The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater

A mix of Broadway musical, biography, ethnic history, and homage to his grandparents by Michael Tilson Thomas—conductor of the San Francisco Symphony—The Thomashefskys offers a staged tribute to Boris Thomashefsky (1866–1939), an actor-impresario who was a pioneer of Yiddish theater in New York, and his wife, Bessie Baumfeld-Kaufman (1873–1962), who starred in many of Boris's productions until the pair separated over his philandering and financial double-dealing. Thomas, who grew up with Bessie, devoted himself to collecting an archive of scores and other materials documenting the couple's career. Thomas also wrote this exuberant PBS-aired 2011 presentation from Miami Beach's New World Center, serving as host while also conducting the New World Symphony. A quartet of talented actors—Judy Blazer, Shuler Hensley, Eugene Brancoveanu, and Ronit Widmann-Levy—perform numbers from the Thomashefsky shows and offer in-character reminiscences, backed by stills and archival footage (projected on the rear of the stage) and occasional old audio recordings. The result is a fascinating glimpse into a corner of American Jewish history that is too little appreciated, especially given its obvious impact on the development of musical theater as an art form. DVD extras include bonus full-length performances (of overtures by Rumshinsky and Goldfaden), featurettes, one of Bessie's comic monologues, and an illustrated booklet. Recommended. (F. Swietek)