To celebrate the start of its 14th season and its first on Theatre Row, Musicals Tonight has chosen to revive Jerry Herman's Milk and Honey.
Jerry Herman's first book musical (1961) is set in Israel around Independence Day (May 14). Phil Arkin (Richard White), from Baltimore, is visiting his daughter Barbara (Yael Gonen) and her new husband David (Michael Mott) who are living on a kibbutz. Ruth Stein (Barbara McCullogh), recently widowed, is on a tour comprised of other American women who are both Jewish and widows. The other women on the tour - Clara Weiss (Verna Pierce), Mrs. Kessler (Sandy Rosenberg) and Mrs. Segal (Deborah Jean Templin) are unashamedly searching for eligible Jewish men to marry, but Ruth is not. Yet she and Phil fall in love. The marriage between David and Barbara almost succumbs to the rigors of desert living. The Jewish Yemenite marriage ceremony between fellow Kibbutzniks Ari (Aaron Berk) and the very pregnant Zipporah (Emily Glick) almost succumbs to bickering. The love affair between Mrs. Weiss and fellow tourist Mr. Horowitz (Peter Tedeschi) begins to bloom. But the relationship between our principals is faced with a major hurdle when Phil admits to Ruth that he is estranged from but not divorced from his wife. And as the curtain descends, all the romantic problems approach solutions - and we all sing Shalom.Videos