'Shlemiel' and Klezmer: 'Simplicity and Celebration'

Playwright Robert Brustein.

Theater J spreads a little oy to the world this season with "Shlemiel the First," a comic depiction of Eastern European shtetl life set to a rollicking klezmer soundtrack.

But don't get the wrong idea: "Fiddler on the Roof" it's not.

"More like a Jewish 'Christmas Carol,' " quips Robert Brustein, who adapted the play from the Yiddish folk tales of Isaac Bashevis Singer. The production at the D.C. Jewish Community Center runs through Jan. 20.

Brustein, 80, a former professor of English at Harvard University and the author of 15 books on theater and society, is the founding director of the Yale Repertory Theatre and the American Repertory Theatre at Harvard. Brustein worked with Singer in the 1970s.

"Singer originally wrote the play for my theater in New Haven," Brustein says from his home in Cambridge, Mass. The original was a non-musical version of "Shlemiel," still with the comic mishaps and zany characters.

It wasn't until almost 20 years later, when Brustein felt a "jolt of exuberance" while attending a klezmer concert, that he was reminded of Singer's play.

"I had an experience hearing the Klezmer Conservatory Band that had me dancing in the aisle, and I knew I wanted to give audiences that same experience," Brustein says.

For him, there was no question: "Shlemiel" and klezmer were a match. "Klezmer is ecstatic Jewish music that embraces the world and thanks it for its existence, much like Singer's stories. They both contain elements of marvelous simplicity and celebration."

Brustein set about adapting the play to the musical stage, and the result was the story of Shlemiel of Chelm, a town where, he says, "the dumbest men in the world believe they are the smartest." It debuted in 1994.

In the play, Shlemiel (Yiddish for "fool") embarks on a journey to spread the word that the smartest man on Earth lives in Chelm. Tricked on the road and turned around, he unknowingly arrives back home and is convinced he has discovered a new town, a "second Chelm," occupied by the same villagers, including a duplicate Mrs. Shlemiel. Events snowball with comic consequences, escalating when Shlemiel finds himself attracted to his own wife and feels guilty because he thinks it's not really her.

"Really, it's the story of a beautiful love affair: A man falls in love with his wife," Brustein says. "People tell me they come back to see it many times because of its exuberance; it's filled with fun and hope."

Brustein also sees an underlying sociological aspect of the play's continuing appeal: "I see a whole generation of people interested in seeking out their Jewish roots and heritage; the roots that our parents wanted to escape, audiences are now embracing."

Will this generation be dancing in the aisles?

"I don't know about you," Brustein says, "but I know I will be."

Shlemiel the First Theater J, 1529 16th St. NW 800-494-8497 Through Jan. 20. $15-$50. Shlemiel the First Theater J, 1529 16th St. NW 800-494-8497 Through Jan. 20. $15-$50.