“FIDDLER ON THE ROOF” ANNOUNCES SPECIAL PERFORMANCE IN HONOR OF WORLD REFUGEE DAY, THURSDAY, 6/20
Press Contact:
Rick Miramontez / Alana Karpoff / Samara Finkle
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE
“FIDDLER ON THE ROOF”
IN YIDDISH WITH ENGLISH SUPERTITLES
TO FILL ITS THEATER WITH REFUGEES
IN HONOR OF WORLD REFUGEE DAY
THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2019
FOR A 6:00 PM PERFORMANCE OF THE AWARD-WINNING SHOW
POST SHOW TOWN HALL EVENT TO BE MODERATED BY LUIS A. MIRANDA JR. – ACTIVIST, EDUCATOR AND BUSINESSMAN
2019 DRAMA DESK AWARD®-WINNER FOR BEST REVIVAL
2019 OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD®-WINNER FOR BEST REVIVAL
2019 NY DRAMA CRITICS’ CIRCLE AWARD®-WINNER, SPECIAL CITATION
2019 LORTEL AWARD®-WINNER FOR BEST LEAD ACTOR, STEVEN SKYBELL
2019 CHITA RIVERA AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE
New York, NY (June 12, 2019) – Producers Hal Luftig and Jana Robbins in association with Sandy Block announced that the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF) production of Fiddler on the Roof, in Yiddish with English Supertitles, will fill its theater with refugees in celebration and in honor of
World Refugee Day on Thursday, June 20, 2019 for a 6:00 PM performance.
Every seat in the theater will be donated to allow refugees from all parts of the globe to see the show, and Fiddler will celebrate their unique stories and journeys through this poignant and timely production with an afternoon and evening full of events.
The show is partnering with the non-profit organization Reboot, a premier Jewish arts and culture organization, to further enhance its World Refugee Day celebration by involving some of the artists they work with to help commemorate the event.
Photographer Gillian Laub and illustrator/journalist Christopher Noxon will photograph and “live-sketch” a select group of refugee attendees to document an extraordinary array of stories, journeys and experiences. Many refugees attending the performance will have answered a series of questions written by Nicola Behrman about their experiences of having left their homelands. Fiddler will actively be curating these interviews for a larger initiative around this conversation.
The theater will open to its guests at 5:00 PM, where refreshments and concessions will be made complimentary to all in attendance. There, attendees will also be free to explore an installation in the theater’s lobby of After Anatevka: Jewish Immigration and American Reaction, an exhibition curated by author & Yiddish scholar Eddy Portnoy for the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research that reveals the Yiddish response to 1920s-era restrictions placed on Jewish immigrants.
Immediately following the evening performance, Fiddler will host a post show town hall event allowing this diverse community of refugees (and the leaders of the organizations that work to protect their rights) the opportunity to connect with one another in a safe and celebratory space. The post show talk will be moderated by Luis A. Miranda Jr., an activist, educator and businessman.
The list of organizations* helping coordinate the group of refugees includes:
- American Friends Service Committee — Immigrant Rights Program
- Catholic Charities
- Catholic Charities — Brooklyn & Queens
- HIAS
- Immigration Equality
- International Rescue Committee (IRC)
- Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees
- Museum of Jewish Heritage
- New Sanctuary Coalition
- New York Immigration Coalition
- RDJ Refugee Shelter
- Tenement Museum
*Please note this list is subject to change and additions
“We are honored to be welcoming in a diverse group of refugees to the show on World Refugee Day,” said the producers of Fiddler on the Roof. “This will be an emotional and moving day, and we are proud to be partnering with so many amazing organizations in bringing them to see the show. In addition, we are excited to have Luis Miranda as our moderator for the evening’s post show discussion. Considering his extensive background in politics, activism, and theater, we truly couldn’t have asked for a better-fitting person to lead the conversation. World Refugee Day at Fiddler will be the inaugural event for a series of initiatives that will ultimately create a methodology for how to use the prism of theater to talk about the immigration crisis.”
Fiddler on the Roof is on sale through Sunday, January 5, 2020 at Stage 42 (422 W 42nd St.). Tickets are available to purchase through Telecharge.com, by phone at 212-239-6200 or in person at the Stage 42 Box Office (422 W. 42nd St.)
Fiddler on the Roof is the winner of the 2019 Drama Desk Award for Best Musical Revival, the 2019 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical Revival, a 2019 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award Special Citation and star Steven Skybell is the winner of the 2019 Lucille Lortel Award for Best Lead Actor.
Directed by Academy® Award-and-Tony® Award winner Joel Grey, the Fiddler on the Roof cast includes: Lucille Lortel Award-winner Steven Skybell as Tevye, Emmy® Award-nominee Jackie Hoffman as Yente, Jennifer Babiak as Golde, Joanne Borts as Sheyndl, Michael Einav as Ensemble; Lisa Fishman Bobe Tsatyl, Kirk Geritano as Avrom; Abby Goldfarb as Female Swing; Samantha Hahn as Beylke; Cameron Johnson as Fyedka; John Giesige as Male Swing/Dance Captain; Ben Liebert as Motl Kamzoyl; Moshe Lobel as Understudy; Stephanie Lynne Mason as Hodl; Evan Mayer as Sasha; Rosie Jo Neddy as Khave; Raquel Nobile as Shprintze; Jonathan Quigley as Ensemble; Nick Raynor as Yosl; Bruce Sabath as Leyzer- Volf; Kayleen Seidl as Ensemble; Drew Seigla as Perchik; Adam B. Shapiro as Der Rov; Jodi Snyder as Frume-Sore; James Monroe Števko as Mendl; Lauren Jeanne Thomas as Der Fiddler; Bobby Underwood as Der Gradavoy; Mikhl Yashinsky as Nokhum/Mordkhe and Rachel Zatcoff as Tsaytl.
