Shakespeare on the American Yiddish Stage (Studies Theatre Hist & Culture) [Hardcover]

Joel Berkowitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2002 | Series: Studies Theatre Hist & Culture

The professional Yiddish theatre started in 1876 in Eastern Europe; with the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, masses of Eastern European Jews began moving westward, and New York--Manhattan's Bowery and Second Avenue--soon became the world's center of Yiddish theatre.  At first the Yiddish repertoire revolved around comedies, operettas, and melodramas, but by the early 1890s America's Yiddish actors were wild about Shakespeare.  In Shakespeare on the American Yiddish Stage, Joel Berkowitz knowledgably and intelligently constructs the history of this unique theatrical culture.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Berkowitz's revealing study lovingly and meticulously recreates a fascinating moment when a Yiddish theatre tried to 'improve' itself by appropriating Shakespeare and his considerable reputation--and in the process created a newly enriched kind of Shakespeare, brimming over with pathos, melodrama, unabashed theatricality, and yiddishkeit." --Harley Erdman, author of Staging the Jew: The Performance of an American Ethnicity, 1860-1920

About the Author

Joel Berkowitz is assistant professor of modern Jewish studies at the State University of New York at Albany.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: University Of Iowa Press (March 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877458006
• ISBN-13: 978-0877458005
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,006,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #41 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Yiddish

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonder of a Book!, October 16, 2002

By 

Sergei (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shakespeare on the American Yiddish Stage (Studies Theatre Hist & Culture) (Hardcover)

At last, a work of substantial scholarship that can not only enlighten, but actually entertain, the lay reader! For those of you intimidated by the Bard, don't despair; Berkowitz wears his considerable learning lightly, and demonstrates with style and wit how Yiddish playwrights turned to Shakespeare in an effort to "legitimize" the American Yiddish stage. "Shakespeare on the American Stage" benefits from the author's extensive work with contemporary scripts, newspapers, memoirs, and other sources. More importantly, it tells a compelling story of American Jewish immigrants through the prism of the theater--a real treat!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Time travel clearly worth the price of the trip, August 2, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Shakespeare on the American Yiddish Stage (Studies Theatre Hist & Culture) (Hardcover)

Mr. Berkowitz takes the reader back to the Lower East Side starting roughly 125 years ago to introduce us to the bustling, experimental world where Jewish immigrants controversially sought to achieve credibility for their beloved theater by adapting the works of the most renowned playwright. Audiences packed houses to see the thespianic greats outdo each other in Shakespeare's finest roles. Mr. Berkowitz invokes the aid of play advertisements and theater critics' first-hand accounts in a story about Shakespeare nearly as entertaining as a Shakespearean story.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One heck of a read!, May 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Shakespeare on the American Yiddish Stage (Studies Theatre Hist & Culture) (Hardcover)

When a friend gave me this book, my first reaction was, "Great subject, handsome book--but too scholarly for my blood." Once I started leafing through it, though, I couldn't put it down. Berkowitz writes with flair, and manages to entertain and instruct at the same time. He starts by bringing the reader into the world of late 19th century Yiddish theater in New York City. He vividly describes the theater buildings, the audiences, the actors and the playwrights who made the Lower East Side such a hotbed of activity. Then he takes us on a fascinating ride, organized around the Shakespeare plays that were most successful in Yiddish. This book should be a must on everybody's reading list this summer!