Tag Archives: National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene

TWI-NY AT TWENTY: ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

Who: Works by and/or featuring Moko Fukuyama, Joshua William Gelb, Gabrielle Hamilton, Jace, Elmore James, Jamal Josef, Katie Rose McLaughlin, Sara Mearns, Zaire Michel, Zalman Mlotek, Alicia Hall Moran, Patrick Page, Barbara Pollack, Seth David Radwell, Jamar Roberts, Tracy Sallows, Xavier F. Salomon, Janae Snyder-Stewart, Mfoniso Udofia, Anne Verhallen
What: This Week in New York twentieth anniversary celebration
Where: This Week in New York YouTube
When: Saturday, May 22, free with RSVP, 7:00 (available on demand through June 12)
Why: In April 2001, I found myself suddenly jobless when a relatively new Silicon Alley company that had made big promises took an unexpected hit. I took my meager two weeks’ severance pay and spent fourteen days wandering through New York City, going to museums, film festivals, parks, and tourist attractions. I compiled my experiences into an email I sent to about fifty friends, rating each of the things I had done. My sister’s husband enthusiastically demanded that I keep doing this, and This Week in New York was born.

Affectionately known as twi-ny (twhy-nee), it became a website in 2005 and soon was being read by tens of thousands of people around the globe. I covered a vast array of events – some fifteen thousand over the years – that required people to leave their homes and apartments and take advantage of everything the greatest city in the world had to offer. From the very start, I ventured into nooks and crannies to find the real New York, not just frequenting well-known venues but seeking out the weird and wild, the unusual and the strange.

For my tenth anniversary, we packed Fontana’s, a now-defunct club on the Lower East Side, and had live music, book readings, and a comics presentation. I had been considering something bigger for twenty when the pandemic lockdown hit and lasted longer than we all thought possible.

At first, I didn’t know what twi-ny’s future would be, with nowhere for anyone to go. But the arts community reacted quickly, as incredible dance, music, art, theater, opera, film, and hybrid offerings began appearing on numerous platforms; the innovation and ingenuity blew me away. The winners of twi-ny’s Pandemic Awards give you a good idea of the wide range of things I covered; you can check out part one here and part two here.

I devoured everything I could, from experimental dance-theater in a closet and interactive shows over the phone and through the mail to all-star Zoom reunion readings and an immersive, multisensory play that arrived at my door in a box. Many of them dealt with the fear, isolation, and loneliness that have been so pervasive during the Covid-19 crisis while also celebrating hope, beauty, and resilience. I’ve watched, reviewed, and previewed more than a thousand events created since March 2020, viewing them from the same computer where I work at my full-time job in children’s publishing.

Just as companies are deciding the future hybrid nature of employment, the arts community is wrestling with in-person and online presentations. As the lockdown ends and performance venues open their doors, some online productions will go away, but others are likely to continue, benefiting from a reach that now goes beyond their local area and stretches across the continents.

On May 22 at 7:00, “twi-ny at twenty,” produced and edited by Michael D. Drucker of Delusions International and coproduced by Ellen Scordato, twi-ny’s business manager and muse, honors some of the best events of the past fourteen months, including dance, theater, opera, art, music, and literature, all of which can be enjoyed for free from the friendly confines of your couch. There is no registration fee, and the party will be available online for several weeks. You can find more information here.

Please let me know what you think in the live chat, which I will be hosting throughout the premiere, and be sure to say hello to other twi-ny fans and share your own favorite virtual shows.

Thanks for coming along on this unpredictable twenty-year adventure; I can’t wait to see you all online and, soon, in real life. Here’s to the next twenty!

ON THE ROOF: A LOOK INSIDE FIDDLER ON THE ROOF IN YIDDISH BOOK PARTY

Joel Grey, Samantha Hahn, Stephanie Lynne Mason, Zalmen Mlotek, Rosie Jo Neddy, Bebe Neuwirth, Raquel Nobile, Jana Robbins, and Rachel Zatcoff will take part in Yiddish Fiddler book celebration

