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Stephanie Lynne Mason

Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish

February 23, 2019

The property is now more than a half-century old. But this production makes it seem as though the 1964 iteration were merely an English-language version of a classic from even longer ago. There’s a greater feeling of immediacy than perhaps ever before. Hearing the characters speak and sing in the tongue that their real-life 1905 contemporaries would have used is deeply moving. What a shame that so many speakers of Yiddish from decades past never got the chance to experience the musical in this guise. [more]

Fiddler on the Roof (The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene)

July 28, 2018

Steven Skybell’s Tevye warms up from a salt-of-the-earth, everyday philosopher to the much put-upon tragic existential hero upon whom God—to whom he speaks frequently—has heaped much tsouris.  By the time he has lost a third daughter Khavele, this time to a Russian Christian, his interpretations of the songs and his line readings are heart-breaking. [more]

ON THE TOWN… With CHIP DEFFAA

August 4, 2017

I’ve seen “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” many times, many places.  I didn’t see the original Broadway production, alas–although I loved the cast album–but I’ve enjoyed the Broadway revivals, and other productions.  Just this year, for example, I got a kick out of seeing the kids at New York’s Professional Performing Arts School do a production. [more]