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2011 CABARET DINNER - OUR STARS
| SPECIAL APPEARANCE BY TONY AWARD-WINNER RON RIFKIN | |
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Rifkin’s film credits include The Sum of All Fears, Dragonfly, The Majestic, Boiler Room, Keeping the Faith, The Negotiator, L.A. Confidential the film adaptation of Substance of Fire, Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives & Manhattan Murder Mystery, Last Summer in the Hamptons, Wolf, JFK, The Sting II, The Big Fix, The Sunshine Boys and Silent Running. On television he has appeared in numerous made-for-television movies and miniseries, including Flowers for Algernon, Norma Jean and Marilyn, “The Sunset Gang, Concealed Enemies, Buying a Landslide, Evergreen, The Winds of War and Dress Gray. He was also seen in the television film Deliberate Intent, opposite Timothy Hutton, and appeared in several episodes of Nero Wolfe, with Hutton directing. He starred in the series Alias, One Day at a Time and The Trials of Rosie O’Neill and guest starred on Sex and the City, ER, Law & Order, Falcon Crest, Soap, Hill Street Blues and The Outer Limits -- in which he received a CableACE nomination. |
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| STARRING | |
 Judy Blazer has appeared on Broadway in LoveMusik, Neil Simon’s 45 Seconds from Broadway, Titanic, Me and My Girl and A Change in the Heir. She has just completed an Off-Broadway run of a solo piece for Primary Stages’ Inner Voices solo musicals project: Whida Peru: Resurrection Tangle. She has performed in the New York City Opera productions of Sweeny Todd and Candide, The Torch Bearers with the Drama Dept., Richard Greenberg’s Hurrah at Last with the Roundabout Theatre, Bernalda Alba and Hello Again at Lincoln Center Theatre, Connecticut Yankee for City Center Encores!, and as the vocal soloist in Twyla Tharpe’s Everlast at the Metropolitan Opera. Regionally, she has had the title roles of Funny Girl at Sundance Theatre, The Night Governess at McCarter Theatre, The Miracle Worker at George St. Playhouse, Peter Pan at Artpark, and My Fair Lady at the Paper Mill Playhouse, and she was in the casts of Twelfth Night at Long Wharf Theatre and in On the 20th Century with the American Musical Theatre of San Jose. As an ongoing project, the actress appears across the country with Michael Tilson Thomas in a concert piece called Tomashefsky, about his grandparents, Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky, stars of American Yiddish theater, which was done at Lincoln Center this past year with the New York Philharmonic as a benefit for the Folksbiene. A broadcast of The Thomashefsky's shot at The New World Hall in Miami, will air on PBS' GREAT PERFORMANCES this winter. Her television credits include Law and Order, As the World Turns, Guiding Light, Bernstein’s New York and In Performance at the White House. She has been featured on over twenty recordings. She is artistic director of The Artist’s Crossing Theatre Co. & School. |
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 Elmore James is a veteran of five Broadway Shows. He sings in nine languages and first sang in Yiddish at Town Hall’s, Yiddish in America, a Gala Concert Celebrating the Centennial of the Workman’s Circle in New York City Elmore James co-starred in the last show to perform at the Harold Clurman theatre on Theatre Row, Hip, Heymish and Hot, the whimsical Yiddish/Jazz concert with Eleanor Reissa. As one of Broadway’s most versatile artists, Mr. James’ operatic performances include appearances at the Metropolitan Opera House, Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and the opera houses in Paris, Vienna, Munich, Berlin, Rome, Verona, Sicily, Sweden and Norway. |
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 Judy Kaye began her career in 1968 as Lucy in the Los Angeles company of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. She played Hodel in four different companies of Fiddler on the Roof and Mary Magdalene in five different companies of Jesus Christ Superstar. In 1973, she created the role of Rizzo in the first national company of Grease. She made her Broadway debut in the same role in 1977. Other roles in the '70s included Leah in The Dybbuk and Agnes in I Do, I Do! At the Sacramento Music Circus, she played Lili Vanessi in Kiss Me, Kate opposite John Reardon and Sheila in Hair. She was also in the Los Angeles company of Godspell. In 1978, never having been an understudy, she reluctantly agreed to play the role of Agnes, the maid, and to understudy Madeline Kahn in the lead role of Lily Garland/Mildred Plotka in the Broadway production of On the Twentieth Century. During the Broadway run, she made her cabaret debut and her film debut in Sidney Lumet's Just Tell Me What You Want. She won a Tony for best featured actress in a musical in The Phantom of the Opera and created the role of Emma Goldman in the Broadway production of Ragtime. Off-Broadway credits include Love, with Nathan Lane, later recreating the role in a revival at the York Theatre Company. She has also starred in numerous cabaret acts and concert performances of classical musicals and operettas. For Random House's Recorded Books series, she is the voice of private eye Kinsey Millhone in Sue Grafton's popular alphabetical series. |
