Academy and Tony Award-winning actor, Joel Grey along with the cast of the award-winning, Off-Broadway show, “Fiddler on the Roof” in Yiddish is celebrating a new American presidency by singing “God Bless America” in Yiddish.
The video was released on Jan. 19 and posted on the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene website. It comes the day before President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are sworn into office, celebrates and honors the ideals of the United States of America on the eve of the upcoming Presidential Inauguration.
The video features Steven Skybell, the award-winning actor who played Tevye in the production of “Fiddler” in Yiddish, along with Jennifer Babiak (Golde), Rachel Zatcoff (Tsaytl), Ben Liebert (Motl), Stephanie Lynne Mason (Hodl), Drew Seigla (Perchik), Rosie Jo Neddy (Khave), Raquel Nobile (Shprintze) and Samantha Hahn (Beylke). “Fiddler” cast members from both the Museum of Jewish Heritage production and the Off-Broadway, Stage 42 production are also featured.
Lisa Fishman, who played Bobe Tsaytl in “Fiddler,” came up with the idea while researching songs written by Jewish American composer Irving Berlin, who wrote the song.
“Berlin, a Jewish immigrant whose family came to America in the early 1900s, released ‘God Bless America’ as a ‘solemn prayer’ and song of peace during a time of rising fascism in Europe,” she said. “As we emerge from this dark chapter of division and strife and welcome in a new presidential administration, singing this iconic anthem in Yiddish – the author’s native tongue, is a unique way for the Fiddler family to honor our incoming leaders, to celebrate the ideals and values of our country, and to pray for this beautiful and fragile – yet enduring – democracy.”
“singing this iconic anthem in Yiddish is a unique way for the Fiddler family to honor our incoming leaders, to celebrate the ideals and values of our country, and to pray for this beautiful and fragile – yet enduring – democracy.”
“God Bless America” was originally written in 1918 for a musical revue by Berlin, born Israel Beilin, while he was in the U.S. Army. Twenty years later in 1938, with the rise of Adolf Hitler and fascism, Berlin revised the song and released it as a patriotic song of peace.
The Yiddish translation of the song, ”Got Bentsh Amerike,” features an original vocal arrangement and piano accompaniment by “Fiddler” orchestra first chair clarinetist, D. Zisl Slepovitch, and showcases Lauren Jeanne Thomas on violin, who played the titular role of The Fiddler. “Got Bentsh Amerike,” was originally translated by producer, musicologist, performer and Yiddish Radio Project co-creator, Henry Sapoznik, who worked on Yiddish translations for Mandy Patinkin’s album, “Mamaloshen.” Patinkin also sang this rendition during a final push to get out the vote during the 2020 election on Zoom.
Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish (aka: Fidler afn Dakh), originally produced by New York’s National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF), opened July 15, 2018 in the Edmond J. Safra Theatre at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. The show extended four times before transferring to Off-Broadway’s Stage 42 in February 2019. The midtown run also extended their show dates to Jan. 5 2020. The acclaimed production broke the house box office record at Stage 42.
Watch the video here.
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