Early 20th Century

In the spring of 1904, New York witnessed the unlikely spectacle of a musical-dramatic adaptation of Richard Wagner’s Parsifal—in Yiddish.

In late August 1904, Henry James returned to the United States after an absence of twenty years. Upon arrival in New York, he was overwhelmed by the first views of Manhattan and the “change of things” in his native city.

One of the last remnants of the Second Avenue Yiddish Theatre District will be demolished to give way for a “boutique” office building.

Pinski came to prominence as a Yiddish writer and playwright, yet his connection to German theatre and cultural life was strong.

“A note of patriotic fervor, mingled with the pride of local achievement marked the opening of the new Grand Theatre, at Chrystie and Grand streets, last night,”

Paris is known for, among other things, its theatre. Institutions like the Théâtre de l’Odéon and the Comédie-Française, for example, come immediately to mind. Lost to history, however, is Théâtre Lancry: the first and most important site of Yiddish theatre in Paris. First built in 1880, Théâtre Lancry was intended as a small space for community gatherings. It seated […]