Mamaloshen Review

newyorktheatre.com

I was surprised how much I enjoyed--and understood--Mamaloshen, the Yiddish song cycle that Mandy Patinkin is performing at the awe-inspiring Lower East Side synagogue known as the Angel Orensanz Center. The surprise was not that Mr. Patinkin is a charismatic performer and an engaging story-teller. No, what I didn't expect was that the songs would so clearly communicate such a powerful theme: Mamaloshen is at once a tribute to and a celebration of the Jewish immigrant experience. Armed only with fourteen songs, with no translation and virtually no dialogue, Mr. Patinkin does in just over an hour what Ragtime fails to do in nearly three: allows us to feel what it must have been like for our ancestors to settle in this amazing New World called America.

Many of the songs in Mamaloshen are authentic Yiddish folk music: "Rozhinkes Mit Mandlen" is a famous lullaby, for example, while "Belz" is a nostalgic tune about a town in the Old Country. Others, though, put Yiddish lyrics to popular American songs, like "Mayn Mirl" ("Maria" from West Side Story) or Paul Simon's "American Tune," which closes the show. The most accessible numbers intermingle music from the Old World and the New. There's a marvelous courtship sequence that begins with a sweet song called "Tsen Kopikes" (Ten Kopeks) which merges seamlessly into a Yiddish version of "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"; this leads to a wedding (complete with the smashing of a glass under Mr. Patinkin's foot) and then, inevitably, to the reception, where Mr. Patinkin, in Yiddish, persuades the audience to join him in the "Hokey Pokey."

Later there's another wonderful sequence titled simply "A Day in the Park," which includes Yiddish translations of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and "God Bless America." The piece de resistance is a song called "Der Alter Tzigayner" about an old gypsy fiddler, featuring some stunning work by the violinist Saeka Matsuyama. Mr. Patinkin has a ball in this playful number; I won't tell you the "unforgettable tune" that Ms. Matsuyama ultimately plays in the guise of this magical old gypsy, but it's a wonderfully wry choice.

Mr. Patinkin sings movingly and effortlessly, using simple gestures and body language to help us grasp the essential meanings of the songs. While listening to a beautiful piece called "Motl Der Opreyter," and figuring out that it's about a union organizer who is killed in a strike, it occurred to me that my experience in Mamaloshen must be something like a new immigrant's experience was a hundred years ago, trying to make sense of a foreign tongue with no one around to help; I suspect this is one of the reasons why no translations are provided.

At that moment, and during the wedding sequence, and especially when everybody stood up to sing "Got Bentsh Amerike," Mamaloshen touched me deeply. This is an enormously theatrical show, providing a striking reminder of the enormous courage and faith possessed by people who journey to a far-off land in search of a better life.