Shaking up the Shtetl

Lemez Lovas, formerly of Oi Va Voi, directs guest musicians Moshikop and Rohan Kriwaczek in an irreverent live performance of a score for East and West – especially prepared for the JCC – that played to sold-out audiences in 2005 and 2006.

In Sidney M. Goldin and Ivan Abramson’s silent movie (1923), streetwise New Yorker Mollie (Molly Picon) travels to her demure cousin’s wedding in a traditional Polish shtetl. Lovas, Moshikop and Kriwaczek’s cheeky new score takes us from traditional klezmer to contemporary electronica, from liturgical melancholy to party pop kitsch and from vaudeville to breakbeat. As love blossoms between East and West, and the musical narrative unfolds, traditional and modern worlds are brought into collision.

Produced by Yad Arts.


Get a taste for the event with this trailer: