What would you do if you were a Jewish dancer offered a lucrative opportunity to perform in a country where Jews were becoming more and more persecuted by the day? This is the premise of the film “The Performance,” directed by Shira Piven and starring her younger brother Jeremy as dancer Harold May, a Jewish-American tap dancer in New York asked to perform a few shows in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s.
The film is based on one of Arthur Miller’s final short stories, written a few years before his passing in 2005. Piven’s portrayal of May required more than just acting — it took a decade-long commitment to learning tap dance. His preparation paid off, as he and his co-stars bring entertaining performances to the screen — and in front of Nazi audiences in the film. Staying on beat isn’t a new skill for Piven — he’s been drumming for decades. “The Performance” came to the Piven siblings’ attention by their mother, actress and acting teacher Joyce Hiller Piven, now 94.
“There’s something so unique about the synergy of all of the elements in this movie,” Shira Piven wrote on her Instagram. “People say, ‘What genre is this?’’ It’s absolutely a drama, but there’s also humor and there’s also tap dancing. And it was really important to me that the tap dancing be organic to the story. We don’t stop everything and suddenly do an entertaining dance number, and yet the dance numbers are wildly entertaining. But where else do you get a wildly entertaining tap number and a Jew having to come to terms with his cultural identity in one movie? Somehow it all comes together.”
Under her direction, the film blends archival footage from that era as the film transitions between scripted scenes. The film keeps viewers on edge as May and his troupe accept the invitation. He reassures them, “We’ll be in and out in two days.”
Audiences will want to shake May’s ambitious character and shout, “Don’t do it.”
Piven’s portrayal of May feels genuine. At first, there’s a trace of Piven’s cocky “Entourage” character, Ari Gold, in May’s dismissal of the risks of being a Jewish dancer traveling to Nazi Germany. But as his guardedness rises, that’s where Piven’s performance really shines. The joy of performing turns to tension as the troupe performs for more and more crowds wearing Nazi armbands.
There’s a scene where Piven meets Alfreda Grouper from Germany’s Office of the Minister of Culture. She bluntly interrogates the Nazi who optimistically scouted and invited May out of New York to Germany. “Do you know your man to be compromised with any radical political beliefs or indiscretions? No Soviets? Jews? No homosexuals? Best we know now,” she says in the film. Grouper then tells May that there’s murmurs that he might be “the next Harald Kreutzberg,” a German dancer who spent most of World War II using his talents as a vessel of German propaganda. The Ministry of Culture then asks May’s troupe to extend their stay by three weeks.
The troupe’s dance numbers are as suspenseful as they are entertaining, as drunken German spectators demand encores. Their performances may not rival the Nicholas Brothers in “Stormy Weather,” but each number encapsulates the thrill of performing amid the looming threat of being exposed as a Jew.
As May navigates his dilemma, the film delves into themes of identity and moral compromise. His passport bears the name Harold Markowitz. Yet even as he tiptoes around his booker, May feels the weight of his Jewish identity, torn between keeping his troupe safe and staying true to himself.
As May navigates his dilemma, the film delves into themes of identity and moral compromise.
“It’s something that is really a sign of our times right now,” Jeremy Piven said to audiences at the Miami Film Festival. “It’s accessible to everyone. It’s a film at its core about a guy that is struggling with the question of how far will one compromise themselves to become successful in this life? My character Harold May risks it all for fame, and for momentum.
And it’s a cautionary tale. I’m really blown away with how many people connect to it.”
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