The new B'nai Abraham was the most splendid of the city's temples, a circular building austerely designed in what was called "the Greek style" and vast enough to hold a thousand worshipers on the High Holidays.
On NYLA's wide and shallow stage, outfitted for the occasion with a front curtain to give the appearance of a proscenium, and set austerely as if against a low horizon (by Akiko Iwasaki, who also designed the costumes), "Bell" unfolds more as a patchwork than as an authoritatively layered or structured presentation.