Theater Review - The Producers

“Idol of the Yiddish matinee” Boris Fishkin (Jon Kohler) has a way with a play, and as shown in Jewish Theatre of the South’s The Fishkin Touch, that way involves rewriting classics to have Jewish accents and happy endings. Thus The Fishkin Touch opens with a musical number about “Rabbi Oedipus” and his shocking transgressions — “This shouldn’t happen to a dog, this!” — which turn out to be an innocent misunderstanding.

A loving lampoon of New York’s Yiddish theater in 1902, the musical play has a likable cast, a snappy pace and a lively rivalry between larger-than-life Boris and Reuben (Michael Schneider), an earnest young man dedicated to serious, tragic theater. Reuben is shocked by the theatrical liberties taken by Boris — who happens to be his father.We find that out in the first 10 minutes, but there are more long-held secrets to come, and the script doesn’t really get away with its melodramatic contrivances.”

In numbers like “Emerald Eyes,” “Boy Meets Girl” and others, Heidi Cline and Pamela Gold perform robustly opposite their male partners. And the play benefits from a sly, winking attitude to the overt Jewishness of its humor, deliberately playing up stereotypes in little ditties like “Levin, He’s a Schlemiel!” or a happy “Anna Karenina” set to the tune of “Hava Negilah.” By the end of The Fishkin Touch you feel like you’ve heard the cast exclaim “Oy!” about a thousand times, but overall you might say that the play gets to have its blintzes and eat them, too.

The Fishkin Touch plays through May 12 at Jewish Theatre of the South, Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. Sun. at 3 and 7 p.m. $18-$24. 770-395-2654.??