Picon Pie Serves Final NYC Slice of Yiddish Theatre Lore June 2, But a Tour Is Cooking | Playbill

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News Picon Pie Serves Final NYC Slice of Yiddish Theatre Lore June 2, But a Tour Is Cooking The acclaimed new play with music, Picon Pie, Rose Leiman Goldemberg's celebration of the life and loves of the legendary Yiddish star Molly Picon, starring June Gable, with Stuart Zagnit, will play its last performance at the Lamb's Theater June 2.
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June Gable in Picon Pie

But there will be more Pie to go around — literally. A national tour will follow, with dates to be announced.

By the June 2 close, the show will have played 137 performances and 24 previews at the Lamb's, following an earlier 200-performance run at the DR2 Theater.

"The beloved Molly Picon was undeniably the biggest Yiddish star of her day," according to production notes. "Known around the world, Picon began winning prizes for her amateur acts at the age of five and didn't stop. Throughout the 20th century, she sang and danced her way across continents and into hearts of the world. But Molly had her secrets. In Picon Pie, the 'real' Molly tells them all as Broadway and television star June Gable brings Molly to life in a tour-de-force performance celebrating 80 years of Picon's life, from her unrivaled international success to her private hopes and dreams, from her intense fight for personal and professional survival to her passionate and private life-long partnership with her manager and mentor Jacob 'Yonkel' Kalich (Stuart Zagnit)."

Picon's best-known film roles include Frank Sinatra's mother in "Come Blow Your Horn," for which she received an Oscar nomination, and Yente the Matchmaker in "Fiddler on the Roof." Picon also starred in the Broadway musical "Milk & Honey" as well as the film "For Pete's Sake" with Barbra Streisand. She performed for the American troops in World War II and then for the surviving Jews of Europe.

Picon Pie is spiced with many of her original Yiddish songs. Musical director is Carl Danielsen. Actress June Gable recently created the recurring character of Joey's agent, Estelle, on NBC's "Friends," as well as the role of Libby on the HBO series "Dream On." On Broadway, she starred as the Old Lady in Harold Prince's 1973-74 production of Candide (for which she received a Tony Award nomination) and as Googie Gomez in Terrence McNally's The Ritz. Off-Broadway productions include Beggars Opera, Coming Attractions, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and A Comedy of Errors, for which she received an Obie award.

Rose Leiman Goldemberg's television credits include "The Burning Bed" for which she received the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Dramatic Adaptation, Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing, American Women in Radio and TV Award, Humanitas Award nomination and was honored by The American Film Institute as part of the permanent collection; "Dark Holiday;" "Stone Pillow," starring Lucille Ball, for which she received a Humanitas Award nomination; "Florence Nightingale"; "Born Beautiful"; "Land of Hope"; "Death at Dinner"; "The Pencil Box War"; "The Jonas Salk Story"; and "Mother and Daughter, The Loving War," for which she received a Writer's Guild nomination and Humanitas Award nomination.

Performances continue at the Lamb's Theater (130 West 44th Street) Tuesday, Thursday through Saturday evenings at 8 PM, and matinees Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 3 PM. Tickets for all performances are $55 and are available through Telecharge.com, at (212) 239-6200 or at the Lamb's box office.

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Performances at the Lamb's began Jan. 29 toward an opening of Feb. 17.

Pamela Hall directs. The producers are Merriewold Enterprises and Edmund Gaynes & Nancy Bianconi. Designers are Matthew Maraffi (set), Heather Layman (lighting), Laura Frecon (costume).

At the Lamb's this summer, the One-Man Star Wars Trilogy starts Aug. 2.

 
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