New York Timess
THEATER REVIEW; Back to an Era When Yiddish Ruled the Stage
By NEIL GENZLINGER
Published: March 16, 2005
Can a perfectly calibrated ensemble production also be a star vehicle? Apparently so, because that's what the Folksbiene Yiddish Theater's revival of ''On Second Avenue'' is. Six appealing performers with six fine voices share roughly equal time delivering songs and shtick from the heyday of Yiddish theater, yet the show's biggest name, the American-Israeli actor Mike Burstyn, shines all that much brighter in his solo moments, radiating affability like a cheery fireplace on a cold night. This zippy revue, created by Moishe Rosenfeld and Zalmen Mlotek and first seen in the 1980's, consists of bits from the Yiddish theater that flourished along Second Avenue north of Houston Street in the first half of the last century. It was a theater of melodramas and morality tales and immigrant longings, and ''On Second Avenue'' samples it generously.
There are aphorisms (''He who digs a grave for others will himself fall in'') and sassy couplets (''We come from Passaic; we're gifted, not archaic'') and lots and lots of songs. ''In the theater, we saw ourselves,'' Mr. Burstyn summarizes in one interlude, and the music covers the spectrum of emotions: love, regret, envy, self-parody.
Joanne Borts, Lisa Fishman, Robert Abelson, Elan Kunin and Lisa Rubin join him in delivering it all, each adding something memorable. Much of the music is of a bouncy variety that has even the crankiest audience members stomping or clapping along, but perhaps the high point is a quiet, lovely round, ''Shtetl Montage,'' a homage to places left behind.
Some of the material is delivered in Yiddish, with supertitles provided, though they're hardly worth the trouble: the lyrics don't translate very poetically, and in any case the performers convey all the meaning that's needed. English, though, takes over for a priceless barrage of jokes delivered vaudeville-style by Mr. Burstyn. ''Two Jewish cannibals,'' he begins, but the rest won't be spoiled here.
''On Second Avenue'' runs through April 10 at the Jewish Community Center, 334 Amsterdam Avenue, at 76th Street, (800) 994-3347.
THEY KNOW FROM GOOD THEATER; [SPORTS FINAL Edition]
HOWARD KISSEL DAILY NEWS DRAMA CRITIC. New York Daily News. New York , N.Y. : Mar 29, 2005 . pg. 36
In its heyday, a century ago, Second Avenue served its immigrant audience in several ways. It reminded them of the world of Eastern Europe it had left behind, and, in such dramas as "The Yiddish King Lear," it crystallized the crises they faced in their new home.
"On Second Avenue ," the nostalgic musical about Yiddish theater's golden age, re-creates the charm of that lost world beautifully.
At several points, the show, which is playing at the JCC at 76th and Amsterdam and has two midweek matinees, uses film footage to show such stars of the Yiddish stage as Molly Picon and Pesach Burstein.
Burstein's son, Mike Burstyn, stars in "On Second Avenue." Burstyn, who has starred on Broadway in "Barnum" and "Ain't Broadway Grand?", brings real pizazz to bear on the material.
A cast of six lovingly performs a selection of comic numbers, touching songs like the lullaby "Raisins With Almonds" and a wittily blended medley of songs about the beloved towns left behind, like "Belz." A klezmer band provides rousing accompaniment to a well-put- together tribute to a rich legacy.
Neil Genzlinger - New York Times