A show crosses cultural and
generational lines through
Yiddish songs and an English script.
SUZANNE CHESSLER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
Gary and Janice Waldman perform their creation.
2
aved With Gold, a touring mu-
sical depicting the experiences
of Jewish immigrants at the
turn of the century, reaches
out to recent Jewish immi-
grants from Russia.
The people who developed the
show provide program notes in
Russian for all the newly-relo-
cated individuals who are in their
audiences.
The show, first performed a
year ago in New York, comes to
the Maple-Drake Jewish Com-
munity Center as part of the an-
nual Book Fair. The curtain goes
up at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12.
The production tells a new sto-
ry using English and Yiddish
songs from three popular Jewish
musicals created by Zalmen
Mlotek and Moishe Rosenfeld —
Those Were the Days, On Second
Avenue and The Golden Land.
"This project was put together
basically by my wife and me with
a lot of help from some very won-
derful people," said Gary Wald-
man, who is joined by his wife
Janice in the two-person cast. "It
was all our idea, and we did the
whole thing together. We re-
hearsed together, and we figured
out our costumes and our scenery
together. Ifs been a great part of
our marriage for the past couple
of years."
Paved With Gold originally
was written for the grand re-
opening of the Queens Theatre
in the Park, the site of the New
York World's Fair in the 1960s,
as a celebration of the culture of
the area. After sellout perfor-
mances, the producers decided to
take it on the road.
`This is a Yiddish theater piece
that can be enjoyed without un-
derstanding Yiddish because the
script is entirely in English," said
Mr. Waldman, 30, the former
lead singer in the pop music
group 1:01 and now a full-time
agent.
"Fifty percent of the lyrics have
been translated into English, and
every third or fourth line is in
English so everybody knows
what's going on."
Developed with the help of the
creators of the other three musi-
cals, Paved With Gold spans the
time the couple arrived in Amer-
ica, settled on the east side of
New York, moved uptown and
raised a family. The concerns of
the time — the labor movement,
the Depression and citizenship
— are seen through their eyes.
"There's a lot to be learned by
younger people and especially
people who come from a real as-
similated background like mine,"
said Mr. Waldman, who learned
fore working in a similar capaci-
ty at Merrill Lynch.
"Right after we got married six
years ago, we auditioned for a
Jewish revue being done by a lo-
cal theater group," Mr. Waldman
said. 'The material was good, but
the show was not very good at all.
"That show was rewritten, and
my wife and I were touring with
it locally when I met up with
Moishe Rosenfeld from Golden
Land Connections, a Jewish book-
ing and management office. He
expressed an interest in the show,
but nothing really panned out.
Every fourth line
"We became friends, and at
that time he was expanding his
of the songs
business. He took me in as a vice
president."
is English.
Holding jobs that allow them
the flexibility to tour with the-
They soon learned that both atrical productions, the Waldmans
had studied music, acting and recently recorded an album of the
dancing from the time they were show's music, which includes a
Yiddish Charleston number.
children.
"I think we're both a little sur-
Although he started out study-
ing music at Queens College, he prised that the show has taken
wound up getting his degree in on the scope that it did," Mr.
business and opening an arts Waldman said. "It was going to
management personnel agency. be a little act about Jewish im-
Mrs. Waldman, who was active migrants with songs that the two
in music and theater at St. of us were going to do with a pi-
John's University, got her degree ano player. Now it's turned into
in communications and handled this huge production with a small
publicity and promotions for Bal- klezmer orchestra."
lantine Books for eight years be- IMMIGRANTS page 88
Yiddish phonetically to play his
part.
Mrs. Waldman, 32, also
learned Yiddish the same way be-
cause she came from a different
cultural background — Italian
and Catholic.
"We met when we were in our
early 20s," Mr. Waldman said. "I
saw her in a college production of
Camelot, and she was fantastic.
A friend of mine was in the show,
and after I saw her, I had to meet
her."