VIDEO: New Trailer for AMERIKE - THE GOLDEN LAND, Opening Tonight at National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene

In a time when issues of immigration, assimilation, xenophobia, and socio-economic upheaval are more present than ever, the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene will bring to the stage a reimagined version of Moishe Rosenfeld and Zalmen Mlotek's Amerike-The Golden Land, a musical journey of the immigration experience. Playing at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, across from the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, from which the story has taken inspiration, this limited Off Broadway engagement opens tonight and will run through August 6th. Watch a new trailer for the show below!

Amerike, originally created in the 1982 as The Golden Land, has been subject to revisions and adaptation since its inception. For 35 years the show has found new grounding implemented each time performed, each time at various states of the country. During which, the production has been updated to the keep its messages of struggle, survival, and perseverance relevant. The show, recreating an authentic Yiddish music soundscape of NYC from the 1880s through the late 1940s, will be presented in Yiddish, with English seeping into the characters' words as the play progresses, as language does in assimilation. English and Russian translation supertitles will accompany the show's dialogue.

The new production is helmed by Drama Desk nominee Bryna Wasserman, who directed last season hit musical The Golden Bride. Movement is provided by Chita Rivera Award nominee Merete Muenter. Rosenfeld and Mlotek, who co-created the Tony Award nominated production Those Were the Days, provide the adaptations to their book, lyrics, music and orchestrations. Mlotek also provides Music Direction and Orchestrations.

Of the cast of 12, the only native Yiddish speaker among them is Award-winning International artist Daniel Kahn, the protégé of the late Theo Bikel. The remaining 11 performers and the two understudies, most from the Broadway community, have had two-and-a-half weeks to learn the language.

The cast features Glenn Seven Allen (Bway: Light in the Piazza, Candide and NYTF's The Golden Bride); Alexandra Frohlinger (Bway: Soul Doctor, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, and West Side Story); Daniel Kahn (Death of a Salesman in Yiddish); Dani Marcus (Bway Touring Company: A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder), Stephanie Lynne Mason (Bway: Fiddler on the Roof and Million Dollar Quartet) and David Perlman (Bway: Baby It's You! Off-Bway: A Dog Story and Yank!) Understudies: Jessica Rose Futran and Christopher Tefft. With Maya Jacobson, Alexander Kosmowski, Raquel Nobile, Isabel Nesti, Grant Richards, and Bobby Underwood.

Amerike-The Golden Land opens tonight and runs through August 6th at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place, NY, NY 10280. Tickets are $35-$65 and can be purchased by calling 866-811-4111 or online at www.nytf.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.