Yiddish Musical Theater From Italy, Pays New York a Call
By Claudia Z. Carlin
As Moni Ovadia prepares to come to New York, we ask, "Why would several hundred elegant Italian theatergoers choose to spend New Year's Eve at a one-man show about Jewish humor and angst?"

Even as snow falls on Milan's fabled Piccolo Teatro, the lobby is crowded with theatergoers queuing up for tickets. An answer can be found in the playbill for Moni Ovadia's "Oylem Goylem." At the core of Ovadia's performance is 'il suono dell' esilio' - the sound of exile.

Teaching the World to Sing in Perfect (Yiddish) HarMoni: Ovadia mid-show, mid-flow and mid-stage. While the Diaspora is a uniquely Jewish theme, why wouldn't it resonate with Italians, many of whom carry the reality of exile in their genes? During my visit, several Milanese friends mentioned having relatives somewhere in America. Indeed, today the descendants of Italian emigrants are more numerous than the kin they left behind in the old country.

"Oylem Goylem" traces the 3,000-year-old Jewish saga of faith and wandering through a kaleidoscope of dramatic devices - morality play, theater of the absurd, performance art, cabaret shtick. It makes for a new Yiddish theater for postwar generations.

But what of this strange title drawing in crowds while across town, Verdi's "Don Carlo" is featured at Teatro alla Scala? Oylem goylem, a Yiddish contraction of olam (the world) and Golem, translates in Italian as "Il Mondo é scemo," or, "The world is stupid."