A review of this play appeared in the New York Times, November 9, 1985:

The Stage: 'Broome Street, America," in Yiddish
by Richard F. Shepard

Name changes on the way from the Lower East Side to Broadway are often a matter of course. Name changes en route from Broadway English to Lower East Side Yiddish are practically unheard of, but such is the case with Sylvia Regan's immigrant drama, "Broome Street, America," which on Sunday opened the Folksbiene Playhouse's 71st season.

The play started life in 1940 in English as 'The Morning Star," starring Molly Picon and Joseph Buloff, on Broadway. Now, under the skillful ministrations of Miriam Kressyn, who adapted and also wrote the lyrics for several songs (it is not a musical), it is speaking fluent Yiddish, comfortably ensconced in the real language of the people it tells about.

It is done with sincerity, affection and tenderness, so well that it comes across as a period-piece melodrama that can be taken on its own terms, which are not onerous. At this late date, it is endearing in that it goes back to roots both theatrically and thematically.

"Broome Street, America" follows, through thirty years, the fortunes of Becky Felderman, her three daughters, and her son who, at the outset, is about to be bar mitzvahed. Most of the fortune is misfortune -- a daughter dies in the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, the son dies in World War I -- but there is always hope, and that is almost success for those born to hopelessness. The characters might be stereotypes, but they are brought to life by a sensitive cast directed by Roger Sullivan, who has worked in many languages, including the Scandinavian, but never before in Yiddish.

Zypora Spaisman gives us a fine Becky, the dressmaker, who is the indomitable mother, stoically comic perhaps on the surface but practical and emotional down deep. Jack Rechtzeit is an arrestingly attractive character as Greenspan the boarder, a charmer who first opts for success as a capitalist and then settles down as a union representative in conflict with Becky's ruthlessly acquisitive daughter, Sadie (Raquel Yossiffon). Greenspan's optimism in America contrasts with the radicalism of his fiery Marxist friend Brownstein the baker (Jacques Brawer) who, when asked, gives his profession as "Proletariat!"

It is good to see in Yiddish theater, as exemplified here, the presence of young people. Even a dozen years ago, it had seemed that this particular brand of theater would disappear altogether when the last senior performers had aged too much for romantic embraces.

Among this younger generation of Yiddish-speaking actors is Betty Silberman, as the daughter determined to get into show business. She is a lively entertainer, one who can make a stale line come alive and can also put over a song, which she does here with Daniel Chiel, as her husband, a failed songwriter who brightens things by playing jazzy pop on piano.

I.W. Firestone, as the would-be teacher who is about to marry the pretty, good-hearted and ill-fated Esther (Miriam Gordon), presents, convincingly, the dilemma of the idealist who would find greatest satisfaction in helping others, but who lacks the aggressiveness needed in America even to realize ideals. There are two bar mitzvah boys in all of this, and they are played by James Harris and Jacob Mirer. They speak Yiddish, too, and Yiddish out of the mouths of children is the most cheering news one could report from the Yiddish theater.

"Broome Street, America" is theater out of the American legend, and it could not come at a better time than this centennial year of the Statue of Liberty, which welcomed so many people like the play's characters to our shores.