The creative team for this Fiddler features musical staging and new choreography by Staś Kmieć, musical direction by Zalmen Mlotek, set design by Beowulf Boritt, costume design by Ann Hould-Ward, sound design by Dan Moses Schreier, lighting design by Peter Kaczorowski, wig and hair design by Tom Watson, props by Addison Heeren and casting by Jamibeth Margolis, CSA.
Fiddler on the Roof is produced by Hal Luftig, Jana Robbins, LHC Theatrical, Jenny Steingart, Steven Chaikelson, Ruth Hendel, Braemar House Productions, Jamie deRoy & friends, Nina Korelitz Matza/Nicola Berhman, Anita Waxman/Martin H Borell, and The Shubert Organization in association with Sandy Block.
Fiddler on the Roof, in Yiddish with English Supertitles, had never been staged in the United States until this production was presented at NYTF in 2018. The story of Fiddler on the Roof is based originally on the Tevye the Dairyman vignettes by Sholem Aleichem. The Yiddish translation, originally performed in Israel in 1965, was artfully crafted by Shraga Friedman, a renown Israeli actor/director just one year after the Broadway debut of Fiddler on the Roof. Friedman, a native Yiddish speaker, was born in Warsaw and was able to escape from a war-torn Europe, along with his family, who made their way to Tel Aviv in 1941. Well acquainted with the works of Aleichem, Friedman used his translation to infuse Fiddler with rich literary references to the original Yiddish stories.
One of the most celebrated musicals of all time, Fiddler on The Roof, features music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, with original New York Stage Production directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins.
The original Broadway production of the show, which opened in 1964, was the first musical theater production in history to surpass 3,000 performances; the show won the 1965 Tony Award® for Best Musical in addition to eight other Tony Awards that year; and has performed in every metropolitan city in the world from Paris to Beijing.
B I O G R A P H I E S
LUIS A. MIRANDA, JR. has almost four decades of experience as a leader in the public and private sectors. A native of Puerto Rico, Luis was director of field services and research at the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, and held managerial positions at the Community Service Society, the NYC Department of Employment, the NYC Board of Education, and Aspira of New York. In the 1980s he was a special advisor for Hispanic Affairs to Mayor Edward I. Koch and served as Director of the Mayor’s Office for Hispanic Affairs from 1987 to 1989. He was appointed to the Board of the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation by Mayor Koch in 1989, served during the Dinkins administration and in 1993, was appointed its Chairman by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Under Luis’ leadership the City’s vast public hospital network saw marked improvements in quality of care and financial stability. In 1990, Luis became the founding President of the Hispanic Federation, one of the nation’s leading Latino nonprofit organizations dedicated to addressing the human services and health needs of the Hispanic community. As President, Luis became one of New York City’s leading voices for increased support to Latino nonprofits and a widely admired partner for corporate and private philanthropic leaders. Luis, a founding partner of MirRam Group, has consulted on a number of successful political campaigns. He was part of the team that managed Hillary Rodham Clinton, Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand’s successful campaigns for the U.S. Senate. In 2001 and 2005 he was one of the leaders of Fernando Ferrer’s historic mayoralty campaigns and served as lead consultant to many candidates to the New York City Council and the New York State Assembly. Luis was lead consultant in the election of Letitia James as public advocate, the first African American woman elected citywide. Luis’ leadership extends beyond the world of public affairs. In 2000, he founded the Amber Charter School in East Harlem, one of the few charter schools in New York at the time to welcome unionized faculty. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center and Campaign for Fiscal Equity. Luis is currently the chairperson of The Broadway League’s Latino audience development program, Viva Broadway. He is a Board Member of the John Jay College Foundation, vice-chair of the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, and a member of the advisory boards to Nielsen Ratings, and R.Evolucion Latina. Luis studied at the University of Puerto Rico and New York University. Luis and wife, Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda Ph.D., have been married for 40 years and have two adult children, Luz Miranda-Crespo and Lin-Manuel Miranda. They reside in the Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights/Inwood.
CRITICAL PRAISE FOR “FIDDLER ON THE ROOF”
“Fiddler offers a kind of authenticity that no other American Fiddler ever has.”
-The New York Times (Critic’s Pick)
“A moving triumph and a piercing delight!”
-The Daily Beast
“Fiddler in Yiddish unfolds with majestic simplicity!”
-Newsday
“Here’s hoping that Yiddish Fiddler becomes a new tradition!”
-Time Out New York
“A thrilling new production in Yiddish!”
-The Wall Street Journal
“This Fiddler is a fresh and joyful revisit! If you’re a parent, you’ll need tissues for ‘Sunrise, Sunset.’ If you went to Jewish camp, you’ll sway with ‘Sabbath Prayer.’ And if you’re human, you’ll weep over ‘Far from the Home I Love’ and ‘Anatevke.’”
-Theater News Online
“This beautiful new Yiddish-language Fiddler is: bashert – meant to be.”
-NY Stage Review
“Anatevka crackles with a new, more authentic energy.”
-The Jewish Week
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