Who: Joel Grey, Samantha Hahn, Stephanie Lynne Mason, Zalmen Mlotek, Rosie Jo Neddy, Bebe Neuwirth, Raquel Nobile, Jana Robbins, Rachel Zatcoff
What: Virtual book launch party
Where: National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene
When: Sunday, May 2, free, 2:15
Why: In the summer of 2018, the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene unleashed a phenomenon on the New York City theater world, a mind-blowing production of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish. At the time, I wrote, “I’ve seen numerous Fiddlers over the years, but this Yiddish version, which could have felt dated and old-fashioned, instead is very much of the moment in the wake of the immigrant and refugee crisis currently going on in America and around the world. It’s chilling watching the final scenes in light of what is shown on the news night after night.” Samantha Hahn, who played Beylke, the youngest of Tevye and Golde’s five daughters, documented the making of the show, regularly talking to cast and crew, and now takes us behind the scenes — through auditions, rehearsals, mishaps, and more — in On The Roof: A Look Inside Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish. She writes in the book, “I went home that night and took a shower, put on my pajamas, turned out the lights, and crawled into bed. A minute later I got out of bed, turned on the lights, took the pillow case off of my pillow to wrap around my head like a shmata, and practiced the ‘Tradition’ choreography. Even in my little bedroom, wearing my ‘Yertle the Turtle’ hand-me-down pajama shirt and my blue pillow case around my head — it felt like I was doing something special.”

On May 2 at 2:15, Hahn, an actress, singer, voiceover artist, and author, will do something special at a virtual book party, reuniting with her four stage sisters, Stephanie Lynn Mason (Hodl), Rosie Jo Neddy (Khave), Raquel Nobile (Shprintze), and Rachel Zatcoff (Tsaytl), as well as director Joel Grey, producer Jana Robbins, NYTF artistic director Zalmen Mlotek, and Fiddler fan Bebe Neuwirth, who was at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust for opening night. (The musical later moved uptown to Stage 42.) The party will include backstage video footage, a panel discussion, a live chat, and a Q&A. To get in the mood, you can check out Fiddler’s Stars in the House reunion here.

IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE VIRTUAL READING

Who: Nine New York City theater companies
What: Multilingual production of John C. Moffitt and Sinclair Lewis’s play It Can’t Happen Here
Where: National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene
When: Wednesday, October 28, suggested donations, 1:00
Why: In his 1935 novel It Can’t Happen Here, Sinclair Lewis warned us that America was ripe for takeover by a demagogue, in this case Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip, who becomes president and sends the country swirling toward fascism. Of course, we didn’t listen to protagonist Doremus Jessup in 2016, and too many people are not listening again. On October 28 at 1:00, with the presidential election less than a week away, nine New York City theater companies are presenting a livestreamed reading of the 1936 theatrical adaptation by John C. Moffitt and Lewis, reminding us one more time what we are facing if the current administration is allowed to continue. The play will rotate between Yiddish, English, Spanish, Italian, Turkish, and Hebrew, staged virtually by the Israeli Artist Project, Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò and KIT Kairos Italy Theater, Turkish American Repertory Theater & Entertainment – TARTE, NY Classical, New Heritage Theatre Group, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, Playful Substance, Repertorio, and event host and creator National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. We can keep saying that it can’t happen here all we want, but it is, and each one of us needs to do something to stop it, so donate, watch the plays, tell your friends, and, most important, vote. Below is the cast and crew for this important project; the shows will be available for viewing through November 1 at 1:00.

Israeli Artist Project (with Ronit Asheri, Iris Bahr, Gili Getz, and Yoni Vendriger, directed by Bahr and translated by Vendriger), Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò and KIT Kairos Italy Theater (with Mariluna Beacy, Laura Caparrotti, Emanuele Capoano, Alice Lussiana Parente, Mario Merone, Caterina Nonis, Giacomo Rocchini, Irene Turri, Giorgia Valenti, and Massimo Zordan, directed and translated by Caparrotti), National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (with Rachel Botchan, Spencer Chandler, Motl Didner, Kirk Geritano, Eileen F. Haggerty, Richard Kass, Zalmen Mlotek, Lauren Schaffel, Steven Skybell, Suzanne Toren, Tatiana Wechsler, and Hy Wolfe, directed and translated by Binyumin Resler and Benson Inge), NY Classical (with Tristan Biber, L. Peter Calendar, Kristen Calgaro, Stephen D’Ambrose, Nehassaiu deGannes, Will Dixon, Barbara Kingsley, Jillian Lindig, John Michalski, Evan Moore-Call, Kevin Orton, and David Shih, directed by Stephen Burdman), New Heritage Theatre Group (with Peter Coleman, Robin Galloway, Aaron Greenberg, Jesse Kramer, and Jake Robertson, directed by Carlton Taylor), Pan Asian Repertory Theatre (with Dinh James Doan, Eric Elizaga, David Huynh, Juni Li, Shigeko Sara Suga, and Viet Vo, directed by Chongren Fan), Playful Substance (with Nicole Amaral, Tori Barron, Jeorge Bennett Watson, Marie Donna Davis, Brandon Fox, Cristina Garcia Leon, Dan Kellmer, Kim Rios Lin, Dan Renkin, and Lauren Lindsey White, directed by Bree O’Connor), Repertorio (with Zulema Clares, Erick González, Gerardo Gudiño, German Jaramillo, Luis Carlos de la Lombana, and Gonzalo Trigueros, directed by Leyma López and translated by Rafael Sánchez), and Turkish American Repertory Theater & Entertainment – TARTE (with Ayse Eldek Richardson, Ezgi Erdoğan Cohen, Defne Halman, Feryal Kilisli, and Emre Yilmaz, directed and translated by Richardson).

