June 28, 2013
The SuburbanJune 26, 2013
By Linda Zlatkin
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Since 1958, The Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts (formerly the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts) has been doing its part to help preserve Yiddish theatre, language and culture. And now, as it concludes its 2012-2013 season with Tales from Odessa, a production adapted from the stories of the late Russian playwright Isaak Babel, audiences can continue to be captivated with yet another high-caliber performance.
The show, directed by Audrey Finkelstein, opened on Thursday, June 20 with a full house in attendance. A celebration with food, drinks and speeches took place afterwards as the contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations — like the Alvin Segal Family Foundation’s $1 million + — were thanked and acknowledged.
It was easy to see that everyone worked really hard on this unconventional play about the colourful underworld of Odessa in the last days of the Russian empire. The story about Russian gangsters mixes traditional Yiddish klezmer with rap music, giving it a modern twist with innovative theatrical elements, not typical of Yiddish theater.
Josh Dolgin (a.k.a. Socalled) composed the original music and lyrics, and is the one who planted the seed for this idea. The script, by Derek Goldman, theater professor at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., was written in English and translated into Yiddish by Columbia University professor Miriam Hoffman. Goldman, an award-winning playwright, travelled to the Ukraine where he spent time in Odessa researching what propelled Babel’s imagination.
Babel was executed under the Stalin regime for being a spy and Trotskyist terrorist. An iconic but controversial figure in Jewish literature, his Tales from Odessa is a collection of short stories about Jewish gangsters and gamblers in Moldavanka, the neighbourhood where his stories took place — most about mobster Benya Krik.
Actor Gab Desmond portrays Krik (The king). His brother is Lyovka (Jonathan Eidelman).
They both plot to kill their father but things don’t go as planned. Montreal jazz musician Damian Nisenson plays their father, Mendel. Alongside them are 32 actors and singers, including shadow puppeteer, Clea Minaker.
Some of the behind the scenes people include John C. Dinning, the set designer, Paul Flicker, the artistic director and Nick Burgess, the musical director. Not at all like Tevye — the lead character from Fiddler on the Roof for whom audiences developed a soft spot – Krik the anti-hero, is hard and tough, adding to the excitement of this atypical show. And even if you don’t speak Yiddish, there are surtitles in both English and French projected above the stage.
Tales from Odessa continues until July 7. For more information, visit, www.segalcentre.org, or call 514-739-7944.