On our recent trip to New York City to see our family, Rhonda and I had the opportunity to attend a performance of “Fiddler on the Roof” in Yiddish.
Joel Grey, best known for his role as “Master of Ceremonies” in the movie “Cabaret,” is the director of this production by the National Yiddish Theatre that first had a successful run at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park. It moved on February 11 to Stage 42, an Off-Broadway theater on 42nd Street (and will continue through September 1).
We knew that we were familiar enough with the dialogue that, even without translation, we would be able to understand just about everything during the per- formance, This production provided translation, into English and Russian, that the audience could follow, projected onto the scenery at both stage left and stage right.
The combination of hearing then Yiddish and seeing the English enriched our experience. Moreover, it was authentic.
“Fiddler on the Roof” was a stage adaptation of Sholom Aleichem’s Yiddish stories about Tevye the Dairyman, with Sheldon Bock and Jerry Harnick creating memorable songs. When it opened in 1964, with Zero Mostel cast in the role of Tevye, it was an instant hit (Steven Skybell portrays Tevye in this production).
The “Tevyes” I have seen in the past include legendary singers Jan Peerce and Theodore Bikel. I have, not surprisingly, heard each of those musical stars sing songs in Yiddish. Something tells me they would be smiling down at this new production of “Fiddler.”
Actually, it is not new. Shraga Friedman, a native of Warsaw, translated the entire show into Yiddish in 1966. It was staged in Israel in Yiddish, and it was also translated into Hebrew.
This Yiddish “Fiddler” had never been performed in the United States. How fitting it is that the son of Yiddish entertainer Mickey Katz (and, of course, the father of Jennifer Grey, “Baby” in Dirty Dancing) would be so instrumental in bringing this performance to the American stage.
The feel of the show was the same as other performances we have attended, but...different.
The Yiddish dialogue provided an unmistakable depth to the musical. It sounded right. It was like going back in a time machine to most any shtetl in Russia/ Poland.
The characteristic highlights, including the bottle dance in the wedding scene, “L’Chayim (the chorus was “Zol Zein, Mit Glick, L’Chayim!”), the dream sequence, and “Sabbath Prayer” were all well done.
It was special to hear familiar Yiddish words in the lyrics and dialogue.
My knowledge of the Yiddish language is limited to the words my father taught me beyond terms that had migrated into English. Using the Hebrew-Yiddish Bible translation completed by the poet Yehoash, which now sits on my shelf in my office, my father made sure I knew how to “decode” Yiddish, teaching me which letters became vowels so that I could correctly sound out a Yiddish text.
At least two moments stood out for me. The use of the word “pogrom” in the Constable’s announcement to Tevye of the coming attack on the Jews of the village had a foreboding ring to it in the absence of the term “demonstration” used in the English dialogue of the original script.
At the end, when the villagers were about to leave Anatevka for the last time, Tevye intoned a blessing on his grandchild, held by his daughter, Tzeitel, reciting the Hebrew “Y’varechecha Hashem V’Yish’m’recha (May the Eternal Bless You and Keep You).” It was a poignant moment that was not noted in the original script.
There were many men in the audience wearing kippot, and it is likely that some people attending understood every word they heard.
At the very end, as Tevye’s family began to exit the stage, the dairyman motioned to the Fiddler to follow along. In this case, the Fiddler did not play, but simply held the violin at her side, stood up straight and proudly walked towards an uncertain but promising future.
Today, we are certain and definitely proud of who we are. May we always remember from where we came, whatever our background, and take it with us as a trusted and cherished companion along our journey.
No comments:
Post a Comment