Contact: Jim Byk | Louisa Pancoast
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF IN YIDDISH
National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s (Zalmen Mlotek, Artistic Director; Dominick Balletta, Executive Director) return engagement of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish played a limited engagement from November 13, 2023 through January 1, 2023 Off-Broadway at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street). Fiddler on the Roof is presented in Yiddish with English and Russian Supertitles.
The acclaimed production was directed by the legendary Oscar and Tony Award winner Joel Grey. Steven Skybell also returned to recreate his award-winning performance as Tevye, a milkman navigating family, faith and changing traditions in the little Russian shtetl of Anatevka. Choreography was by Jerome Robbins with Musical Staging and New Choreography by Staś Kmieć.
The cast featured Jennifer Babiak (Golde), Lisa Fishman (Yente), Ben Liebert (Motl), Stephanie Lynne Mason (Hodl), Rosie Jo Neddy (Khave), Michael William Nigro (Fyedke), Bruce Sabath (Leyzer-Volf), Drew Seigla (Pertshik), Rachel Zatcoff (Tsaytl), with Jonathan Cable, Yael Eden Chanukov, John Giesige, Kirk Geritano, Abby Goldfarb, Raquel Nobile, Jonathan Quigley, Nick Raynor, Adam B. Shapiro, Jodi Snyder, James Monroe Števko, Ron Tal, Lauren Jeanne Thomas, Bobby Underwood and Mikhl Yashinsky.
Fiddler on the Roof features a book by Joseph Stein based on stories by Sholem Aleichem, music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. Yiddish translation is by Shraga Friedman. The original 1964 Broadway production, produced on the New York Stage by Harold Prince and directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, won nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The musical has been playing on world stages ever since its original Broadway production.
National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF) is the longest consecutively producing theatre in the US and the world's oldest continuously operating Yiddish theatre company. NYTF’s Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish,originally produced in 2018, sold out for six months before moving uptown to Off-Broadway’s Stage 42 where it played for a year. The production won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Musical, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Revival of a Musical, a New York Drama Critics Circle Special Citation, an Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Musical Revival, and a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical - Steven Skybell. Earlier this year, NYTF staged the New York premiere of Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman’s award-winning Harmony.
The New York Times said Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish “strikes a deep emotional chord” and “offers a kind of authenticity no other American Fiddler ever has.” Newsday said it “speaks to us all.” The Hollywood Reporter raves “It must be seen.” 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 in its four star review deemed it “perfect.”
Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Musical, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Revival of a Musical, a New York Drama Critics Circle Special Citation, an Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Musical Revival, and a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical - Steven Skybell.
The Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish is available on Time Life Music Distributed by Warner Bros.