How 2013 Became the Year of Bernie Madoff

A Streetcar Named Baldwin: Alec Baldwin played a character reminiscent of Bernie Madoff in Woody Allen?s film ?Blue Jasmine,? a riff on ?A Streetcar Named Desire,? by Tennessee Williams. Image by Sony Pictures Classics
Here is a corollary to Marx’s great insight that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce, itself a clarification of Hegel’s sense that people and events recur: Scandal, too, will repeat itself; first as laboriously documented news, then as thinly veiled fiction.
Consider the case of Bernard “Bernie” Madoff: Even the name seems somehow destined for tragedy with the casual intimacy and playfulness of “Bernie,” the foreshadowing of madness. When Madoff was arrested five years ago, the details of his scheme came tumbling out, each revelation somehow leading inexorably to another horror. There was the greed, of course. And the fact that his sons had turned him in. And that one of those sons committed suicide on the second anniversary of Madoff’s arrest. And there was the wife who may have known a lot more than she let on.
And somewhere there was a dramatist who, looking on, was gleeful and enthralled. Actually, a lot of dramatists: 2013 was the year of Madoff on stage and screen.
First, there was this summer’s film “Blue Jasmine,” Woody Allen’s attempt to figure out what would happen if Ruth Madoff were crossed with Blanche DuBois. At once topical and timeless, the film gave Allen observers the chance to indulge in their favorite pastime — the point-counterpoint investigation of whether he still has it or has definitively lost it, or finally found it again. Everyone agreed that Cate Blanchett was luminous in the titular role, but some indicted Allen for the apparent relish with which he draws Jasmine’s unraveling. Willfully blind, determinedly delusional, Jasmine pays for the sins of the husband, consumed by her own conspicuous consumption. Forced to rely on the kindness of strangers, she finds that strangers (and friends and family) are hardly kind.
In the meantime, old Bernie found himself in a hell (not entirely unlike New York) in Lee Blessing’s play “A User’s Guide to Hell,” where he was forced to be fellow to the likes of Josef Mengele. Perhaps this makes sense: Madoff’s most famous victim is Elie Wiesel.
Which brings us to Deb Margolin’s play “Imagining Madoff,” wherein Bernie discussed ethics (ha ha) with a poet who happens to be a Holocaust survivor. (According to The New York Times, Wiesel demanded a rewrite of a character too much like himself.)
Both “User’s Guide” and “Imagining” played back in September. But if you want still more Madoff, fear not: “The Commons of Pensacola,” Amanda Peet’s play about a fallen financier’s wife and her daughter, who, in a twist worthy of Marx’s sentiment, wants to make a reality show about her mother’s life, is playing in New York through January 26 at City Center right now.
Yevgeniya Traps writes frequently about the arts for the Forward.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.