After Avi Hoffman's Too Jewish Two finishes its run at Jewish Rep to head down to Florida, ending the company's season (previews June 6; running June 14-June 28) will be a new musical: The Fishkin Touch.
The piece has music by Greg Armbruster, lyrics by NY newspaper columnist Lenore Skenazy, and a book by David Javerbaum. Spokesperson Adam Meza sums up the plot this way: "Second Avenue matinee idol discovers he has a son."
Starring will be Mike Burstyn, who starred in the American Jewish Theatre's hit revival of The Rothschilds and the brief-lived Ain't Broadway Grand on Broadway. Joan Copeland (The American Plan) co-stars, alongside Beth Thompson, Jordan Leeds and Carol Ann Page. Desig @ show are Craig Clipper (set), Gail Cooper Hecht (costumes) and Rob Williams (lighting).
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As for Too Jewish Two!, the sequel to Hoffman's solo revue, Too Jewish, opened Apr. 28 and runs to May 17. Like the first Jewish, wherein Hoffman saluted Israeli poets, Fiddler on the Roof and comic-actor Menasha Skulnick, TJ2 again mixes spoken word pieces with music. The emphasis on comedy will be even stronger this time, with Hoffman celebrating such borscht belt comics as Myron Cohen, and singing ditties by Mickey Katz and Allen Sherman. Also in the mix will be little-known historical tidbits, such as the fact that Uganda's current president is a septuagenarian Jewish lady, and that most of Christopher Columbus' crew was likely Jewish (they set sail the same day in 1492 the Jews were expelled from Spain).
Accompanied by a lone piano in the first Too Jewish, Hoffman is now backed by a six-piece Klezmer band, making TJ2 the third Off Broadway show to feature Klezmer this season (the short-lived Hot Klezmer at American Jewish Theatre, and A Dybbuk at the Public).
For tickets or more information on shows at Jewish Repertory Theatre at the Playhouse 91 space on East 91st St., call (212) 831-2000, or refer to the Off-Broadway listing on Playbill On-Line.
-- By David Lefkowitz