THE SORCERESS (DI KISHEFMAKHERIN)

Jazmin Gorsline excels as bride-to-be Mirele in The Sorceress (photo © Victor Nechay – Properpix.com)

Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
Edmond J. Safra Plaza, 36 Battery Pl.
Through December 29, $59-$125
866-811-4111
nytf.org
mjhnyc.org

Two years ago, the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene presented a work-in-progress version at the Museum of Jewish Heritage of The Sorceress (“Di Kishefmakherin”), the first Yiddish theater production to be performed in America. The company, which has had tremendous success with its spectacular adaptation of Fiddler on the Roof, is now back at its MJH home with a full staging of The Sorceress, a delightful if slight operetta that continues through December 29, including two special performances with a buffet on Christmas Day.

Dani Apple, Lexi Rabadi, Lorin Zackular work up some dastardly magic in National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene production (photo © Victor Nechay – Properpix.com)

Written by Avrom Goldfaden, the Father of Yiddish Theater, it’s a Cinderella-like tale set in the town of Botoshani, Romania, where the young, lovely Mirele (Jazmin Gorsline) is preparing to wed the handsome and stalwart Markus (Josh Kohane). At her birthday party, she is sad, unable to celebrate because she misses her mother, who died too young. “Is it fair, my dear daughter, that you disturb the celebration with such sad thoughts?” her father, the wealthy Avromtshe (Bruce Rebold), sings. “Isn’t your stepmother faithful just like your very own mother?” he adds, but therein lies the problem. Avromtshe’s new wife, Basye (Rachel Botchan), is, yes, an evil stepmother who plots with the local sorceress, Bobe Yakhne (Mikhl Yashinsky), to make sure she gets exactly what she wants. She has her husband arrested and forces a separation between Markus and Mirele in a greedy plan that confounds the close-knit community, which is struggling to survive in hard times.

Unlike NYTF’s wonderful 2015 production of The Golden Bride, The Sorceress shows its age; written in 1877, it was brought to America in 1883 by fourteen-year-old actor and soon-to-be Yiddish legend Boris Thomashefsky. Some of the jokes are once-fresh (maybe) but now stale vaudeville routines, including one involving needles, salesman Hotsmakh (Steve Sterner), and Koyne (Lexi Rabadi), but other moments are heartbreaking, such as the handler’s (Rebecca Brudner) desperate call as she sells her wares. “Nobody in the world, / Can live out their years. / Without earning a little money. / A job is a burden,” she sings. Gorsline and Kohane are in fine voice, as is the always dependable Botchan. Yashinsky overplays the title character, chewing up far too much of Dara Wishingrad’s set, which resembles those used in a traveling show. Dani Apple, Lorin Zackular, and Rabadi are playful as a trio of witches; the large cast also includes Dylan Seders Hoffman as Basye’s daughter, Lize, Jonathan Brody as the conniving Uncle Elyokem, Mark Alpert as Katsef the butcher, and Samuel Druhora as the Turkish organ grinder. Izzy Fields’s appealing, elaborate costumes capture the era and its strife, while Merete Muenter’s choreography makes excellent use of the small space, especially in the market scene.

The Sorceress features a large cast at the Museum of Jewish Heritage (photo © Victor Nechay – Properpix.com)

But the real star of the show, which is helmed by NYTF associate artistic director Motl Didner, is the music, marvelously performed by Lauren Brody on accordion, Elise Frawley on viola, Evan Honse and Rebecca Steinberg on trumpet, Sam Katz and Inna Langerman on violin, Tony Park on clarinet, Reenat Pinchas on cello, George Rush on bass, Matt Temkin on drums and percussion, and associate musical conductor D. Zisl Slepovitch and conductor Zalmen Mlotek on piano. It’s light and frothy one moment, then dastardly and devious the next, as the story takes on such relevant topics as wealth inequality, human trafficking, and the spreading of wicked lies through the social construct. The Sorceress is the first fully restored work in NYTF’s Global Restoration Initiative, which resurrects lost Yiddish plays through extensive research. May there be many more.

