Anne Frank toured America, Otto Frank approved a musical version of "The Diary of Anne Frank." Fifty years after this version was first conceived, it still hasn’t made its Broadway debut. We talk with that show’s creators, composer Michael Cohen and librettist Enid Futterman, about how that happened.