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| Special Performance By Cantor Netanel Hershtik | |
 Netanel Hershtik is the cantor of The New York Synagogue and The Hampton Synagogue under the leadership of Rabbi Marc Schneier and the musical direction of condneluctor Yitzchak Haimov. Born in 1978, Netanel’s musical talent soon became apparent through his regular appearances as a child soloist in the Jerusalem Great Synagogue with his father, Naftali Hershtik. At the age of seven, he sang with this father in Australia, and throughout America and Europe. Educated at the Horev Yeshiva High School in Jerusalem and in Yeshivat Midbara Ke’eden, Netanel later served as an IDF combat paramedic. He graduated with an L.L.B degree from Sha’arei Mishpat College of Law and recently completed his L.L.M at the University of Miami School of Law. His concert appearances, both in Israel and worldwide, include performances with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra , the Jerusalem Syphony Orchestra and the Symphonet Ra’anana, as well as with the world’s leading cantorial male voice choirs as conducted by Yitzchak Haimov, Matthew Lazar, and Marc Temerlies. Netanel has performed in the world’s most acclaimed concert halls such as Lincoln Center, the Sydney Opera House and Casino de Paris. Netanel was also the first cantor to be invited to perform at the U.N. in a Holocaust remembrance ceremony in 2006. Netanel's cantorial style is a blend of his artistic originality as well as his father’s inspiring influence, teaching and his signature cantorial style. His musical education includes graduation from the Tel Aviv Cantorial Institute, as well as training under Cantor Chayim Feifel, Raymond Goldstein and other renowned cantors and musicians. |
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| AND FEATURING | |
Sarah Mlotek is a seventh grade student at the Solomon Schecter Day School of Bergen County. Sarah has been an active audience participant of Kids & Yiddish for the past 10 years and is happy to continue the family tradition. Sarah is in her school chorus and Scholastic Kids Authors workshop. She wants to thank her brothers Avram and Elisha and her cousin Missy. Maxine Wiesenfeld is currently in the ninth grade at the North Shore Hebrew Academy High School in Great Neck, New York. Last year she performed in the NSHA Middle School Production of Into the Woods, playing the witch, and in Beauty and the Beast under the direction of Yeeshai Gross. Maxine has performed in many Camp Ramah productions, including, the Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, Free to Be You and Me, and Bye Bye Birdie, all of which were performed completely in Hebrew. Maxine is proud of her heritage as a grandchild of four Holocaust survivors, and is excited to be a part of continuing promoting the Yiddish culture through the National Yiddish Theatre - Folksbiene. She lives in Great Neck with her parents and her treasured pet, ZsaZsa. |
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Our Band Taylor Bergren-Chrisman, Frank London, Musical Direction by Zalmen Mlotek |
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Ron Rifkin received a 1998 Tony Award for Best Supporting Actor for the Broadway revival of Cabaret. His other theatre credits include David Hirson’s Wrong Mountain, Arthur Miller’s Broken Glass, Turgenev’s A Month in the Country and Neil Simon’s Proposals. Rifkin originated the role of Isaac Geldhart in the Jon Robin Baitz play, Substance of Fire, in which he won the Obie, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel and Drama-Logue Awards for Best Actor. The following year he performed in Baitz’s Three Hotels, for which he received a second Lucille Lortel Award and Drama Desk nomination. He also appeared in Light Up the Sky at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. During the summer of 2002, Rifkin reunited with Baitz in a production of Ten Unknowns at Boston’s Huntington Theatre. In the winter of 2004, he once again reunited with Baitz to star in his play, The Paris Letter, at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles, which was followed by a production in the summer of 2005 at the Laura Pels Theatre in New York. 
