Reviews and Features
A HISTORY BROUGHT TO LIFE
Toronto Sun
By John Coulbourn
October 16, 2009
If it is indeed true -- and I suspect it is -- that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it, then Eastern European Jews and their descendants the world over owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to a fellow named Sholom Yakov Rabinovitz.
And frankly, so do the rest of us.
Never heard of him, you say?
No surprise there, for even during his lifetime, which ended in 1916, Rabinovitz was far better known by the name Sholom Aleichem, the nom de plume under which he published countless stories, novels and plays. Written in Yiddish, his stories centred around everyday life in the Jewish communities in which he was raised, and though his stories remain popular today, he is probably best remembered as the man whose stories inspired the musical, Fiddler on the Roof.
But as of Wednesday, Toronto audiences will have yet another means of getting up close and personal with the late and legendary author and raconteur.
Under the aegis of the National Jewish Theater, Toronto's Harold Green Jewish Theatre has arranged a limited run of Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears at the the Winter Garden Theatre.
Written and performed by Theodore Bikel, it is an anecdotal and often musical exploration of not only the life of the celebrated author, but also of his contribution to an ever-evolving Jewish culture here in North America.
Fittingly, under the direction of Derek Goldman, Bikel begins the show as himself, using his well-established persona as an actor as licence to step into the character of the beloved author as he neared the end of his life.
The story begins at a time when, like so many of his people, Rabinovitz took shelter from the storms he could see gathering over his home continent and took refuge in America.But in a 90-minute show, Bikel makes it clear that it was the future Rabinovitz was fleeing, and not the past, which he seems to have carried close to his heart until it quit beating.
And it was in that past -- in a world of shtetls and proscriptions and pogroms and grinding poverty -- that the celebrated author and observer found not only his inspiration but his life's philosophy as well.
Not surprisingly, it is that life he talks about throughout the show, mining it for the little nuggets that helped shape his life -- a childhood friend who simply disappeared, a beloved grandfather, a martinet of a teacher, even the smell of sheep.
They are all evoked -- as are a range of folk songs, sung in both Yiddish and English -- to offer us a glimpse of a life that was disappearing even as Sholom Aleichem's stories were being written, as legions of Jews fled the persecution and poverty of their lives in Europe for the freedom of life in a new world.
And while, at least in Bikel's mind, Rabinovitz sympathizes with that flight, he can't help but look back over his shoulder at the life left behind, gathering observational jewels that have since become heirlooms for an entire people.
Reviewed here in its final preview, Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears is almost certa/in to be a thought-provoking and sentimental journey for those whose roots are intertwined with Rabinovitz's -- and for those who simply enjoy a thought-provoking story beautfully told, it's a bit of a mitzvah too.
Back to Top
