FOLKSBIENE REACHES NEW AUDIENCES WITH “THE GOLDEN LAND” REVIVAL OPENING NOVEMBER 4
PRODUCTION EXPLORES BROADER THEMES OF IMMIGRATION, IDENTITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
The National Yiddish Theatre – Folksbiene brings back the beloved musical, “The Golden Land,” for five weeks, from Sunday October 28 to December 2, with an opening on Sunday November 4 at 6pm. Created by Zalmen Mlotek and Moishe Rosenfeld, and directed by Bryna Wasserman, this new production of “The Golden Land” (which premiered Off-Broadway in 1985) reimagines the show’s scenic design and staging to heighten the theatrical experience for contemporary audiences. The innovative book and score uses period music and other source material to create a richly textured evocation of Jewish immigrant life in New York from the 1880’s into the 1910s, and again, in a second starkly different phase immediately before and after World War II.
You’d be welcome to arrive on our shores for the following performances:
Wednesday October 31 at 7:30pm
Thursday November 1 at 2pm & 7:30pm
Saturday November 3 at 8pm
Sunday November 4 at 2pm & 6pm
With music direction by the internationally recognized conductor, composer and Yiddish music authority Zalmen Mlotek, “The Golden Land” is performed in English and Yiddish. Performances are at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (at 25th Street). For tickets, which are $55, call 866/811-4111, or visit www.nationalyiddishtheatre.org
Mlotek calls the show “a snapshot of time, in which we mix the familiar and unfamiliar, real-life events, historic events with the domestic lives of the characters. The technique is especially interesting when you juxtapose English and Yiddish, as if we were overhearing the pages of history come to life.”
In order to cultivate a diverse audience to experience “The Golden Land,” Folksbiene will explore the topics of assimilation, cultural identity, upward mobility, and social justice for the poor – in a series of pre-show talks on four consecutive Sundays at 12:30pm during the run (November 11, 18, 25, December 2.) An interactive study guide is also being developed.
This is the Drama Desk Award-winning National Yiddish Theatre – Folksbiene’s historic 98th consecutive season. For more Folksbiene season information, visit www.nationalyiddishtheatre.org, or call 212/213-2120.