Mike Burstyn
followed his
Yiddish theater
parents onto
the stage.
SUZANNE CHESSLER
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
nternational enter-
tainer Mike Bur-
styn, who divides
his time between
homes in New York
and Tel Aviv, seg-
ments his concerts
by singing English
selections along
with Hebrew and
Yiddish numbers.
He did that Dec.
6, when he was fea-
tured at Congrega-
tion Shaarey Zedek
for the annual Laker
Concert sponsored
by the family of
Sarah and the late
Harry Laker.
Mr. Burstyn's style
was familiar to those
who some months ago
saw him perform with a
touring ensemble in
Those Were the Days and
before that in local pro-
grams to raise funds for
Israel Bonds.
"Detroit audiences
have been wonderful and
very appreciative," said
Mr. Burstyn, who is pre-
paring for a new Broad-
way musical, Ain't
Broadway Grand, in
which he is cast as the
main character, Mike
Todd.
For his Southfield en-
gagement , he introduced
two songs from the show,
which was previewed in
Connecticut and which
will open in New York in
March. The music is by
Mitch Leigh, composer of
Man of La Mancha.
"I was born into show
business," said Mr. Bur-
styn, who has appeared
in two other musicals,
The Rothschilds and
Barnum, his favorite
projects. The first was
important because it
allowed him to portray a
proud and heroic Jewish
leader; the second was
important because it let
him do things he never
would have dreamed of
-
doing — walking on
wire, jumping on a tram-
poline and flying on a
trapeze.
"My parents were
great stars in the Yid-
dish theater all over the
world," he explained. "I
started traveling with
them when I was a kid
and started performing
when I was 7. They trav-
eled wherever there was
a Yiddish-speaking popu-
lation."
Born in America, he
attended Yiddish school
in addition to a dozen
academies in the coun-
tries where his family
worked. This enabled
him to learn eight lan-
guages.
He went to the High
School of Music and Art
in New York, majoring in
voice and going on to
study with private vocal
coaches throughout his
career.
"It's not hard for me to
transition from English
to Hebrew because I've
been doing it for so many
years," Mr. Burstyn said.
"I've been living in Israel.
for 30 years. It happens
automatically.
"In 1962, we were en-
gaged to do a season of
Yiddish theater in Israel,
and that became very
successful. It went on for
two years, and then I
was offered the starring
role in the first Israeli
musical film. I won the
Israeli Oscar for that in
1966, and my career just
took off in Israel so I
decided to stay."
Mr. Burstyn's wife,
Idit, an Israeli, and their
two sons, Peter and
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