Fidler aoyf di Dakh

A new production of Fiddler on the Roof is playing in New York City, right on the heels of a revival only a couple years ago.  But this one is different -- the off-Broadway production is performed entirely in Yiddish, by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene.  Also drawing attention is that it's directed by Tony and Oscar-winning actor Joel Grey.  (Though he doesn't speak Yiddish, which I suspect was a challenge, his father Mickey Katz was a big star of the Yiddish theater, which may have had something -- if not a huge deal -- to do with him wanting to take on the challenge.)

The show has been a big hit, and watching clips of it I can see why.  The production includes English supertitles (and also Russian ones!), not unlike an opera.  And it appears rich and vibrant, and very moving.  And by this point, I would think most people have a pretty good idea what the story is of Fiddler on the Roof anyway, even with out the supertitles.

The video here is well-done, and the show looks wonderful and vibrant.  And stick around after, because I have a fun bonus video below -- which actually is what I saw first that prompted this.  

And now the bonus.  As I said, this is what came to my attention first, and as I was preparing to post it, I thought I should check out the show itself.  Which brought about the video above.  And now we come to that initial video below --

There's an annual fundraising event in New York City that the Broadway community puts on, called the Easter Bonnet."  And every year they also given an award for the Best Presentation by a theater company.  This year, the award went to this off-Broadway company of Fiddlier on the Roof" in Yiddish.  They wondered what it would be like if other Broadway shows were done in Yiddish, too.  And there's a guest appearance at the end by Joel Grey, who joins in -- despite not speaking Yiddish.