Miracle of Miracles! Yiddish "Fiddler on the Roof" Returns to Off-Broadway for 7 Week Run

Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish is returning by popular demand for seven weeks only in an Off-Broadway limited engagement at New World Stages, directed by Academy Award and Tony Award winner Joel Grey and starring Steven Skybell as Tevye.

If you haven't seen the Yiddish version, produced by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, here's a chance to experience the richness of a production that will have English and Russian supertitles. It will be playing from November 13 to January 1 at the New World Stages at 340 West 50th Street in Manhattan. The video (below) of the cast rehearsing the opening song Traditsye (Tradition) will give you a taste of this show.

Don’t miss the beloved story of a community and its struggle to balance traditions and desires in a changing world. The little town of Anatevka will bustle with the sounds of mame-loshn in this Yiddish language adaptation.

The production has been hailed as “a richer, deeper interpretation” by The Wall Street Journal, “a mitzvah” by Time Out New York, and AM New York gives it four stars, calling Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish “perfect.”

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

Tovah Feldshuh is Dr. Ruth Westheimer in a New Show About Her Life at the Museum of Jewish Heritage

93-year-old Dr. Ruth Westheimer is well known as a sex therapist, talk show host, author, professor, Holocaust survivor, and former Haganah sniper. 

Her life story is being portrayed in Becoming Dr. Ruth, a limited-run show at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park in lower Manhattan. 

The one-woman show, written by Mark St. Germain and directed by Bay Street Theater’s Artistic Director Scott Schwartz, chronicles the life of Dr. Ruth, from her early years fleeing Nazi Germany, living as an orphan in Switzerland, to her service in the Israeli armed forces as a sharpshooter, and her later life and career in New York. 

Actress Tovah Feldshuh has transformed herself into a replica of Dr. Ruth for this performance, which runs through January 2.

Dr. Ruth and Feldshuh have been longtime friends, as revealed in this joint interview that appeared on the NY1 TV station last week.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.  

Fiddler Cast Sings "God Bless America" in Yiddish

Lisa Fishman and Ben Liebert, members of the cast of the Off-Broadway hit, "Fiddler on the Roof" in Yiddish, conceived and co-produced a performance of "God Bless America" sung in Yiddish. It features the show's director, Academy and Tony Award-winning actor, Joel Grey, along with Steven Skybell, who starred as Tevye. Yiddish was one of the two native tongues of Irving Berlin, who wrote the iconic anthem.

“God Bless America” was originally written in 1918 for a musical revue by Irving Berlin, a Jewish immigrant born Israel Beilin, while Berlin was in the U.S. Army. Deciding the song didn’t fit the tone of the revue, the song was set aside. 

Twenty years later in 1938 with the rise of Adolf Hitler and fascism, Berlin revisited and revised the song and released it as a prayer for the country and a patriotic song of peace. “God Bless America” was introduced on an Armistice Day broadcast in 1938, sung by Kate Smith. 

The Yiddish version of the song being presented by the cast, entitled “Got Bentsh Amerike,” was originally translated by producer, musicologist, performer and Yiddish Radio Project co-creator, Henry Sapoznik, who worked on Yiddish translations for Mandy Patinkin’s album, Mamaloshen.  

The video features Steven Skybell, the award-winning actor who played Tevye in Fiddler in Yiddish, along with Jennifer Babiak, Samantha Hahn, Ben Liebert, Stephanie Lynne Mason, Rosie Jo Neddy, Raquel Nobile, Drew Seigla, and Rachel Zatcoff. The production also includes a special message by  Joel Grey. 

Additional Fiddler cast members appearing in the video (from both the Museum of Jewish Heritage production along with the Off-Broadway, Stage 42 production) include: Joanne Borts, Josh Dunn, Michael Einav, Lisa Fishman, Kirk Geritano, John Giesige, Lydia Gladstone, Abby Goldfarb, Mary Illes, Josh Kohane, Maya Jacobson, Moshe Lobel, Evan Mayer, Jonathan Quigley, Nick Raynor, Bruce Sabath, Kayleen Seidl, Adam B. Shapiro, Jodi Snyder, James Monroe Stevko, Ron Tal, Bobby Underwood, and Mikhl Yashinsky. 

The video also features Lauren Thomas, who played the titular role in Fiddler, on violin, along with the show’s clarinetist, Zisl Slepovitch, on piano. 

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

 

 

A tip of the kippah to Stan Lieberman for bringing this video to our attention.

Standup Comic Rita Rudner Talks About Her New Musical Comedy

Rita Rudner, one of our favorite standup comedians,stopped by the New York Live TV show to tell hosts Sara Gore and Jacque Reid about her new musical comedy Two's a Crowd, working with her husband and more.

As Marina Kennedy wrote in Broadway World,

The NYC premiere of a marvelous new musical, Two's a Crowd is now onstage at 59E59 Theaters through August 25. It has a book by Rita Rudner and Martin Bergman, directed by Mr. Bergman, with music and lyrics by Jason Feddy. Not only is the show humorous with laugh out loud moments but it also has plenty of heart. With Rudner starring, her fans and many more will want to see this delightful production.

The premise for the Two's a Crowd is a clever one. Wendy is a very organized and particular woman in her early 60's who embarks on a solo vacation to Las Vegas to reflect on the problems with her unfaithful husband. But when she arrives in her room, Tom, who seems to be Wendy's polar opposite, already occupies it. Tom is an easy-going type and a recent retiree who is in Vegas to play in a poker tournament. With the hotel being totally booked, the two decide they will have to work out rooming together. But what can these two find in common and will this cozy situation result in an unexpected attraction?

Here's a clip from the show and the New York Live interview.  Enjoy! 

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

Fiddler on the Roof - in Yiddish ! Interview with Star Steven Skybell and Director Joel Grey

We saw the new Folksbiene production of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish when it first came out last year. Since then we've been talking about it with friends who joined the crowds who trekked down to the tip of Manhattan to see the production that was extended many times.

Now it's moved to an off-Broadway location for an extended run through September 1.

In an interview with Laura Heywood than runs for 30 minutes, Steven Skybell, the actor who plays the lead role of Tevye, and Joel Grey, Oscar and Tony award winning actor and the show's director, sit down in front of a studio audience and tell their personal stories about the show and what it means to them.

It's a somewhat longer video than we usually post, but we think it's worth the time to watch.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.