Review: From the Bowery to Broadway
|
Donald Trump and Yiddish Theater? An unlikely duo. But, in 1970, as a wannabe Broadway producer, Trump did back “Paris Is Out!,” a comedy featuring American-born Molly Picon, the iconic actress of the Yiddish stage whose slim, agile physique often resulted in gender-bending, with her playing young boys, though, she always was revealed as a woman and got her man. While Trump’s Broadway backing was a flop, one of many failed ventures, Picon was very much a star, beloved by Yiddish speaking audiences who first crowded the theaters in the Bowery and later, after moving uptown, theaters in the Jewish Rialto, the Second Avenue Entertainment Center, to see plays that were written here about there. A new exhibit up at the Museum of the City of New York, New York’s Yiddish Theater: From the Bowery to Broadway, guest curated by Edna Nahshon, an author and Professor of Jewish Theatre and Drama at The Jewish Theological Seminary, tells this story in an engaging way, relying on both a chronological and thematic design. “Yiddish theater is an immigrant theater, where playwrights construct a conversation with their memories,” Nahshon explained as she walked through the show.