The Chosen

The Chosen tells the story of a friendship between two Jewish boys from different groups within the community, one a Hasid and the other an Orthodox, while covering many profound and universal themes as well, such as father-son relationships, suffering, and conflicts between tradition and modernity. Grasping these struggles, while at the same time bringing forth his/her personal interpretations,leads to a battle between the author’s intentions versus the playwright’s and directors’ worlds of the play. Examining the many adaptations of The Chosen gave rise to different perceptions of the same character/scene as there are many modifications to the novel in the movie, the script, and the play. Notable differences can be seen in detailing, characterization, and events of the plot.

Itwould be impossible to display 304 pages of detailed information in a two hour long play therefore many scenes in the novel were cut short from the script, and consequently the performance. In the novel, during his stay at the hospital, Reuven meets professional prizefighter Tony Savo and young, optimistic Billy—through whom the author underlines the importance of sight as a means of connection tothe world around us. Reuven realizes that blindness would be hopeless because reading is an important part of both prayer and learning and without sight he would be closed off from the world of ideas. The script however, lacks to mention either of the two acquaintances, and similarly Rueven’s hospital stay is abbreviated in the performance, as he only interacts with his father and Danny.Additionally, both the script and play simplified the boys’ school years, where instead of acting most of them out, old Reuven (serving as narrator) would briefly describe what had occurred. He failed to mention, however, Reuven’s class dicussions with Rav Gershenson, a time of which Reuven, an Orthodox Jew, showed to be just as knowledgeable in the study of the Talmud as Danny, a Hasidic Jew. Also, in theplay (both script and performance) Danny briefly mentions that he talked to his professor, but in the book he goes on for pages explaining their conversation and from it he comes to realize the importance of communication. The script and the play also refrain from the many Talmud talks and references seen in the novel and keep from mentioning the fact that Danny’s eyesight begins to worsen and hehas to get glasses. Although the script highlighted details from the book that would keep the action and drama in the performance going, it failed to elaborate on a few important moments that helped with character development.

Looking at the piece through many lenses lead to contradictory perceptions of the characters as characterization differed in each adaptation. Both in the script and inthe movie, Danny comes off as strong-minded and assertive and his first visit to the hospital seems more dramatic and tenser than it does in the play. “I wanted to kill you” (p.17) surprises the reader and Danny’s calmness in the movie as he says this is disturbing, but the audience found the line amusing in the performance. Luke Murtha’s stooge-like portrayal of Danny is much whinier than thecharacter gives the impression to be in the book and in the script, and his added touch of sarcasm, such as when he says “Don’t be cute, Malter”, is unexpected and went unnoticed in the reading. Overall, Robby Bensons from the movie plays a more suitable Danny than Luke Murtha from the theatrical play. Joel Colodner’s performance as Danny’s father, Reb Saunders, is also different than the character’sdescription in the book and in the script. In the novel, he seems sadistic and frigid, while in the script his performance is outlined to have sudden bursts of crying, as he does when he says “Ah, how the world kills us”. In the last scene especially, while explaining that he’s aware of his son’s future plans, Colodner gets overly emotional, and the audience cries an “Aww” of compassion as he and...