If I Were a Fiddler: Ep. 145

Tablet Studios

Tablet Magazine

Judaism, Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 2 August 2018

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Tradition, tradition! In honor of a new Yiddish production of Fiddler on the Roof, we're heading back to Anatevka. Our Jewish guest is Rachel Zatcoff, who plays Tzeitel in The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene Off-Broadway production, Fidler afn Dakh. Our Gentile of the week is James Monroe Števko, who plays Mendl, the rabbi's son. They tell us about learning Yiddish for the show and what it's like working with director Joel Grey and Jackie Hoffman, who plays Yenta. We also sit down with Alisa Solomon, author of Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof, to discuss the cultural significance of Fiddler on the Roof, which first opened on Broadway in 1965, as well as the Sholem Aleichem stories the play is based on. We love hearing from you! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at our listener line: 914-570-4869. We may share your note on the air. If you like listening, please consider leaving a review in iTunes. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and join our Facebook group to chat with the hosts and see what happens behind-the-scenes! Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Show your love for Unorthodox with our new T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies. Get yours at bit.ly/unorthoshirt This episode is sponsored by One Day University. Get 20% off your ticket to see Mark Oppenheimer's Oct. 14 lecture on religion in America by using the code MARK when you register at OneDayU.com.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, my name is Stella Cross. My daddy works with people who like to swear. So if you don't want to listen to that, just don't listen.
0:07.5	This has been your upset and new warning.
0:10.0	Hey, this is Unorthodox, the Universe's leading Jewish podcast.
0:16.0	I am your host Mark Oppenheimer, and I am joined this week by Deputy Editor
0:19.9	Stephan Butnik.
0:20.9	Hello, hello.
0:21.9	And Senior Scribe Leal Libowitz.
0:25.0	Simonta, Maslutto.
0:27.0	And we are back at Argo Studios after what seems like many seasons of our lives.
0:33.1	40 years.
0:33.7	We were out in Union Square with Chabad.
0:35.4	We were airing in the wilderness.
0:36.4	The JCC of Manhattan talking Japs.
0:39.2	It was literally 40 days and 40 nights.
0:41.2	I think it was.
0:41.9	It actually was. We are so glad to be back. We're going to be talking
0:46.0	today about the Yiddish version of Fiddler on the roof, which Steph and I have votes.
0:50.3	Did you see it Leo? I did not. You did it, but you will. I'm me.
0:53.7	Because it's been extended through August 26.
0:56.3	There's a very exciting new version of Fiddler on the roof entirely in Yiddish, which is being
1:01.3	performed at the National Yiddish Theater in downtown Manhattan.
1:04.8	Stephen and I both went to see it.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Tablet Magazine, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Tablet Magazine and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.