SITE GUIDE
SEARCH
REVIEWS
REVIEW ARCHIVES
ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP
FEATURES
NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings
LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway
NYC Restaurants
BOOKS and CDs
OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Connecticut
Philadelphia
Elsewhere
QUOTES
TKTS
PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS
LETTERS TO EDITOR
FILM
LINKS
MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
A CurtainUp Review
The Adventures of Hershele Ostropolyer
|
If your grandmother in heaven could see you bargaining like this, she'd die a second time.— Reb Kalmen
|
Mike Burstyn in
The Adventures of Hershele Ostropolyer
(Photo: Michael Priest) |
The folk hero is based on a man who lived in Ukraine during the late 18th or early 19th centuries and eventually became a kind of court jester to Rabbi Boruch of Medzhybizh. While in myths Hershele took on the rich establishment to champion the poor, in reality his job was to pacify the rebbe, who was notorious for his fiery temper.
In The Adventures of Hershele Ostropolyer by Moyshe Gershenson, Hershele's mission is to help Berl get back a ring from the miserly pawnbroker, Reb Kalmen, so he can marry his beloved Tsipke. The ring once belonged to her departed grandmother who will not bless the wedding from her heavenly abode while it is still in Kalmen's hands.
For The National Yiddish Theatre — Folksbiene's spring production (performed in Yiddish with English and Russian supertitles), the musical has been adapted by Eleanor Reissa (who also directs and choreographs). The score is updated by Chana Mlotek, music archivist at YIVO. Nimmy Weisbrod plays Berl, while Dani Marcus (whose tremendous voice we should hear more often) takes on the role of Tsipke. But the big name in the show is Mike Burstyn, who plays the lovable rascal with great zest and a fine sense of Yiddish irony.
Burstyn, the son of Yiddish-speaking actors Pesach Berstein and Lillian Lux, performed in Yiddish theater as a child, and theater with Jewish themes has played an important part in his adult career which includes The Rothchilds and Lansky). But if Burstyn brings in the audience, he also lifts up the show. He sings, dances and dispenses a great deal of Yiddish wisdom and humor. He is at his best with songs like Today I Have a Meal and My Poor Coat, an ode to his tattered mantle.
The cast also includes the excellent I.W. "Itzy" Firestone (now in his 34th year with the Folksbiene) as Reb Kalmen and the effervescent Daniella Rabbani as Kalmen's long-suffering maid, Dvoshe. Lori Wilner is Genendl who, with her husband Zaydl (Steve Sterner) runs the town inn, which Hershele targets for the site of the young couple's wedding.
The score, played by a band directed by Dmitri "Zisl" Slepovitch includes material from a mid-1950s Workmen's Circle production, but also includes original tunes and updated lyrics. It is filled with the caution, joy and resignation of traditional klezmer melodies. Rather than try to recreate the European shtetl, Roger Hanna has given his set a fairytale quality that reminds one of those used for children's puppet shows — with a revolving door for quick exits and entrances and windows that open to reveal characters both living and deceased.
Hershele's strategy for getting Kalmen to give back the ring is to convince the miser that he is going crazy. To do this Hershele uses his wits and his charm. But he has no thought of personal gain, despite the fact that he often doesn't know where he will get his next meal.
As for the young couple, unlike those in traditional fairytales, they do not want to be rich or royal. They just want to get married. Indeed, the world of Yiddish folklore is a place of limited goals and unbounded entertainment.
|
The Adventures of Hershele Ostropolyer By Moyshe Gershenson Adapted, directed and choreographed by Eleanor Reissa Musical Score Compiled by Chana Mlotek with Zalmen Mlotek and Eleanor Reissa Cast: Nimmy Weisbrod (Berl), Dani Marcus (Tsipke), Lori Wilner (Grandma), Mike Burstyn (Hershele), Daniella Rabbani (Dvoshe), I.W. Firestone (Kalmen), Shane Bertram Baker (Bunim), Edward Furs (Stanavoy), Lori Wilner (Genendl), Steve Sterner (Zaydl) Band: Dmitri Slepovitch (director), Taylor Bergren-Chrisman, Rima Fand, Carl Reihl Scenic Design: Roger Hanna Costume Design: Gail Cooper-Hecht Lighting Design: Kirk Bookman Sound Design: Bruce Ellman Supertitles Design: Motl Didner Running Time: 90 minutes, no intermission The National Yiddish Theatre - Folksbiene at Baruch Performing Arts Center55 Lexington Avenue (25th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues) 646/312-5073, www.folksbiene.org From 5/25/10; opening 6/03/10; closing 6/27/10 Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 2pm, Thursdays at 2pm & 8pm, Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm & 6pm Tickets: $55 Reviewed by Paulanne Simmons June 1, 2010 Musical Numbers Prologue Nigun/FullCompany A Beautiful Night/Full Company You Shine Like the Sun/Berl, Tsipke A Good Evening/Hershele I Am a business Man/Reb Kalmen Today I Have a Meal/Hershele The Maid's Song/Dvoshe All Ways Filled With Stones/Berl, Tsipke, Bunim, Hershele Where Can You Get such Luck?/Reb Kalmen How Do We Get Him Married?/Bunim, Hershele, Berl, Tsipke Crazy/Dvoshe, Stanavoy, Berl, Tsipke, Hershele Customers/Genendl, Zaydl My Poor Coat/Hershele The Rich Folk/Bunim, Hershele The Policeman's Song/Stanavoy, Dvoshe, Kalmen Let's Make Up/Full Company Hershele Ostropolyer/Full Company |
|
REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V): Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email. . .also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review. You can also contact us at Curtainup at Facebook , Curtainup at Twitter and at our Blog Annex . . . Curtain Up Blog Annex at Kindle |
|
Subscribe to our FREE email updates with a note from editor Elyse Sommer about additions to the website -- with main page hot links to the latest features posted at our numerous locations. To subscribe,
E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com
put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message -- if you can spare a minute, tell us how you came to CurtainUp and from what part of the country. |
South Pacific
In the Heights
Playbill Broadway Yearbook
