- A Khasene in Shtetl
A Khasene in Shtetl (Yiddish for "A Wedding in the Village" / "A Village Wedding", also called "A Shtetl Wedding" / "A Wedding in the Shtetl", Yiddish: אַ חתונה אין שטעטל (סעגיל-װאָל) is a Yiddish
musical theater written, and often directed and acted in, byPesach Burstein , aJewish Polish American who was involved with theYiddish theater .Burstein's troupe, and most notably his immediate family - his wife
Lillian Lux , and later also his sonMike Burstyn and daughter Susan Burstein (all part of the advertisedFour Bursteins ) went around the globe performing the theater to Yiddish speaking diaspora. While panned by critics, the play was able to reach out to a vast variety of audience, in locales as diverse asEast Europe (pre-Holocaust ),Israel ,Latin America and theUnited States .The play was one of several Old World counterparts to
Al Jolson 's The Jazz Singer.The play depicts a the trials of arabbi 's son going on stage. Pesach Burstein was well acquainted with Al Jolson, as he had signed up for a contract withColumbia Records sometime before. The play was probably also based on someautobiographical elements, as Burstein ran away from his Polish family to join a mobile Yiddish theater group.Extensive footage of the play, and information regarding it, are presented in the
2000 documentary about the Burstein family - The Komediant. The Komediant, New Yorker Video, New York, 1999]Notes
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