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Abigail Shapiro

Liberty: A Monumental New Musical

July 13, 2016

The production team uses most of the same people who were involved with the show’s 2014 run at Theater 80 St. Marks as well as four of the eight actors. Directing again, Evan Pappas keeps the show moving along, but some of the characterizations are allowed to descend into caricature and the waiting game for the money to be raised becomes a bit wearisome. Shapiro, now two years older, is charming as Liberty and has a sweet voice but it fails to project in this venue. Emma Rosenthal is impassioned as Emma Lazarus, caught between her liberal beliefs and her family’s conservative leanings. [more]

Another Hundred Years

August 11, 2015

“Papa” was the elder Theodore Bikel’s sobriquet to the younger members of the touring company of "Fiddler on The Roof." Mr. Bikel died at the age of 91 on July 21, 2015, and a warm and very well performed tribute to his life and career was the centerpiece of the splendid concert "Another Hundred Years," at 54 Below. Part of KulturfestNYC’s Encore Series, this show also celebrated the impact of Jewish songwriters on Broadway musicals and marked the centennial of The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene which co-produced it. This is the oldest continually performing Yiddish theater company in existence. [more]