An Interview with Artistic Director, Zalmen Mlotek, The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene
By Heidi Mae Bratt
Zalmen Mlotek is busy working two hemispheres – in Yiddish.
He’s back in New York after nearly three weeks in Australia casting the upcoming production of Yiddish “Fiddler.” And in his hometown, he’s starting rehearsals for a new Yiddish production of Paddy Chayefsky’s “The Tenth Man,” directed by Eleanor Reissa.
It’s a busy schedule. Any jetlag?
“Not really,” said Mlotek, who spoke to AMIT magazine days after his return. “I was able to get a good night’s sleep.”
Seems that’s just the way Mlotek, the 68-year-old energetic and affable artistic director of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, rolls.
The Australian production of Yiddish “Fiddler” is set to open September 3, 2020 for a two-month run at the Sydney Opera House’s 1,400-seat Joan Sutherland Theatre. The musical then will play five weeks at the 1,000-seat Comedy Theatre in Melbourne in late October.
Mlotek is excited.
“The notion of doing it in Australia is very exciting for us,” he said. “After three weeks, we put together a wonderful cast. There’s a very high level of talent there,” said Mlotek, who was accompanied on his trip down under by Stas Kmiec, the show’s choreographer, and Merete Meunter, who will be associate director of the Australian production.
Joel Grey, who directed the New York production, will again direct “Fiddler” in Australia, but did not join the casting trip because of another professional commitment.
“We saw 450 actors and singers who auditioned for the production, and like in New York, most of them are not Yiddish speakers,” Mlotek said. “We basically had to go through the same process where we felt we could get the Yiddish to the point where it sounded natural and without hesitation. We finally arrived at a cast, but it has not yet been announced.”
The first global stop of Yiddish “Fiddler” was supposed to have been in China.
“We were scheduled to go to China in April,” Mlotek said. “There was a deal for us to go with the New York cast, the orchestra, the whole production company and staff. We were going to China for four weeks to play in Beijing and Shanghai, but in mid-January we got a letter saying that because of ‘internal issues’ they had to postpone. At that point they didn’t say that it was because of the coronavirus, but we later realized when things got clear, that must have been the reason.”
The successful and long-running National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene production of Yiddish “Fiddler on the Roof” – “Fidler Afn Dakh” – wrapped its off-Broadway run at Stage 42 on January 5, 2020. The first production of “Fiddler” in Yiddish had opened July 15, 2018 in the Edmond J. Safra Theatre at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, the Folksbiene’s home theater, and was extended four times before going “uptown.” That production was extended by popular demand as well.
Doing “Fiddler on the Roof” in Yiddish had been a long-held dream for the Bronx-born Mlotek.
“The idea of doing this show came to me many years ago when I was a teenager listening to the original cast recording that was done in Israel in Yiddish” in 1965, said Mlotek. “I heard that recording then, and I had seen “Fiddler” on Broadway in 1964 with Zero Mostel. I already was thinking about conducting as a career. So somewhere in my consciousness, the idea of doing ‘Fiddler’ in Yiddish planted itself in me. When I took over the leadership of the National Yiddish Theatre in 1997, my challenge has always been what to present to audiences that don’t necessarily understand Yiddish but have a feeling or interest in it.
“It was only recently, in the last years and after several successes, and with the establishment of a home at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, when I suggested that perhaps we could do ‘Fiddler’ with the understanding that to do ‘Fiddler’ in New York City, it had to have something unique. It had to be on the par with any other ‘Fiddler’ that anyone had ever seen, whether that was the Broadway show, the many revivals, or of course the movie. I realized the bar was high and I had to dream big,” Mlotek said.
Mlotek consulted with the “Fiddler” greats, legendary Broadway producer, the late Hal Prince, and lyricist Sheldon Harnick about his idea. In 2014, he even brought together the largest cast reunion to celebrate the 50th anniversary of “Fiddler” at an event that played Town Hall.
“I started thinking about ‘Fiddler’ seriously, and after consulting Harnick, I thought of Joel,” he said. (Mlotek offered Grey the role of Tevye or director. Grey chose director.)
Mlotek said he was surprised when Grey told him that he didn’t speak Yiddish because Grey’s father was Mickey Katz, the late Yiddish singer and comedian. But it didn’t matter.
“He knows the show very well,” Mlotek said of Grey. “And we had enough people and Yiddish coaches to make sure the Yiddish was on the level. When he directed the scene, he would first do it in English, and then go over the scene in Yiddish. Everyone was interested in working with Joel.”
(In New York, there were 2,000 actors initially interested in auditioning for the Yiddish production. The list was cut to 700 who auditioned, and whittled down to the 26-person cast, led by Steven Skybell, who played Tevye.)
In praise of Yiddish “Fiddler,” critics and audiences said that because it is performed in the language of writer Sholem Aleichem, the Yiddish itself brings an authenticity to the production that has contributed to its success.
“I think definitely the fact that you are hearing it in this language, but I think the real reason is that Joel Grey understood that this show has a unique standing in the canon of American musicals,” Mlotek said. “It is the only show that since its 1964 debut, there has not been a day that a production of this show hasn’t been seen or produced somewhere in the world. That’s an extraordinary statement when you think about it.”
Not to mention its timeless and universal themes.
“The themes of the show are so universal,” Mlotek said. “The relationship between a father and his daughters. The idea of people being in a home and suddenly because of bigotry and hatred they are being forced to leave their homes. Whether you personally relate, everyone has someone who can relate to either of those two issues – the idea of a father holding onto traditions and yet struggling with his young daughter’s new beliefs and new desires, and the conflict of losing a relationship like that, and the issue of expulsion and refugees. These are two themes that have resonated in so many languages.”
Yes indeed. The themes have played out in so many languages, and now, in Yiddish throughout the world.
(Cover Photo Credit: Properpix/Victor Nechay)