No places like home and New York

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June 6, 2014

The Montreal Gazette
June 6, 2014
By Pat Donnelly


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Bryna Wasserman is on a mission in the Big Apple, but loves returning here to direct at the Segal Centre

MONTREAL — Bryna Wasserman is back, sort of, again.

She has been in Montreal on and off during the past few months to direct a musical for the Yiddish Theatre company founded by her mother, Dora Wasserman, in 1958.

But don’t get your hopes up about an ultimate return to Montreal. After three years, Wasserman is still loving her job in New York as artistic director of the National Yiddish Theater — Folksbiene. But she’s also happy to retain the title of honorary artistic director of the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre here, too.

“You can’t turn back the clock and you can’t go back,” she said in a recent interview. “There is a mission out there (in New York) that’s challenging and compelling at the same time. It’s worth the back and forth.”

This time Wasserman is co-directing a show called Soul Doctor: Journey of a Rock Star Rabbi, along with Rachelle Glait, who was her assistant director for The Pirates of Penzance in 2009.

“Soul Doctor was original created in New York and performed for a few months on Broadway,” Wasserman said. “So this is its second reincarnation.”

Although she wasn’t involved in the Broadway production, she had helped to develop an earlier version.

“It took 10 years for this show to make it to Broadway,” she said.

Soul Doctor is based on the life story of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, a seminal figure in contemporary Jewish popular music.

Wasserman didn’t waste any time after the show’s Broadway run at the Circle in the Square ended on Oct. 13, 2013, following a total of 98 performances.

“Because I got to know the producers and creators, it all happened very quickly,” she said.

Edit Kuper and Aron Gonshor, two local Yiddish Theatre veterans, did the translation into Yiddish.

“Some portions of it are in English because the play really travels into that world,” Wasserman said.

As usual, there will be surtitles in both French and English.

The conception of the show is credited to Jeremy Chess, a retina surgeon who is also the producer. Inspired by Rabbi Carlebach’s life and songs, he wanted to mount a tribute. Carlebach died of a heart attack in October 1994 after boarding a flight to Canada at LaGuardia airport in New York.

Through his friendship with soul singer Nina Simone, Carlebach developed an interest in gospel and soul music. He soon became known as “The Rock Star Rabbi”.

In Montreal, Carlebach will be played by Adam Stotland, a cantor with the Shaare Zion Synagogue. He’s also known as a “Jewgrass” (Bluegrass with Klezmer) musician. Montreal jazz singer Coco Thompson plays Nina Simone.

“It’s lovely to find that kind of talent here,” Wasserman said.

Since leaving the Segal Centre, Wasserman has developed a keener appreciation of it. The National Yiddish Theatre in New York is different, she said.

“Because it’s a 100-year-old company that’s in search of a home. Here, we have the luxury of the Segal Centre and the generosity of Alvin Siegel and his family. Looking in from the outside, I appreciate every moment we have in this glorious building. That’s part of my job with the National Yiddish Theatre. I’m looking for our home, for the next Segal family. And who are they in New York?”

Wasserman will find that answer if anyone can.

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