קונגרס העולמי ה-18 למדעי היהדות

Fidler afn Heartstrings: The Complex Resonances of a Yiddish Fiddler on the Roof

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This paper examines the enthusiastic reception of the Folksbiene Theatre’s 2018 unprecedentedly successful Yiddish production of Fiddler on the Roof. It will explore the powerful pairing of nostalgia and postvernacularity (to use Jeffrey Shandler`s terminology) to posit that the production, which went on to transfer off-Broadway and ran for almost two years, struck a particular chord with audiences through its use of the Yiddish language, which evoked a very particular Jewish old world imaginary, seemingly to both Jewish and non-Jewish audiences.