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April 7, 2016 · 1:00 am

Me, Yente

Me: Yente.

You: Tsar-man.

Welcome to my little version of our newish village set, not in the hinterlands of Siberia, nor in the Pale of Settlement of the Ukraine, but here, in the heart of a village known as Greenwich. Yes, the village of Greenwich of New Amsterdam, here in these new lands of our settlement.

Here in our tiny part of the world, in our town where our streets are named On Broadway and Off Broadway, the multitudes bring you the best of their worlds, in this small mid-town slice of our lives.

In newish New York, our village presents: Fiddler On The Roof, a drama and musical based on the short stories of Sholem Aleichem, of life in Russia, experienced through Jewish eyes, as they witness the slow collapse of Russian society as a barely-tolerated minority under Tsarist rule, to experiencing the overthrow of old values as Russia hurtles toward Communism, and the Jews are continually taunted and harrassed until they are eventually driven out and expelled from their homes.

While fictionalized, the events portrayed are based on true history and happenstances which befell the Jews here, in these days, as has happened to them in other places and in different times.

Fiddler On The Roof vividly portrays these events with music which has fallen into our musical vernacular almost as familiarly as the psalms we recite from our prayerbooks. I wish I had had the opportunity to hear the strains of Sunrise, Sunset played at my wedding, which my father never got to attend.

I played the part of Hodel, though, in my grade school presentation, and that he did get to see. You, too can see the mystical musical, now running again on Broadway. There are many ticket agents which can handle your ticket purchases in this entertainment capital of the United States, as well as sites which can arrange other package deals for you to visit museums or to see Lady Liberty/Ellis Island, the United Nations Building, Central Park, Greenwich Village, Fifth Avenue, or other exciting junkets. New York is a particularly fine place to visit in December for the holidays and for the New Year, to watch the drop of the ball in Times Square.

I visited the website of Broadway.com and ran across a seven-page plethora of stage shows and musicals set to run both on- and off-Broadway for the next year and possibly into the following. I can’t vouch personally for any of them, but the ones which seemed promising to me, or, in reality, are the ones I’d probably enjoy seeing myself, are:

Kid-Friendly (per website descriptor):

Fiddler On The Roof: On Broadway; Musical
Aladdin: On Broadway; Musical
Gazillion Bubble Show: Off-Broadway; Musical
The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe: Off-Broadway; Play

Adult:

Cirque du Soleil / Paramour: On Broadway; Dance; Musical
The Color Purple: On Broadway; Musical; Drama
Trip of Love: Off-Broadway; Musical
Motown The Musical: On Broadway; Musical
Sistas: Off-Broadway; Musical
Black Angels Over Tuskeegee: Off-Broadway; Drama
Newsical The Musical: Off-Broadway; Musical
Hello, Dolly! (Starring Bette Midler!): Broadway; Musical
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory: On Broadway; Musical (Not Designated Kid-Friendly?)
Frozen: On Broadway; Musical (Not Designated Kid-Friendly?)
Come From Away: On Broadway; Musical
Holiday Inn, The New Irving Berlin Musical: On Broadway; Musical
Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker: Off-Broadway
Metropolitan Opera: Turandot: Opera