In retrospect, it seems quite a stretch, importing a guy from the decidedly un-Yiddishkeit shtetl that is Lubbock, Texas, to Anatevka. But Steven Skybell, who’d played Tevye at Yale College, was so set on playing the ever-questioning milkman on a professional stage that when he heard about a new production being mounted by the National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene (NYTF) he stretched the truth and told his agent he spoke Yiddish.
Now, he’s hooked on Yiddish music and will join us in the tradition of minnesängers, Jewish troubadours, and in conversation with Zalmen Mlotek.
STEVEN SKYBELL
has had a long stage career including major roles in Wicked, The Full Monty, Pal Joey, Compassion, Fiddler on the Roof (2015 revival) and numerous Shakespeare plays. He received an Obie Award for his Off-Broadway role in Antigone in New York and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award and won the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Tevye in the 2019 production of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish.
- Ruthie Fierberg for Playbill
- Barbara Schuler for Newsday
- Elyse Sommer on CurtainUp
- Christopher Byrne for Gay City News
is the Artistic Director and conductor at National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. His vision brought the critically acclaimed award-winning Fidler AfnDakh (Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish) directed by Joel Grey, for which he served as music director to NY, and will serve as musical supervisor for the International and National tours being planned.
He brought Yiddish-Klezmer music to Broadway and Off-Broadway stages with the Tony-nominated Those Were the Days and Drama Desk Nominated Amerike – The Golden Land. He serves as Music Director for most NYTF productions, including the recent New York Times Critics Pick The Sorceress and Drama Desk Nominated musical The Golden Bride. His music can be heard in over two-dozen recordings and films, has taught and performed all over the world, and worked with countless singers including Jan Peerce, Theodore Bikel, and Mandy Patinkin.