Tales from Odessa bridges past and present

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June 25, 2013

The Gazette
June 21, 2013
By Pat Donnelly


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Socalled’s emphatic music helps bind Yiddish Theatre production

MONTREAL - It was evident from the moment the orchestra began the overture that the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre’s latest musical, Tales from Odessa, based on the works of Isaak Babel, was going to be a departure from the usual fare.

The music had an emphatic, modern quality, which was not surprising, given that it was composed by Josh Dolgin (a.k.a. Socalled), a musician known for mixing up klezmer and hip hop. Yet it carried the flavour of the past, too.

It was Dolgin who initiated the project, born of his enthusiasm for Babel’s stories. He wrote the lyrics as well as the music. But American playwright Derek Goldman was brought in to write the book, which was then translated into Yiddish by Miriam Hoffman. (Strangely, she does not receive official credit in the program.)

The storyline of Tales from Odessa remains rather convoluted, told in abrupt flashbacks. For those who have to rely on the English surtitles, reading the synopsis before the show is strongly advised.

The narrator is an old man, Reb Arye-Leib (David Flicker), who imparts what he considers essential knowledge of history to a nameless young boy (Benny Winkelman-Batchelor). The time is pre-revolution, just before the fall of the Russian monarchy.

Within the Jewish community, which had already suffered through many pogroms, certain gangster figures arose as leaders, offering protection. In Tales from Odessa, the anti-hero is Benya Krik (Gab Desmond). He rebels against his abusive alcoholic father, whom he and his brother dub “the pogrom,” in order to take over as “king.”

Benya’s first crimes are botched. He ends up marrying the daughter (Stephanie Finkelstein) of a local beef merchant (Billy Finkelstein) whom he has attempted to rob.

Another heist, against local mob boss Tartakovsky (Mark Bassel), goes wrong in another way: an employee (David Herz) is accidentally shot. In moving to make amends, by persuading Tartakovsky to compensate the widow, Benya assures his political ascendance. Then he heads home to kill his father (Damian Nisenson), with the help of his brother (Jonathan Eidelman) and sister (Bronna Levy). Only he doesn’t succeed and ends up forgiving the old man.

One can see why Babel, who was shot by the Stalin regime for being a Trotskyist in 1940, occasionally got on the wrong side of his own community.

What really sells this production is not so much the play as the music, the performances (Desmond isn’t the only one with a fine singing voice) and the shadow puppets, by Clea Minaker, which add haunting images on a pair of screens integrated into John C. Dinning’s Russian village set.

Although director Audrey Finkelstein is a relative neophyte (in comparison to Bryna Wasserman, who remains the honorary artistic director of this amazing company), she has delivered a strong production of a challenging new work.

Tales from Odessa may have a lower schmaltz content than most Yiddish musicals, wedding scenes notwithstanding, but it has an edge — and catchy songs (notably the group number Even God Makes Mistakes). Also, at a brisk 75 minutes, it’s refreshingly short. I could almost hear the late Dora Wasserman in the wings, saying something along the lines of, “It goes by so fast, people won’t think they’re getting their money’s worth.” But, in fact, they are.

Tales from Odessa continues at the Segal Centre, 5170 Côte Ste-Catherine Rd., until July 7. Tickets: $26 to $46. Call 514-739-7944 or visit segalcentre.org.

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