New York's Yiddish theater : from the Bowery to Broadway / edited by Edna Nahshon.

In the early decades of the twentieth century, a vibrant theatrical culture took shape on New York City's Lower East Side. Original dramas, comedies, musicals, and vaudeville, along with sophisticated productions of Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Chekhov, were innovatively staged for crowds that rival...

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Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: Nahshon, Edna (Editor)
Other title:From the Bowery to Broadway.
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: New York : Columbia University Press in association with the Museum of the City of New York, [2016]
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Summary:In the early decades of the twentieth century, a vibrant theatrical culture took shape on New York City's Lower East Side. Original dramas, comedies, musicals, and vaudeville, along with sophisticated productions of Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Chekhov, were innovatively staged for crowds that rivaled the scene on Broadway. While these productions were in Yiddish and catered to Eastern European Jewish audiences (the largest immigrant group in the city at the time), their artistic and aesthetic creations and their play with politics and history came to influence all facets of the American stage. Vividly illustrated and with contributions from leading historians and critics, this history recounts in absorbing detail the heyday of "Yiddish Broadway" and its vital contribution to American Jewish life and its crossover to American culture. Performances grappled with Jewish nationalism, labor relations, women's rights, religious observance, acculturation, and assimilation. They reflected a range of genres, from tear-jerkers to experimental theater, and introduced American audiences to avant-garde dramatic technique.
Item Description:Published on the occasion of the exhibition held at the Museum of the City of New York, March 9-July 31, 2016.
"Featuring images from the collections of the Museum of the City of New York and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research."
Physical Description:327 pages : illustrations (some color), portraits ; 27 cm.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (pages 316-321) and index.
ISBN:9780231176705
0231176708