NYTF to Take on Restored Operetta THE GOLDEN BRIDE

The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene [NYTF] presented the citywide mega-festival KulturfestNYC this past summer. Now, entering into its 101st season and inaugural year in residency at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, NYTF takes on the rediscovered and restored Yiddish American Operetta The Golden Bride, playing December 2, 2015, through January 3, 2016, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place, NYC. Pre-sale tickets are now available and can be purchased by calling (866) 811-4111 or visiting www.nytf.org.

With music by famed Yiddish composer Joseph Rumshinsky, this long-running popular romantic comedy from the 1920s, like many works of the Golden Age of Second Avenue Theatre, was lost to time following the Second World War. It was not until half a century later that The Golden Bride libretto and score were rediscovered.

"There's a world of historic works from the Yiddish canon that are just waiting to be repaired and brought to live audiences," says Zalmen Mlotek, NYTF Artistic Director, "It's our duty to make sure these incredible works of art are able to find a home- and where better than with the National Yiddish Theatre and performed at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, an institution dedicated to Jewish history and culture? It's culture- it's education- it's entertainment. "

"These performance pieces were relevant then, and are just as relevant today. There's a very unique timelessness to this particular art form that consistently spans and bridges generations. They're didactic, but they're also transformational stories that engage and inspire creativity," adds NYTF Executive Director Bryna Wasserman. "This the year that the Golden Age of Yiddish Theatre returns to NYC."

In the grand tradition reflecting the Operetta's 1920s conception, The Golden Bride is set to be performed with a cast that will number over 20 accompanied by a soaring 14-piece orchestra. They will play the original arrangements and orchestrations, of which have not been fully performed in over 70 years.

The principal cast features Bob Ader (Broadway's All the Way Home; Off Broadway's The Golden Land), Glenn Seven Allen (Broadway's Light in the Piazza), Lisa Fishman (Off Broadway's On Second Avenue and Shpiel, Shpiel, Shpiel), Regina Gibson(Off Broadway's The Apple Tree), Jillian Gottlieb (The Metropolitan Opera's Das Rheingold; FX's Damages; and USA's Royal Pains), CameRon Johnson (Into the Woods), Rachel Policar (Off Broadway's HMS Pinafore and The Boston Tea Party Opera), Bruce Rebold (Off Broadway's Kiss, Me Kate), and Adam B. Shapiro (HBO's The Normal Heart, Adam Sandler's The Cobbler, Off Broadway's Gimpel Tam and Megile of Itzik Manger).

The partial chorus and ensemble is comprised of Nelson Bettencourt, Adam Kaster, Jessica Kennedy, Amy Laviolette, Joseph Mace, Isabel Nesti, Zachary Spiegel, Tatiana Wechsler, Jeremy Weiss.

The veteran design team includes set design by John Dinning (world renown professor of sceneography and resident design at Toronto's Ed Mirvish Theatre and Massey Hall), costume design by Izzy Fields (Roundabout's Consent, Atlantic Theatre Company's The Crucible; and The Love of the Nightingale), and lighting design by Yael Lubetzky (Broadway's Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam, Associate Designer on Sylvia, Airline Highway, Once, The Little Mermaid, Sister Act).

The creative team is comprised of direction by Bryna Wasserman (Off Broadway's Lies My Father Told Me, On Second Avenue, and The Golden Land) and NYTF Associate Director Motl Didner (Off Broadway's Fyvush Finkel Live and The Megile of Itzik Manger), music direction by Zalmen Mlotek (Broadway's Those Were the Days, Itzhak Perlman's In the Fiddler's House at Carnegie Hall; Off Broadway's The Golden Land and On Second Avenue), choreography by Merete Muenter (Off Broadway's Lies My Father Told Me and The Megile of Itzik Manger), libreatto / score editing by Michael Ochs, with casting by Jamibeth Margolis, C.S.A. (Broadway's Phantom of the Opera, LES MISERABLES; Off Broadway's Sistas).

NYTF Executive Producer Christopher Massimine (Broadway's It Shoulda Been You and American Idiot, HBO's Boardwalk Empire, MTV's Jersey Shore) heads production and promotion as general manager and showrunner with Ken Larson (FX's American Horror Story and Wilfred, Shrek, Independence Day, Space Balls) as production manager and Sean Patrick (Roundabout's Anything Goes and the National Tour of Porgy and Bess) as production stage manager.

The Golden Bride plays December 2, 2015 through January 3, 2015 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Tickets are $35 Previews/$40 Performances and can be purchased by calling (866) 811-4111 or visiting nytf.org.

The Museum of Jewish Heritage is located at 36 Battery Place, NYC. For directions and information call (646) 437-4202 or visit www.mjhnyc.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.