Review: Truman vs. Israel, the Harry Truman-Bella Abzug Mashup Nobody Asked For

There’s a notion that putting two big personalities onstage will naturally lead to dramatic alchemy. That flawed assumption seems to have driven William Spatz to write Truman vs. Israel, which is now making its off-Broadway debut at Theatre at St. Clement’s. It’s about the famously pugnacious American president whose sparring partner is revealed in the subtitle: “Abzug and the Undressing of Truman.” It sounds a lot more titillating than it is.

The opening scene depicts a soldier (Matt Caplan) pinned down by enemy gunfire in 1948. “I will have my day with you, HARRY FUCKING TRUMAN,” he curses to the heavens, like a Marvel villain in the making.

Flash forward to 1988 and Rep. Bella Abzug (Helen Laser) is sitting for a portrait. News of the first intifada broadcasts from the radio, leading the painter (Mark Lotito) to refer to Israel as an “apartheid state.” Abzug responds with incredulity and, since she has a captive audience, decides to regale her portraitist with a story about the time in 1953 when she, still a young lawyer, traveled with her associate, Don Muller (Caplan), to the Missouri home of former President Harry S. Truman (Willy Falk) to discuss a potential libel lawsuit against a newspaper columnist who has accused him of being insufficiently supportive of Israel.

Sure, the president formally recognized Israel just 11 minutes after David Ben-Gurion declared its establishment on May 14, 1948, making him the first world leader to do so. But what about the arms embargo Truman maintained on Israel (and all Middle Eastern countries) during the subsequent war, when multiple Arab armies attempted to crush the fledgling Jewish state? Abzug and Muller attempt to dissuade Truman from filing suit by simulating the cross-examination he is likely to receive: Why didn’t Truman commit American tax dollars to Israel’s defense? Did he recognize it for the right reasons? Isn’t he, in fact, an antisemite?

If you have not yet tired of parsing historical minutiae around Israel and its insalubrious relationship with the United States, walk (but please, don’t run; you might break a hip) to the box office at Theatre at St. Clement’s.

Setting aside the implausible premise (there is no record of Truman and Abzug ever meeting) and tedious subject matter (there is a slide show about secondhand Messerschmitt fighter planes), Truman vs. Israel fails to marshal the mercurial historical figures at its core into a halfway decent comic volley. Weighed down by excessive exposition (the play also rehashes Truman’s military and political careers), it mostly falls back on stale Trumanisms (“if you want a friend in Washington, buy a dog!”) and Abzugian absurdities (at one point she starts haranguing the allegedly antisemitic ex-president in Yiddish). Oy vey.

Randy White directs the cast in performances that are spirited, if under-rehearsed. With her fast-talking funny girl schtick, Laser seems to be auditioning for the lead in the stage adaptation of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (in fairness, she only joined the cast two weeks ago, stepping in for Sasha Eden, so this is a fine first pass at a character that has already received multiple dramatic interpretations). But there’s no excuse for Falk, who has been with the production since it was announced yet still seems shaky on his lines.

Lotito is stiff but affable in his two roles as the painter and Eddie Jacobson, Truman’s old army buddy and business partner, who shows up as a crucial Jewish character witness and musters all the pique one can for the ludicrous line, “Are you a lawyer, Mr. Muller, or just someone with something up their ass?” And Caplan more than plays his part as the tragically constipated attorney whose motives and actions never quite pass the smell test but mercifully bring this 90-minute slog to its plopping conclusion.

At least the show is handsomely designed, with a lovely parlor set by Lauren Helpern, convincing period costumes by Sydney Gallas, precise lighting by Tyler Micoleau (this really helps facilitate Spatz’s habit of jumping from the main plot to the frame), and naturalistic sound design by Elisabeth Weidner.

While this is being billed as a world premiere, an earlier draft was presented in 2018 at Chicago’s Greenhouse Theater, where Spatz serves as executive director. I suspect this is the nicest production this play will ever receive—and that’s the nicest thing I can say about it.