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Stage : Concerts |
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The Thomashefskys : Music and Memories of a Life in Yiddish Theater To be broadcast nationally on 29 March 2012 as part of PBS's "Great Performances" series. Performed live at the following venues:
And previously:
Conductor : Michael Tilson Thomas
A concert "devoted to the musical world and family lore of Tilson Thomas' forebears"
The event includes readings from the autobiographies of the conductor's grandparents and visual projections of family documents and mementos, plus music from various Thomashefsky stage productions which took place between 1892 and 1922. These are the first performances of this music since then.
2011 Boris, who died at 71 in 1939, five years before Mr. Thomas was born, was played here by Shuler Hensley, who brought gusto and a hearty voice to the role. (Anthony Tommasini, New York Times) Shuler Hensley was an arrogant, egotistical Boris with a large baritone voice to match. (Lawrence Budmen, South Florida Classical Review) 2005 Martin Bernheimer, Financial Times Patricia Birch has staged the Thomas/Thomashefsky show with
welcome restraint, adroitly balancing slide-and-film projections
with jazzy-funky music and stylish song-dance-and-speak routines.
Tilson Thomas leads a nifty 17-piece band with Mozartean bravado.
The inspired cast is led by Judy Blazer, warm and wry as Bessie,
with Shuler Hensley big and bold as Boris in his prime and
Eugene Brancoveanu mellifluous as his youthful alter ego. Ronit
Widmann-Levy preens amusingly as an almost-operatic diva. Stellar
embellishment arrives in monologues by Judy Kaye and Debra Winger.
Fiddler-Shmiddler. This one really raises the roof. Tilson Thomas does his grandparents proud. Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2005 Wednesday night at Davies Symphony Hall here, Yiddish was alive. The San Francisco Symphony was alive. And they came together for "The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater," which a spokesperson for the orchestra described as the hottest ticket of the season. "Nightline" recently devoted 20 minutes to the project. The concert was sold out a month ago..... The evening proved to be three hours of pure pleasure. The program, directed by Patricia Birch, was an ambitious and agreeable mishmash, which meant it suited its material. Tilson Thomas offered reminiscences and conducted a small orchestra. Lively music was dredged up, some of it unheard for a hundred years. Much of it was hysterically funny, including an antic Bar Mitzvah March from "Dos Pintele Yid" (A Little Spark of Jewishness) and "Biznes Befor Plezhur" from "Der Yidisher Yankee Doodle." Some things you just had to imagine, such as Boris' Yiddish Parsifal or his "Hasidic" Hamlet — Shakespeare, he advertised, "translated and improved."
Judy Blazer was a dazzling Bessie,
chewing scenery. Eugene Brancoveanu could only approximate the
larger-than-life Boris, but you got the idea. The singers Shuler
Hensley and Ronit Widmann-Levy brought additional flair to the
show. Projections of photographs and the one extant film of Boris
(age 75 and still commanding) were seamlessly integrated into the
rest. But what made the biggest impression was simply how powerful
theater was to the teeming life and culture of New York's Lower East
Side. It was always wildly seat-of-your-pants. Fake something
charming, Boris would tell his fellow actors, until Mrs.
Thomashefsky exits the stage. Boris, who died at 73 in 1939 five years before his grandson was born, was a tumultuous, galvanic figure - actor, singer, writer, impresario and seemingly full-time ladies' man. From his boyhood as a star synagogue soloist in the Ukrainian city of Berditchev to his last years as an aging but still charismatic stage performer, Boris lived for the spotlight ..... Much of that theatrical zest and hunger for applause came through in Wednesday's performances .......... Boris was represented variously by Shuler Hensley, who projected the actor's restlessness and hunger, and by baritone Eugene Brancoveanu, whose suave, appealing vocalism captured what must have been Boris' easy onstage charm. Read the full review at SFGate.com Maestro's joyous celebration of Yiddish stage. Richard Scheinin, Mercury News, 2 July 2005 The Thomashefskys pioneered a theatrical movement that released a flood of music by the likes of George and Ira Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein. The latter became a mentor to Tilson Thomas. And the Gershwins, growing up in the shadow of the Thomashefskys, referred to Boris in song. Even before that, in 1910, Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth wrote a tune that paid tribute to Boris' larger-than-life persona and womanizing reputation: "Who Do You Suppose Married My Sister? - Thomashefsky." Shuler Hensley - an exceptional baritone - was Boris, singing and boasting over his theatrical and sexual conquests.
2011 Miami Herald Gram and Gramps: Michael Tilson Thomas' "mega-star" grandparents. Miami Examiner The story of the Thomashefskys talks about how important the Yiddish theater was in the life of the Jewish Eastern European immigrants in America. Theater became a place to express their life and aspirations, for Jewish immigrants of the late 19th and early 20th century who settled on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Yiddish theater was central to their lives. South Florida Classical Review For Tilson Thomas this venture has been a labor of love encompassing a decade of research. To audience members of a certain age who recall the twilight years of Yiddish theatrical productions, this show is a nostalgic journey. But more broadly, in addition to offering insight into Tilson Thomas’ own artistic roots, this musical biography is a history lesson on the evolution of American musical theater and a primer on early European models paving the way for the exuberant sounds of vaudeville and the Jazz Age. Wall Street Journal Sharing the Chutzpah: And, of course, there's that reference uttered in "The Producers" by Max Bialystock: "As the great Thomashefsky said to me on his deathbed ..." New York Times In everything he does, from conducting the San Francisco Symphony to spearheading that orchestra’s multimedia educational project, Michael Tilson Thomas brings thorough musicianship sparked with theatrical flair. On Tuesday night an audience that packed Avery Fisher Hall learned about the roots of Mr. Thomas’s theatrical instincts when the New York Philharmonic presented “The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater,” directed by Patricia Birch, in the first of two performances. Playbill Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas will climb into his family tree for the staged concert The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater, with the New York Philharmonic April 5-6 in Manhattan. Broadway's Judy Blazer and Shuler Hensley will appear as stage stars Bessie and Boris Thomashefsky, Tilson Thomas' grandparents Philly.com Conductor's homage to his Yiddish forebears Jewish Exponent Picking Up the Baton: Michael Tilson Thomas brings Bubby and Zayda to the stage in 'The Thomashefskys' 2005 NPR
Morning Edition
Project Recalls Yiddish Theater Legends : San Francisco Chronicle Michael Tilson Thomas invites you to meet his grandparents - the amazing Thomashefskys
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Philadelphia Orchestra, Verizon Hall, 15-16
February 2011
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