MLK DAY: MAKE IT A DAY ON, NOT A DAY OFF

The legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., will be celebrated all over the city and the country this weekend

Multiple venues
Monday, January 15
www.mlkday.gov

It’s hard to believe that this year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and that half a century later racism is still such a central issue in America and around the world. In 1983, the third Monday in January was officially recognized as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, honoring the birthday of the civil rights leader who was shot and killed in Memphis on April 4, 1968. Dr. King would have turned eighty-nine on Monday, and you can celebrate his legacy on Monday by participating in a Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service project or attending one of numerous special events taking place around the city. Below are some of the highlights.

JCC Harlem: Community Carnival at All Souls Church, MLK Day-themed art projects for community children, 88 St. Nicholas Ave., free, 10:00, 12:30, 3:00

Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative March: “A New Revolution: Youth and Social Change,” Eleanor Roosevelt Monument in Riverside Park at 72nd St. at 10:00 am to Manhattan Country School at 150 West 85th St. at 2:00, free

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration: Martin’s Mosaic, 10:00 am and 1:00 pm; Museum of Impact visits CMOM, Upstanders Fest, 12 noon – 4:00, Children’s Museum of Manhattan, 212 West 83rd St., $11-$14

Thirty-second Annual Brooklyn Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with keynote speaker Jelani Cobb, Martha Redbone, and the Brooklyn Interdenominational Choir, BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, free, 10:30 am; Unbound: Patrisse Cullors and asha bandele, launch of When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir, moderated by Rashad Robinson and followed by a book signing, BAM Fisher, Fishman Space, free, 1:00; screening of 4 Little Girls (Spike Lee, 1997), BAM Rose Cinemas, free, 1:00

Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., including visits to “King in New York” and “Activist New York” exhibits and poster workshop, Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave at 103rd St., free with museum admission of $12-$18, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm

Family Matinees: Selma, Lord, Selma (Charles Burnett, 1999), $7-$15, 11:00 am; The Wiz (Sidney Lumet, 1978), $7-$15, 1:00, Museum of the Moving Image, 35th Ave. at 36th St., price includes admission to galleries

I Have a Dream Celebration: Make Art Not War: Interactive Handprint Mural, 11:30; I Have a Dream Cloud, 1:00; Kids Take Action! Letter Writing for Change, 1:30; Sylvia’s Story Corner on the Bus, 3:30, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, 145 Brooklyn Ave., $11

Harlem Gospel Choir Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Matinee, B. B. King Blues Club & Grill, 237 West 42nd St., $25-$30 (plus $10 minimum per person at tables), 12:30

Soul to Soul, with Lisa Fishman, Cantor Magda Fishman, Elmore James, Tony Perry, and musical director Zalmen Mlotek, followed by a discussion with the artists and creators, presented by National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Pl., $25 (use discount code “Mishpokhe” for 20% off online tickets), 2:00

Hands On | Harlem Dreams, Legends, and Legacy, teen photo studio, time capsules, mixed-media art, scavenger hunt, and in-gallery collage, Studio Museum in Harlem, 144 West 125th St., $3-$7, 2:00 – 6:00

Cinematters: Muhammad Ali: Me Whee (Arny Stone, 1975), followed by a Q&A with executive producer Drew Stone, Lou DiBella, and Craig Setari, JCC in Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Ave., $5, 5:00

THE SORCERESS (DI KISHEFMAKHERIN)

the sorceress

Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
Edmond J. Safra Plaza, 36 Battery Pl.
December 25 – January 1, $25
866-811-4111
nytf.org
mjhnyc.org

