OY VEY, A PIRATE’S LIFE FOR ME!

Gilbert and Sullivan get a deliciously Yiddish makeover
in a spirited concert presentation full of musical mischief

Drew Seigla, Steve Sterner, Bob Ader, John Reed, Kirk Geritano, Jackie Hoffman

National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene has often presented plays written in English and translated into Yiddish, but with Pirates of Penzance, or Di Yam Gazlonim, the company does something entirely different. It turns the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta into a delightful Yiddish farce.

Thus, the error Rivke (Jackie Hoffman) made that tied poor Fayvl (Drew Seigla) to these “stinkers,” also known as pirates of Zhitkovits, happened when she mistook the “ten bearded men with knives in their teeth” for “kosher slaughterers.”

Allen Lewis Rickman, Adam B. Shapiro, Bob Ader

The Major General/Der Groser General (Allen Lewis Rickman) recites: “I make a nice shilling from the dreydl on Chanuka…and I dance a dashing hora while I’m playing the harmonica!”

And my personal favorite: Rivke defends the pirates by saying, “I must reveal the secret—they are all Yeshiva students who have lost their way,” as tzitzit drop down from under their pirate shirts.

Drew Seigla, Annabel Parker, Yelena Shmulenson, Ashley Adler, Hannah Madeline Goodman, Stephanie Lynne Mason, Allen Lewis Rickman

Not only is Di Yam Gazlonim brilliantly written, it is also beautifully directed by Rickman and has a hilarious score adapted and translated by Rickman and Al Grand (the musical director is Zalmen Mlotek), As in many operas today, the libretto is projected onto a screen to help the audience enjoy the comedic brilliance.

As this is a concert presentation, there is no scenery. But wardrobe supervisor Bex Jones has dressed the singers in appropriately extravagant costumes. And the cast is so uniformly excellent and enthusiastic that the audience can imagine even action that is not presented onstage.

Bob Ader, Drew Seigla, Eli Mayer, Kirk Geritano, Steve Sterner, John Reed

Because this is an abridged version, some characters and scenes become more or less important. For instance, Rivke seems much more prominent than the nursemaid, Ruth, in the original. But that could be because the role is played by the inimitable Jackie Hoffman.

The police, led by the Sergeant of Peace (Adam B. Shapiro), are the Yiddish version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s bumbling cowards: in other words, schlemiels. And Annabel Parker as Malke, the damsel from the “lovely flowers of a Jewish garden,” has an especially beautiful voice that soars over the nonsense.

Di Yam Gazlonim was originally produced in 2006. Twenty years later, it has lost none of its sparkle.

Jackie Hoffman, Steve Sterner, Drew Seigla, Adam B. Shapiro, Bob Ader

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

photos by Properpix

Pirates of Penzance, or Di Yam Gazlonim
National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene
Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway in New York
Sun, Oct. 25, at 2 & 7
one-day engagement
for tickets ($36–$75), visit Symphony Space
for more info, visit NYTF

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Drew Seigla, Jackie Hoffman