Fiddler on the Roof is posisbly the most Jewish production out there - but it's about to get a little bit more so. A new production premieres next month off-Broadway - in Yiddish.
The cast list has just been released and includes actress and comedian Jackie Hoffman as Yenta the matchmaker. If you don't recognise the name you will recognise the face. Hoffman has starred in TV shows The New Normal and 30 Rock, Hairspray on Broadway and more recently Feud: Bette and Joan, on the BBC.
Tevye and Golda are less well known (Steven Skybell (Fiddler On The Roof, Wicked, The Full Monty), and Jill Abramovitz (Fiddler On The Roof, Cinderella, 9 to 5) ) but the play is being directed by Oscar and Tony Award-winner Joel Grey. The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene production will be staged at the Museum of Jewish Heritage this summer.
Some of the cast members have experience performing in Yiddish, but for others it will be a new string to their bow.