J ET
New Broadway Light
In Yiddishkeit
MICHAEL ELKIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
H
The audience will
have a dual role.
of the sportin' life, "Jake the
Ballplayer," gets another at
bat in Sheik.
"So many of these songs —
written by Jews and non-
Jews during the first couple
of decades of this century —
show what the composers
thought of Jewish immi-
grants," says Mr. Sheffer.
Not all of it was good. "I
uncovered some anti-Semi-
tism among the works," says
Mr. Sheffer.
That will not be the focus
of Sheik, which, unlike Se-
cond Avenue, will be first
and foremost an English-
language show, with the
Yiddish coming from the
lyrics of songs.
Featuring seven
characters styled on such
legendary figures as Jack
Benny and Fanny Brice,
Sheik will shake the walls
with such hits as "Whose
Izzy Is He, Is He Yours or Is
He Mine?"
presents
The Queen's
Physician
By Betty Neustat
Directed by Dinah Lynch
Isaiah Sheffer:
Revives an era.
This is not Mr. Sheffer's
project alone, he stresses. He
is joined by Dan Siretta, a
prominent Broadway chore-
ographer, and Lawrence
Toppall, producer, as co-
creators.
The audience will have a
dual role in this show-
within-a-show. "They will be
the audience for the studio
radio show as well as the au-
dience for the Broadway
show they came to see," says
Mr. Sheffer.
How did Isaiah Sheffer see
his way clear to stage so
many shows of Jewish inter-
est, including the off-
Broadway production of The
Rise of David Levinsky with
Larry Kert? The road from
On Second Avenue to The
Sheik of Avenue B is a
theatrical thoroughfare on
which Sheffer is well-
traveled.
Isaiah Sheffer's mother
was a Yiddish actress; his
uncle, Zvee Scooler, also was
schooled in the Yiddish
theater.
But Isaiah Sheffer doesn't
limit his world to the con-
fines of the Jewish stage. He
is artistic director of New
York's prestigious Sym-
phony Space, which, in con-
cert with public radio, offers
a program of short-story
readings by celebrated
actors.
There is no shortcut to
success, whether it be the
Yiddish or English stage,
says Mr. Sheffer. Quality is
what counts.
And that, says Mr. Sheffer,
is what The Sheik of Avenue
B has to offer.
❑
A Lush
Romantic
Historical Drama
December 6 - December 27
Preview Performances
December 2 - December 6
AARON DE ROY THEATRE
JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER
6600 W. Maple Rd. • W. Bloomfield
Tickets (313) 788-2900 or
(313) 645-6666
7-icx
Special Senior, Student and Group Discounts Available
NO VE MBE R
as Yiddishkeit be-
come chick?
The Sheik of Avenue
B is just one of a
number of recent major
musicals of note — On Se-
cond Avenue, Yiddle With a
Fiddle — that have taken a
genial look at Jewish
theatrical gems so abundant
in a heritage rich with foot-
tapping talent.
Sheik, recreating a radio
studio of 1932 broadcasting
a program of music from an
even earlier era, is a valen-
tine to Jewish ragtime, at a
time when Jews with
shmata-business sense could
make a good living for them-
selves.
"I have always been inter-
ested in the encounter bet-
ween Jewish immigrants
and the American experi-
ence," says Isaiah Sheffer,
the son of such immigrants,
who wrote Sheik.
In researching the
musical, Mr. Sheffer, who
wrote the book and lyrics for
Yiddle and directed the
Yiddish/English revue On
Second Avenue, directed his
attention to the talents of
such notables as Irving
Berlin, whose musical vision
JEWISH ENSEMBLE THEATRE