‘Slam Frank’ Off Broadway Review: How Do You Parody the Holocaust’s Most Beloved Young Heroine?

If a parody of the Holocaust’s most beloved young heroine could be created, why not Anne Frank in the form of "Slam Frank"? This new musical comedy debuted at the Orpheum Theatre on Monday, following a short off-Broadway run last year. Songwriter Andrew Fox and book writer Joel Sinensky were reportedly inspired to pen the show after a viral Twitter thread in 2022 questioned the "white privilege" of Anne Frank's diary.

"Slam Frank" takes aim at various minority groups and strongly-held beliefs, with white cis males taking the brunt of the ridicule. The show features a show-within-a-show opening with an artistic director (John Anker Bow) delivering a land acknowledgment, which he mistakenly gets incorrect due to his unfamiliarity with the indigenous tribes that once lived in the area.

The central character of "Slam Frank" is Anne Frank, now renamed Anita Frank, a Latina from Frankfurt, Germany. When the Franks must flee to the Netherlands during World War II, not all family members survive the harrowing journey. Despite her new identity, Anita continues to write her diary in Spanish, occasionally slipping back into English at the insistence of her father, Otto Frank.

The nearly two-hour show begins with a promising hip-hop number performed by Anita/Anne, titled "What I Want Song," which establishes the heroine's determination. However, the lyrics of this number are challenging to understand due to the brash sound design choices made by Gage Baker. The musical's jokes about Anita being Anita are uneven, and the show attempts to cover the Nazis' brutal capture of the Franks and Van Daans with multiple endings, some of which feel more outrageous than effective.