The Arts/Theatre Review

Photos by Crystall Arnette

The Purim story of the megillah, as we generally know it, is an amalgam of heroic, evil, cowardly and simple-minded characters in ancient Persia, whose actions represent the story of near-annihilation and ultimate salvation of the Jewish people. That in itself makes for a captivating and inspiring Purim story. But what happens when you take that story, politicize, contemporize, anachronize, humorize and – yes – bowdlerize it a little?  That’s what the Yiddish poet and folk bard Itzik Manger did when he published Megile-Lider in 1936. Along came the world-renowned Israeli composer Dov Seltzer in the 1960’s and set Manger’s parody of the Purim story to beautiful and moving melodies. The play has been produced several times since that time, some performances of which I’ve attended in the span of the last four decades.

Now The National Yiddish Theatre-Folksbiene has taken Manger’s Megile-lider, combined the highly off-beat story with an original spin, a very creative artistic setting (including incredibly entertaining stage sets and acrobatic feats) and a multi-talented troupe, and created an impressive production titled “Songs of the Megillah,” under the artistic direction of Zalmen Mlotek (a Teaneck resident) and Motl Didner, production design by Jenny Romaine with her unique sense of puppetry, narration and magic tricks by the inimitable Shane Baker, and musical direction by the enthusiastic and talented Dmitri Slepovitch.

This production had me splitting my sides with laughter, crying (especially during the love song of Esther’s boyfriend Fastrigossa whom she is forced to leave in order to marry Akhashveyrosh – ok, ok, so that character doesn’t exist in the original Purim story, but it expands the depth of the story!), and otherwise captivated by this rendition.

Simultaneous supertitles in both English and Russian make this performance accessible not just for the Yiddish-fluent, but to all.

“Songs of the Megillah” opened on April 21 and has a very limited engagement through May 12 only. I strongly recommend that you go to the Folksbiene website and buy yourself (and your significant other) a ticket, and go celebrate Purim yet again!

By Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath (special to JLBC)