THE GOLDEN BRIDE to End Off-Broadway Run This Weekend

Now in its 101st season, the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene [NYTF] presents the first Off-Broadway revival of the lost Yiddish American hit THE GOLDEN BRIDE (Di Goldene Kale). Featuring a cast of 20 and an orchestra of 14, this rare glimpse back into musical theater history began performances December 2 as part of NYTF's inaugural year in residency at the Museum of Jewish Heritage [MJH]. The production marks the first long-running, full-scale production hosted at the Museum's 375-seat Edmond J. Safra Hall. Performances run through January 3.

In THE GOLDEN BRIDE, a beautiful young woman named Goldele, abandoned as a child, receives an unexpected inheritance and sets off on a journey across the seas to claim her estate, find her mother and offer her hand to the man who can help.

With music by famed Yiddish composer Joseph Rumshinsky, libretto by Frieda Freiman and lyrics by Louis Gilrod, this long-running popular romantic comedy premiered in 1923 and was revived consistently and presented internationally through the 1940's, but was lost to time following the Second World War. In 1984, Dr. Michael Ochs, former head of the music library at Harvard unearthed an original vocal score and manuscript for Di Goldene Kale and spent a number of years translating, researching and reconstructing this nearly-forgotten treasure.

Presented in Yiddish with English and Russian supertitles THE GOLDEN BRIDE will star Bob Ader (Broadway's All the Way Home), Glenn Seven Allen (Broadway's Light in the Piazza), Lisa Fishman (Off Broadway's On Second), Regina Gibson (Off Broadway's The Apple Tree), Jillian Gottlieb (The Metropolitan Opera's Das Rheingold), Cameron Johnson (Into the Woods), Rachel Policar (Off Broadway's HMS Pinafore), Bruce Rebold (Off Broadway's Kiss, Me Kate), and Adam B. Shapiro (HBO's The Normal Heart) with chorus/ensemble members including Jordan Becke, Adam Kaster, Jessica Kennedy, Amy Laviolette, Joseph Mace, Liza Miller, Isabel Nesti, Alexis Semevolos, Zachary Spiegel, Tatiana Wechsler, and Jeremy Weiss.

THE GOLDEN BRIDE creative team is comprised of direction by Bryna Wasserman (Lies My Father Told) and NYTF Associate Director Motl Didner (Fyvush Finkel Live), music direction by Zalmen Mlotek (Broadway's Those Were the Days), set by John Dinning, costumes by Izzy Fields (Roundabout's Consent), sound design by John Emmett O'Brien, lighting by Yael Lubetzky (Broadway's Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam), choreography by Merete Muenter (The Megile of Itzik Manger), libretto / score editing and translation by Michael Ochs, and casting by Jamibeth Margolis, C.S.A. (Broadway's Phantom of the Opera, LES MISERABLES). NYTF Executive Producer Christopher Massimine (Broadway's It Shoulda Been You, American Idiot, and Soul Doctor) heads production and promotion as general manager and showrunner with Ken Larson (FX's American Horror Story) as production manager and Sean Patrick (Roundabout's Anything Goes) as production stage manager.

Since 1915, the award-winning National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene [NYTF] has presented a window into the world of Jewish culture by engaging, educating, and igniting the imaginations of generations of theatergoers. It is the longest consecutively-producing Yiddish theatre company in the world, NYC's longest consecutively-producing performing arts company, and America's sole-surviving professional Yiddish theatre. NYTF presents plays, musicals, concerts, literary events and workshops in English, Yiddish, Ladino, Hebrew and Russian, with English and Russian supertitles accompanying most performances. Its mission is to celebrate the Jewish experience through the performing arts and to transmit a rich cultural legacy in exciting new ways. www.nytf.org

The mission of the Museum of Jewish Heritage is to educate people of all ages and backgrounds about the broad tapestry of Jewish life in the 20th and 21st centuries-before, during, and after the Holocaust. Multiple perspectives on modern Jewish history, life, and culture are presented in the Museum's unique Core Exhibition and award-winning special exhibitions. Acclaimed public programs, including discussions, films, plays, and concerts, highlight the richness of Jewish culture and ideas. The Museum's mission extends across the country and the world with Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (FASPE) and initiatives with affiliate organizations: the Auschwitz Jewish Center and JewishGen. www.mjhnyc.org

THE GOLDEN BRIDE runs through January 3, 2016 on the following schedule: Wednesdays & Thursdays at 2pm & 7:30pm; Saturdays at 7:30pm; and Sundays at 2pm & 6pm with additional performances Dec. 29 at 2pm and Jan. 1 at noon. NOTE: no performance on Dec. 31. The Museum of Jewish Heritage is located at 36 Battery Place at First Place -- accessible from the 4/5 trains at Bowling or the 1/R at Rector Street. Tickets are $40 at 866-811-4111 or nytf.org.

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