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A History of The Folksbiene
The Melody Lingers On
Based on the works of I.L. Peretz
1969-1970 Season
Folksbiene Playhouse
175 East Broadway
New York, NY
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Leon Liebgold, Moshe Krause, Sam Josephson,
Itzy Firestone and Nathan Lieblich.
Courtesy of YIVO |
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A
review from the New York Times, November 17, 1969:
Theater: Folksbiene Tells Moral Tale
by Murray Schumach
The Folksbiene, which can truly
claim to be an off-Broadway pioneer, opened its 55th season over
the weekend by being very avant-garde. In this era, when the
young chant and march for lofty virtue in domestic politics and
international gamesmanship, the Folksbiene has produced a
passionate morality play at its playhouse, at 175 East Broadway.
From eighteen stories by I.L.
Peretz, about Jewish life in a Russo-Polish shtetl of the last
century, David Licht has fashioned and directed "A Melody
Lingers On," about the tragic wages of sin.
In the tradition of his troupe,
the points are made with eloquence and good taste. The
Folksbiene can deal with unwed motherhood, adultery, the
obligations of the individual and the community, without
obscenity, violence or nudity. The vividness of well-wrought
Yiddish and the fullness of the acting style are sufficient.
When these performers, some of
whom have been with the group for fifty years, utter such lines
as "the eyes creep out of the head," or "the greatest serpents
do not bear so much poison on their tongues," there is almost an
Elizabethan quality to the show. And when Harry Rubin, as the
adulterer, rails against the heavens, he has the gusto of a
Lear.
In keeping with a custom as old as
Yiddish theatre, a play, no matter how serious, must have music.
For this evening Sholem Secunda, one of the indestructible
talents of old Second Avenue, has supplied the songs, one of
which, a lullaby sung with moving simplicity by Deborah Cypkin,
touched off tears and sniffles in the audience.
"The Melody Lingers On," which is
done only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday -- with matinee
on Sunday as well -- has maintained the Folksbiene's standards
of respect for its writers, actors and audience.
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The Cast of Characters: |
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The Synopsis: |
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"As the generation,
so is its melody" -- I.L. Peretz
A
Russian-Polish town at the close of the 19th
century, is threatened with a plague which has
struck in its outskirts. Terrified, its people
believe God is punishing them for their sins. Town
gossips Toybe and Fayge plead with Mirel to keep her
musician-husband Joel from playing during the
crisis. Cold to their plea, he rehearses his
orchestra. As Joel is about to leave, Mirel, aware
of his love affair with Peshe, threatens to expose
it before the Bet Din (religious court): "Let Peshe
be driven out of town and God will pity us and keep
the plague away." Unintimidated, Joel proceeds to
the local tavern.
Leah, daughter
of Lazar, the wedding entertainer, asks about her
betrothed, Shamay, Joel's oldest son, who keeps
postponing their marriage. Shamay's brothers get
him to promise to wed her. Borakh, the town madman
who expects the plague to reach them, says the Beth
Din will want to marry two orphans in the cemetery,
a rite designed to prevent plagues. The Rabbi
enumerates the superstitious rites to be performed,
Mirel is about to tell the Rabbi of Joel's
infidelity when Shmuel, the gravedigger, enters with
Khane, who begged him to bury her still-born child.
The sinner has been found and the angry town gossips
are ready to assault Khane, but Peshe defends her.
Wintnessing it, Greentzayg, the quarantined
businessman from Warsaw, becomes enamored of Peshe.
The Rabbi
proposes Khane and Borukh be married in the
cemetery. Levi, Joel's second son, pushes Borukh
aside, saying he will wed Khane. Embittered Peshe
tells Joel that Khane is not guilty of the sins,
"But you and I are." Khane offers Peshe teatrful thanks
for her coming to her defense.
Mirel and
daughters-in-law Leah and Khane await their
husband's return from a ball, where they are
playing. The gossips pass by to tell Mirel that
Peshe will marry Greentzayg. When they speak ill of
Peshe, Leah and Khane defend her. Greentzayg comes
to engage Joel's orchestra for his wedding. When
Peshe arrives to speak to Joel, Leah and Khane try
to talk her out of marrying Greentzayg. "It will be
better for everyone," says Peshe.
On their
arrival home, the musicians are told of their
engagement for Peshe's wedding. "A Jewish daughter's
wedding is a day of judgment," says Mirel to Peshe.
"I will tear all the curses from my heart and
forgive you, and may God forgive you too."
Joel is pained
by the news and offers to run off with her, but
Peshe says: "One can't fight one's fate. It is all
one world and Mirel's curses will reach us
everywhere." Joel's anguish rises. to where he
envisions himself playing at Peshe's wedding.
The day of
Peshe's wedding, Joel disappears. Shmuel, the
gravedigger brings him home after finding him drunk
in the cemetery, where he spent the Sabbath. Joel
refuses to change clothes and go to the wedding.
Greentzayg, Peshe, accompanied by the Rabbi and the
gossips, are upset. Greentzayg demands that Joel
and his music come to the wedding and play for the
guests. When Joel refuses, he wants to call the
police. Joel throws his fiddle at Greentzayg's feet,
breaking all the strings.
Leah rocks
Khane's baby. Her husband, Shamay, is not
interested in children. Khane brings the news that
Peshe is back in town. Lazar, Azriel and Shmuel
enter arguing about the stages of melody; about King
David's song which will transmigrate: "Since a
melody lives, a melody dies and a melody is
resurrected."
Joel, old,
ailing and refusing medication, begins to take leave
of the world. Mirel asks for a prayer quorum to
plead for God's help. Joel insists that an
orchestra is better than 10 men singing psalms. He
orders his sons to play the "melody of his final
hours." Feverishly, the dying Joel speaks to the
Creator, "I have sinned . . . You permitted it . .
. You gave me a longing soul which, like Noah's
dove, found no rest anywhere."
Peshe runs
in. They refuse to let her come near the dying
musician, but Mirel orders them to allow her to
approach him: "Perhaps the Lord wanted to punish us
both with the same pain."
Joel dies,
Lazar tells his sons to finish the interrupted
melody.
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Harry Rubin and Joshua Zeldis in "The Melody Lingers On"
Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New
York. |
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