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From Warsaw With Love
A theater company from Warsaw brings
Yiddish theater to a Detroit stage.
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HOMEr loW N
he is a young actress in the
Polish theater. He is a young
actor on the same stage. They
work together, fall in love and
share a dream of performing on
Broadway.
Alas, the work that introduced
the couple ultimately takes them
in different directions, and their
love is cast aside. Many years lat-
er, fate smiles their way, and they
find roles and romance with each
other in the New York spotlight.
Such is the story of Wandering
Stars, a musical presented by the
Ester Rachel Kaminska Jewish
Theatre from Warsaw. The com-
pany of 35 actors and musicians
performs in Yiddish.
A simultaneous English trans-
lation is available through the use
of earphones. There also is a print-
ed English narrative in the pro-
gram.
The show, on a 10-city Amen-
The father, a theater promot-
er in Poland for 20 years before
bringing his business to the Unit-
ed States, has worked for 30 years
tracking down interesting works,
traveling to see them, determin-
ing appropriate audiences and en-
couraging changes he believes
necessary.
In this case, sets and props
were simplified for the tour.
"This is a unique cultural ex-
perience because it is the only Yid-
dish speaking theater company
that travels," said the tour direc-
tor. "We tried to pick cities with
the largest Jewish/Russian pop-
ulations because these people
have the Yiddish backgrounds."
The play was adapted by Szy-
mon Szurrniej, the theater's artis-
tic director, from a Sholem
Aleichem novel. It takes place in
the early part of this century with
original music by Janusz Sent,
rector was Ida Kaminska, who
emigrated to the United States in
1968 and became a well-known
actress here.
New performers are trained at
the Youth Studio, which teaches
Yiddish language and literature,
Jewish history and Jewish the-
atrical history. The company in-
cludes non-Jewish members.
Martin Wancjer, a West
Bloomfield resident who emi-
grated to America the same year
as Kaminska, has seen Wander-
ing Stars at least 20 times.
A real estate consultant who
returns to Poland about once a
month on business, he was a the-
ater devotee before moving to the
United States with his mother
and sister. When his wife travels
to Poland with him, she, too, sees
the play.
"This show is very easy to un-
derstand because there are so
Obstruct eccentric
NEWSPAPERS
Lea Avizedek
Wandering Stars-. From Poland to Broadway with a Yiddish twist.
,
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32"x42"
Acrylic On Paper
Danielle Peleg Gallery
4301 Orchard Lake at Lone Pine
Crosswinds Mall • West Bloomfield
810-626-5810
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 1 1 6, Sunday 12 4
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in y
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our with Specia
the
EBRATION CONNECT
DIRECTORY
in our Classified Section
can tour, comes to the Masonic
Temple Saturday and Sunday,
Oct. 12 and 13.
"The dream-come-true in the
play is really the dream-come-true
of the theater company," said
Dorothy Michalski, American
tour director. "The last perfor-
mance is at New York City's
Town Hall, a Broadway stage,
where the company has longed to
appear."
Michalski assists her father,
Henry Michalski, with American
Arts Cinema and Entertainment
Enterprises, which brings East-
ern European ethnic shows to
America. This is the first complete
Jewish play they have managed.
"From my experience, people
from different nationalities attend
these shows," she said.
whose son will be one of the mu-
sicians.
"I think this type of program
really nourishes the soul," said
Dorothy Michalski. "It offers a
very nostalgic experience."
Szurmiej, who became artistic
director in 1970, offers a mix of
productions throughout the year
in Poland.
They range from Song of My
People, an original work based on
Polish documents of Jewish his-
tory, to Death of a Salesman, a
Polish adaptation of the Ameri-
can classic. Holocaust dramas
have been crucial to the compa-
ny's repertoire.
When the troupe became the
State Jewish Theatre in 1950,
combining theater groups from
Warsaw and Lodz, the artistic di-
many songs," Wancjer said. "The
music starts with traditional Jew-
ish sounds and moves on to the
style of Broadway.
"The group is highly profes-
sional, and the play gives a sense
of Jewish culture and how it de-
veloped. For those who can't un-
derstand Yiddish, there still will
be an experience with the way the
language sounds as spoken by
accomplished actors and act-
resses." El
gr Wandering Stars will be
performed at 8 p.m. Saturday,
Oct. 12, and 3 and 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 13, at the Scot-
tish Rite Cathedral of the Ma-
sonic Temple. Ticket prices
range from $25-$35. For in
formation, call (810) 737-8069.