THE SHPIEL…
Over a century ago the down-trodden Jews of Eastern Europe decided that they had been trod upon enough. "Enough already!" they said to themselves...in Yiddish of course, and thousands of Jewish peasants and scholars alike made their way to the land where the streets were paved with gold...AMERICA!
But not all the Jews went to New York City; some of them found themselves in a little-heard of place just south of the Canadian border, where the streets weren't paved at all!
Over a century later, Toronto artists David Gale and Randy Vancourt were inspired to create a musical about Yiddish and the off-center experience of growing up Jewish in America. At a little theater in a rundown district of Toronto, in the middle of summer, CHUTZPAH à GO-GO played to sold-out houses and turned away people by the dozens...people who had come from as far away as Buffalo. The show grew over the years, and so did the venues.
The show has played all over Canada and the U.S. with many more productions in the works.