Purim came and went, but the National Yiddish Theater-Folksbiene is celebrating it now with “The Megile of Itzik Manger,” a freewheeling musical adaptation of the Book of Esther that’s as tasty as those little Purim cookies, hamantaschen.
First seen on Broadway in 1968, the piece was co-created by Yiddish poet Iztik Manger (1901-1969), who put a modern spin on an old tale.
While his original version took place in a shtetl, this revival — like the new “Pippin” — is set in a circus, under the big top. And so, besides the storytelling and songs performed in Yiddish — with English and Russian supertitles — we get clowning, acrobatics, masks andpuppetry.
The title, in case you wondered, refers to the Jewish expression for the scroll of the Book of Esther, so long it spawned the expression “the whole megillah.”
For those who skipped Hebrew school, the story concerns Esther (Stacey Harris), a beautiful young Jewish woman who marries the Persian King Akheshveyresh (Stephen Mo Hanan).
When the king’s anti-Semitic prime minister Homen (Jonathan Brody) tries to rid the kingdom of its Jews, it’s up to Esther and her Uncle Mordkhe (Brody again) to foil his plot and rescue her people. Jews have been celebrating ever since.
Dov Seltzer’s rollicking score features songs with such authentically (if eccentrically spelled) Yiddish titles as “Gvald” (Gevalt, the Yiddish expression of dismay), “S’a Mekhaye” (How Sweet It Is) and “L’khayim” (To Life). Joyous as the show is, it does have its dark moments — talking of raining Jewish blood and projections of hateful newspaper headlines, including one from the notorious Nazi paper Der Stürmer.
“A Purim Play in rhyme/So great you’ll love every line,” we’re promised early on, and it’s a pleasure to hear this musical language skillfully delivered by a talented nine-member ensemble.
Yiddish theater used to be a New York City staple.
This wonderful company, one of the last of its kind, manages to keep it thrillingly alive.