Stars in the New World

The Thomashefskys are back. Michael Tilson Thomas' grandparents, stars of the New York theater scene from the 1880s until well into the 20th century, have been lovingly brought back to life in "The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater." Thomas is the host of this entertainment, and Friday night in Davies Symphony Hall he told their story, conducted the San Francisco Symphony and the audience, accompanied his grandmother on the piano, and even sang a rousing song himself.

Boris Tomashefsky came from a long line of cantors. As a child in the Ukraine, he sang both liturgical music and songs by Abraham Goldfaden, the "Father of Yiddish Theater." Already a star as a boy soprano in the Old World, he arrived in New York at the age of 15, voice still unchanged, and immediately set about presenting Goldfaden's Koldunye, a kind of Cinderella story. Presenting dramas reflecting the immigrant experience in America, on subjects ranging from religion and myth to social and political issues, and producing musical theater as well as plays adapted from Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen, and others, Boris became a star in the New World. Bessie Kaufman also began her stage career at the age of 15, running away from home to join Boris as colleague and wife. She became a diva herself, and their combined talents as performers and entrepreneurs in the Thomashefskys' People's Theater attracted the participation of first-rate authors, composers, and performers. Yiddish theater made important and lasting contributions to American culture. Thomas' childhood was enlivened by the presence of his grandmother in the household. He has found, edited, and arranged many of the scores used in this production, and has contributed memorabilia of all sorts: playbills, press clippings, and photographs, projected along with translations on a large screen. Bessie, praised for her "impassioned performances," told her grandson, "There's no such thing as an impassioned performance without a little raw material." Judy Blazer has the raw material. She blazes across the stage as Bessie, every inch the diva as singer, actress, and dancer. Bessie is heard on tape, singing the role of Minka the maid, and Blazer takes over the song in Bessie's sound and style, driving home the story of Minka's successful ascendancy into the upper class. (It would have been fun to see her Salome, including the dance of the seven schmattas.) Singing the suffragette title song Khantshe in amerike, Blazer ends by proclaiming, "Khantshe for President!" Bessie was indeed ahead of her time, and we have yet to catch up with her (though we came close recently).

Hamlet? Oy Vey ...

Boris died before his grandson was born. But one feature film from the Thomashefsky era still exists, Bar-Mitzvah, and the audience was treated to impressive singing by Boris himself in a clip. For the rest of this production, he was brought to life in the wonderful acting and singing of Neal Benari. His falsetto singing of a no-show leading lady's role in the premiere of Koldunye and his Hamlet as a Yeshiva student encountering the ghost of his father will not soon be forgotten. Eugene Brancoveanu sang a couple of songs as the young Boris. At the end of the evening, after stories about the Thomashefsky divorce and the subsequent career of Bessie on her own, Brancoveanu returned for a moving performance of the title song from Rumshinsky's Vi mener libn (The way men love). Ronit Widmann-Levy rounded out the cast in several solo roles and the four-part ensembles. She and Brancoveanu were prodigies of overacting in Minkowski's Aleksander, der kroyn prints fun yerusholaim (Alexander, Crown Prince of Jerusalem) and in Goldfaden's Koldunye. Both were excellent additions to the cast. In the program notes, Thomas quotes his grandmother's reply to a question as to how she created a role: "I looked ... I saw ... I imagined." He goes on to say that he tells musicians, "Play it like you're improvising, like it was never written down." And Friday night clarinetist Luiz Baez played some wonderful riffs. Either he was improvising himself, or the editor of the score had created those bits in an improvisatory moment. Michael Tilson Thomas was the editor. He has his grandmother's strudel recipe: "I wash my hands, I put on my apron and take out the ingredients, and I make the strudel."