Michael Levi Harris is thrilled to perform once again with the National Yiddish Theatre - Folksbiene, after a wonderful Off-broadway debut in Shpiel! Shpiel! Shpiel!. Since then, other theater credits have included: All the Rage and Coming Soon to a Theater Near You, both at the Barrow Group Theater. Other work includes extensive voiceover work, including several exhibitions at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, videogames, audioboks, commercials, promos, and sound clips for Late Show with David Letterman.
Rebecca Keren starred in Elizabeth Swados’ adaptation of The Dybbuk, and subsequently began working with Ms. Swados on various projects including co-conceiving, dramaturging and performing in Atonement: An Oratorio. She is currently working on a new musical she co-wrote with Daniella Rabbani and Elizabeth Swados. She is a member of The National Yiddish Theater - Folksbiene’s Troupe and has performed in readings and concerts at such venues as Baruch Performing Arts Center and Town Hall. Other credits include Cymbeline, A Bright Room Called Day (Mint/Theater 5). BFA with Honors from NYU-Tisch.
Stav Meishar was born and raised in Israel. Having had her professional stage debut at the age of 10 on the Israeli National Tour of Oliver!, she hasn't left the stage since. After playing Elphaba in the Israeli premiere of the musical Wicked, Stav moved to NYC to pursue her Musical Theatre education and since graduating she's been working as a performer all over America and overseas. Her American stage debut was with the National Yiddish Theatre - Folksbiene in its annual show Kids & Yiddish, and she has recently returned from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where she performed her Shakespearean ukulele act titled the dUKEss of Rock. A traditional Thespian by training, Stav has broken into new forms of performance as well, experimenting with ukulele, aerial dance and fire spinning. http://www.stavmeishar.com
Daniella Rabbani was a member of the National Yiddish Theatre - Folksbiene Troupe and has appeared in their productions of Gimpel Tam and The Adventures of Hershele Ostropolyer. Daniella also has the great honor of performing around the country with Zalmen Mlotek. Concert appearances include Jazz at Lincoln Center, Town Hall, Baruch Performing Arts Center with Tovah Felshuh, 92YTribeca and the YIVO institute. Select credits include Off-Broadway: Israel Horovitz’s Mid-East Pieces, 70/70 Horovitz Project, Liz Swados’ Atonement: an Oratorio, Bastard. Select Voiceovers: PBS’ Fire at the Triangle, Ellis Island Immigration Museum. BFA: NYU Tisch/ Stella Adler. On faculty at the Stella Adler Studio. Daniella recently collaborated with Rebecca Keren and Elizabeth Swados to write RakheLeah: a New Musical. More at www.daniellarabbani.com.
Ethan Sher Previous work with the National Yiddish Theatre - Folksbiene includes The Pirates of Penzance, Di Ksube and Gimpl Tam. Other NYC work includes House of Love and Prayer (Jazz at Lincoln Center), 5XWilder, Tonight at 8:30, Silk Stockings, Oh Lady Lady!, The East Village Chronicles, Joan of Arc. At CT’s Ivoryton Playhouse he played Ernst in Cabaret. Film work includes lead and supporting roles in Just Another Zombie Love Story, You Can See It, What’s The Point? and So She Fell Silent. Ethan trained at NYU’s Steinhardt School (MA) and Birmingham School of Acting, UK (BA). His first play, RealMusik, was a semi-finalist at The Network’s One-Act Festival. He is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and is also a cantor.
To Purchase Tickets call 212-213-2120 or development@nationalyiddishtheatre.org.
| Administrative Office: 135 West 29th Street # 504 New York, NY 10001 Office phone: (212) 213-2120 Office fax: (212) 213-2186 |
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