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From the
right: Diane Cypkin, David Rogoff, Marilyn Gold,
Joseph Buloff, Menasha Oppenheim, Morris Adler, and Zypora
Spaisman.
Courtesy of YIVO.
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A review from the New York
Times, November 15, 1972:
The Theater: 'Yoshke Musikant'
by the Folksbiene
Comedy opens Yiddish troupe's 58th Season
by A.H. Weiler
As
the most fabulous invalid around, the Yiddish theatre is
flourishing -- this season, at least -- with "Yoshe Kalb" and
"The Rebbitzen From Israel," alive and doing quite well, thank
you. And now, The Folksbiene, the sturdiest troupe of them all,
has opened its 58th season with "Yoshke Musikant," an amalgam of
folklore, unrequited love, native humor and music adapted from
the late Osip Dymow's play, presented on weekends at the
showcase on East Broadway.
"Yoshke Musikant" obviously is close to the heart of Joseph
Buloff, its titular star, director and adapter, who performed it
in the old country and with Maurice Schwartz on Second Avenue
here in the 1920s, or long before his 1943 appearance on
Broadway in the original "Oklahoma!" And he and his company play
it now with camaraderie and a deep respect for the nuances of
Yiddish and the subject matter.
In
the tradition of the Yiddish theatre, the plot is ample and
convoluted. The joys and tragedies of "Yoshke Musikant" and the
other villagers of this turn-of-the-century Russian shtetl are
varied enough for soap opera. But the versatile Mr. Buloff and
his enthusiastic cast handle them with gusto and tenderness.
With
the exception of the opening and closing scenes in which he
portrays a grandmother, he is the multi-talented Yoshke, a
middle-aged fiddler with his feet on the ground; a funny
magician, a songwriter and a letter-writer for the lovelorn. But
he is also secretly in love with Diane Cypkin, the beautiful
servant girl whose heart still belongs ot her handsome seducer,
the ne'er-do-well son of her employer. (continued, below,
right) |
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Sheyne
Rayzele
Sheyne, as servant girl
Mendel
Hodish
Shayke
Berl
Yoshke
Madam Luria
Semionchik
Mekhutn
Mekhutenesie
Baker's Wife
Bride
Butcher
Kallputa |
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Joseph Buloff
Marilyn Gold
Diane Cypkin
David Rogov
Zypora Spaisman
Menashe Oppenheim
Morris Adler
Joseph Buloff
Mina Kern
Norman Kruger
Harry Grape
Rivka Feld
Sarah Stabin
Paula Teitelbaum
Max Pollack
Moishe Rosenfeld |
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That, of course, is
only the beginning. How Yoshke becomes rich, almost marries his heart's desire
and eventually winds up as the village meshugener, involves three acts of
playful misunderstandings and comic characterizations, occasionally accompanied
by some fine singing by the attractive Miss Cypkin, as well as a couple of
song-and-dance turns by Mr. Buloff and others.
The play is staged on
a realistic set that captures the homey quality of a middle-class family
kitchen. The cast, lighthearted but professional about the serio-comic tale
they're spinning, includes the expressively comic talents of David Rogov as a
stuttering cemetery plot salesman; Menashe Oppenheim, as a chimney sweep, and
Zypora Spaisman, as an old, happy busybody. Miss Cypkin is not only decorative
but also projects her heartbreak with passion.
Mr. Buloff speaks of
the stars that "are not nearly as many as my tears" in "Yoshke Musikant," but
the occasionally garrulous Yoshke and his vintage crowd are more cheerful than
tearful most of the way.
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