Two years ago, the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene resurrected Joseph Rumshinsky’s long-lost Yiddish musical,
The Golden Bride, to well-deserved, widespread critical and popular acclaim. The company is now kicking off its Global Yiddish Theatre Restoration Project with a special work-in-progress presentation of the long-lost operetta The Sorceress (“Di Kishefmakherin”). The show, based on a Jewish and Romanian superstition about witches, was written in 1878 by playwright, songwriter, and poet Abraham Goldfaden, considered the father of modern Yiddish theater; in 1882, it became the first Yiddish Theatre production in America, and was directed by fourteen-year-old Boris Thomashefsky. From Christmas Day to New Year’s Day, there will be five lightly staged performances in Yiddish, with English and Russian supertitles, at NYTF’s home in Edmond J. Safra Hall at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. The scenic design is by Dara Wishingrad, with costumes by Izzy Fields, lighting by Zachary Heffner, sound by Howard Fredrics, and scripts in hand, featuring Michael Yashinsky as Bobe Yakhne, Stephanie Lynne Mason as Mirele, Pat Constant as Markus, Steve Sterner as Hotsmakh, Rachel Botchan as Basye, and a ten-piece orchestra. The meticulously restored piece incorporates partial arrangements that were discovered at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, rescued by the Paper Brigade; through January 23, YIVO is hosting the exhibition “The Paper Brigade: Smuggling Rare Books and Documents in Nazi-Occuped Vilna.” The developmental production of The Sorceress is directed by Motl Didner, with music direction by Zalmen Mlotek and musical staging by Merete Muenter. The Christmas Day show is already sold out, so hurry if you don’t want to miss this Yiddish treasure.

AMERIKE — THE GOLDEN LAND

National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene explores the Jewish immigration experience in Amerike — the Golden Land (photo © Victor Nechay)

Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
Edmond J. Safra Plaza, 36 Battery Pl.
Tuesday-Wednesday and Thursday-Sunday through August 6, $35-$60
866-811-4111
nytf.org
mjhnyc.org

The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene has followed up its wonderful, ebullient hit, The Golden Bride, with Amerike — the Golden Land, a rather more clichéd historical pageant, a series of episodic set pieces about the American dream. The show began life as a special program honoring the eighty-fifth anniversary of the Jewish Daily Forward in 1982 and has gone through numerous iterations since then. The latest version, extended at NYTF’s new home at the Museum of Jewish Heritage through August 20, follows half a dozen emigrants from Eastern Europe who arrive in America expecting streets paved with riches. But the reality of making a new life on the Lower East Side is far more difficult for Oppenheimer (Glenn Seven Allen), Sadie (Alexandra Frohlinger), Joe (Daniel Kahn), Fannie (Dani Marcus), Gussie (Stephanie Lynne Mason), and Izzie (David Perlman). (The talented ensemble also includes Maya Jacobson, Alexander Kosmowski, Raquel Nobile, Isabel Nesti, Grant Richards, and Bobby Underwood.) Written by Moishe Rosenfeld and his cousin, NYTF artistic director Zalmen Mlotek, and directed by Bryna Wasserman, who helmed The Golden Bride and such other NYTF productions as The Dybbuk and Lies My Father Told Me, Amerike features a treasure trove of Yiddish songs performed by an outstanding band, with Katsumi Ferguson on violin, Jordan Hirsch on trumpet, Dmitry Ishenko on bass, Daniel Linden on trombone, Mlotek and Andrew Wheeler on piano, Sean Perham on percussion, and Dmitri Zisl Slepovitch on reeds. The story is told in eleven sections, from “Arrival,” “The New City,” and “Shabbos” to “Work,” “Citizenship,” and “The Depression,” with such numbers as “O Kumt Ir Farvoglte” (Oh Come You Who Are Displaced”), “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?,” and “Vi Nemt Men Parnuse?” (“How Do I Make a Living?”), by Joseph Rumshinsky, Arnold Perlmutter and Herman Wohl, Solomon Shmulewitz, and other composers.

Despite its innate exuberance, the narrative is laden with overly familiar vignettes about immigrants first seeing the Statue of Liberty, having their names changed on Ellis Island, battling poverty, and trying to assimilate. It often feels more like a history lesson, teaching us about things we already know, like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, although it is imbued with a relevance to what is happening today as President Trump continues to push his immigration and refugee restrictions. Amerike — the Golden Land does have some beautiful and heart-wrenching moments, including the story of a widower whose young children are not allowed to enter America with him and two immigrants who are fearful of falling in love. Izzy Fields’s costume design and Jason Lee Courson’s set and projections capture the feeling of late-nineteenth-century / early-twentieth-century New York City, and Merete Muenter’s choreography melds well with the music. The songs are mostly performed in Yiddish with English and Russian surtitles, although, curiously, there are a few English-language numbers that feel out of place. The cast, only one member of which knew Yiddish prior to rehearsals, is solid, and the musicians, who get the crowd dancing after the curtain call, are outstanding. But the lack of originality in the story — there’s even a multilingual version of Emma Lazarus’s “The New Colossus” — dampens a lot of this terrific company’s freshness. (Be sure to arrive forty-five minutes early to get a free Yiddish lesson.)