Theodore Bikel: In the Shoes of Sholom Aleichem

“The grandest event…must-see…” – San Jose Mercury News

No one reflected the Yiddish world better than Sholom Aleichem whose characters and stories have brilliantly kept Yiddish culture a living, breathing, questioning, bickering, laughing and crying thing.

When Sholom Aleichem wrote his stories of shtetl life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, he was acutely, even painfully aware he was chronicling an already vanishing culture. On stage, Sholom Aleichem takes on another dimension of Yiddish theatricality. Enter the legendary Theodore Bikel – the greatest living performer of Sholom Aleichem’s work. These artists and icons have much in common: wisdom, humor, humanity, talent and a gift for Yiddish.

In the Shoes of Sholom Aleichem, narrated by Alan Alda, is a joyous mix of acting, storytelling, music and biography. It is also an exploration of art from the golden age of Yiddish life. The now 90-year-old Bikel’s performance of selected stories, songs and monologs from his stage show, Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears, are intertwined with an examination of Sholom Aleichem’s life and work.