& # 39; Fiddler & # 39; never seemed so Jewish

For a Jewish audience, among the strangest and least endearing aspects of "Fiddler on the Roof" are his gestures towards universality and inauthenticity. The characters say "Good Sabbath" (rather than "Good Shabbes") to each other, the pogrom in the end is particularly nonviolent to the point of seeming false and the whole thing seems imbued with a retrospective, nostalgic haze like if the characters only make the mark before their inevitable transplantation into their true Jewish homeland – America, where their love of individual freedom will finally be unleashed.

That is why "Fidler Afn Dakh", the new production of "Fiddler" in Yiddish from the Yiddish National Theater Folksbiene, directed by Joel Gray, which opened last week at the Jewish Heritage Museum in Battery Park, is such a mechaye – a seamless pleasure. This may seem odd, but the musical Joseph Stein / Jerry Bock / Sheldon Harnick never seemed so Jewish, so firmly anchored in the particular space of the European Jewish life of Europe. 39; East. Using a translation made by Polish Jewish theater artist Shraga Friedman who was created in Israel in 1965, but which has never been performed in America until now, the Folksbiene has thrown a new light on this most iconic American musical.

Steven Skybell plays "If I Were A Richman" in Yiddish. Courtesy of Victor Nechay / ProperPix

Like the sparkling production of "The Golden Bride" of the Folksbiene a few years ago, this "Fiddler" is exceptionally well cast, starting with Steven Skybell as Tevye. The tall gangly actor (who appeared in Broadway's recent production of "Fiddler" under the name of Lazar Wolf) connects with the audience, as all Tevyes must do, in his signature solo, "Bin Ich a Rothschild" ("If I Were a Rich Man"). The song takes on new resonance when it is sung in Yiddish, the language shaped by centuries of poverty and nostalgia. Indeed, it really seems like an extension of his line of entry as he drags his milk cans on the stage, "Haynt bin ich a ferd" ("Today I am a horse "), with his melancholic words, simple syllables percussion in the ear.

Rather than simply evoking images of wealth, the song now speaks more specifically to aspects of the Jewish tradition – being rich, according to the Yiddish words, is to be a "zeydl eydl man" (a noble – literally, "silk" – sir), or to have the knowledge to understand not only the words of the rabbi, but also the song of the cantor.

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Sisters Raquel Nobile, Rosie Jo Neddy, Rachel Zatcoff, Stephanie Lynne Mason and Samantha Hahn sing "Matchmaker". Courtesy of Victor Nechay / ProperPix

Skybell is supported by a strong cast. Mary Illes plays his wife Golde, with a tight severity, even if she found fashion in their duet in two acts, "Libst Mikh, Sertse?" ("Do you love me?"). The three main girls, Tsaytl (Rachel Zatcoff), Hodl (Stephanie Lynne Mason) and Khave (Rosie Jo Neddy) all have beautiful voices soaring – the first two have been featured in other recent musical productions of Folksbiene, while than the third debut in New York. Their respective beauties, Motl Kamzoyl (Ben Liebert), Pertshik (Daniel Kahn) and Fyedke (Cameron Johnson), also performed well. (Kahn is a Berlin-based klezmer-based singer / songwriter, The Painted Bird.) Running comic stand-up Jackie Hoffman as Yente the Matchmaker is a clever idea, but her use of Yiddish is clumsy and hesitant, which night to the comic brilliance of his voluble character. Bruce Sabath is credible as the injured claimant, Leyzer-Volf.

Gray is confronted with the same challenge that often harms the Folksbiene productions – the stage is too small for such a large cast. This is particularly evident in the dance sequences, choreographed by Staś Kmieć, considered the greatest specialist in Polish dance in America. Reimagining the five main dance sequences of Jerome Robbins in "Fiddler" is popular nowadays; The recent Broadway revival was re-choreographed by Israeli choreographer Hofesh Shechter, who permeated the actors' movements with greater emotional depth and periodically dragged them to the floor. What emerges from Kmieć's choreography, much more than the proven round dances and the familiar and pleasant dance of the bottle in Act II, is the sense of threat that Russian Orthodox Christian characters bring; After the comic scene of Tevye and Leyzer-Volf in the tavern, the Russians turn Tevye around, scary and foreshadowing what will happen in the end.

The sisters: Raquel Nobile, Rosie Jo Neddy, Rachel Zatcoff, Stephanie Lynne Mason, Samantha Hahn sings "Matchmaker". Courtesy of Victor Nechay / ProperPix

A less sanitized "Fiddler" is a good thing all around. Rather than looking quaint and old-fashioned Anatevka, it now vibrates with new energy. Yes, there are strange and anachronistic touches, like a villager who, somewhat ridiculous, carries stacks of bagels on short sticks (in Eastern Europe, the bagels would have been much smaller and the sticks much longer). But when Tevye accepts Leyzer-Volf's gift to his daughter, Tzaytl and her new husband, calling Motel a "freak gebakenem man" (a "freshly cooked" husband), or when Tevye finally blesses the engagement between Hodel and Perchik, intoning "Solakhti kidvorekho" ("I forgive, as you have asked," from Numbers 14:20, which is the Hebrew expression used on Yom Kippur to anticipate God's forgiveness of sin), the music seems much more rooted in Jewish tradition – and in the original Tevye's stories by Sholem Aleichem, on which Shraga based much of the translation – that the English version has never done.

For the most part, it's a pretty simple production. The scene is dominated by large sheets of crumpled brown paper, with one word – Torah – written in Hebrew the one in the center. (It will tear in half, and the sutures will come together, as the story unfolds.) There were times when I wanted a more lavish decor, like in the elegant klezmer version infused in Italy in 2003, also in Yiddish. But when the cast sings "Tog-Ayn, Tog-Oys" ("Sunrise, Sunset"), the power of "Fiddler" to evoke tears still pbades.

Mary Illes, Steven Skybell, Jodi Snyder and stage ensemble on stage "The Dream". Courtesy of Victor Nechay / ProperPix

In recent years, thanks to the New Yiddish Rep, "Death of a Salesman" and "Awake and Sing!" Have both been played in Yiddish. Some recent English-language productions of "The Merchant of Venice" have had Jewish characters, including Shylock and her daughter, Jessica, singing in Yiddish. There is growing awareness that playing Jewish plays and musicals in Yiddish, or incorporating Yiddish into theatrical works on Jewish themes, gives them a new and old twist. Indeed, the use of Yiddish enriches, enhances and animates Jewish works by putting the public in the place of a Jewish immigrant audience a century ago, experiencing the experience of Jewish theater as part of the fabric of their being – as the expression of their own dreams, like those of the characters of "Fiddler", a better, happier, and yes, more prosperous life.

Tevye played by Steven Skybell, center, and the male ensemble sings, "The chaim." Courtesy of Victor Nechay / ProperPix

" Fidler Afn Dakh" takes place on September 2nd at the Jewish Heritage Museum, 36 Battery Place. Performances will take place on Wednesdays at 1 pm, Thursdays at 1 pm and 7 pm, Fridays at noon, Sundays at 1 pm and 6 pm and Mondays at 7 pm. For tickets, $ 75- $ 120, visit nytf.org or call OvationTix at (866) 811-4111 .