Yiddish Musical Spins Fairy-Tale Love Story With a Union Twist

Henry Eilbert says he knows that making unionism the theme of the musical he is staging at the Jewish Center of Garden Grove on Sunday night does not exactly put him in step with the Reagan era or the generally conservative atmosphere of Orange County.

But he doesn’t think anybody will mind. “It’s mostly a love story, and it has a happy ending!” he said of the show “It Must Be a Union.”

“People will love it.”

After all, Eilbert said from his Westminster home, who could resist music by Bizet and such standbys as “Bye, Bye, Blackbird,” in adaptations with Yiddish lyrics by Eilbert and co-author Howard Goodman? The musical is another of the annual presentations offered by the Yiddish Culture Club of Orange County, but Goodman said 75% of the show will be in English.

The club, with monthly meetings that Eilbert says are attended by 50 to 100 people, is devoted to readings and discussions related to Yiddish language and culture. The mean age of the group is in the mid-50s, Eilbert said, but he added that he sees an increasing number of younger people in Orange County showing interest in Yiddish, and that broadening public awareness of Yiddishkeit is part of the reason for the musical. Eilbert said the $2.50 entrance charge is “really a donation to our programs.”

The hourlong musical, with a cast of 11, is about a garment factory owner in New York City early in the century who resists a union drive. Other main characters are the owner’s son, Bernard, and Rosie Moskowitz, the girl Bernard falls in love with. “It’s a fairy tale,” Eilbert said, noting that there are 14 songs. He added: “The characters argue a little bit. They sing a little bit. The boss screams a little bit, and then he sings a little bit. Actually, I’m the boss. I’m the boss of Gottsman’s Gorgeous Gowns. That’s the name of the company.”

Did he care to give an example of his singing in the character of Felix Gottsman?

He sang the boss’s song of managerial entrenchment, with his lyric to the wistful lilt of “Bye, Bye Blackbird”:

Bye, bye union.

I don’t intend to let you in,

Just the thought makes my head spin,

Bye, bye union.

Stopping, Eilbert says of his character: “Felix is very obdurate. But I don’t want to give it all away. If I say any more, nobody will come to see the play.”

Eilbert, 73, a New York transplant who grew up surrounded by Yiddish speakers, said he is a former dean of the Bernard M. Baruch College (of business) of City University of New York. He said he never wanted to be in the theater but described himself as “a big ham.”

Still, when asked how long it had taken him and Goodman to write “It Must Be a Union,” he replied: “Not a great deal of time. Sometimes you get stuck on the words. It’s not always easy to match the music to Yiddish words.”

He said only one performance of the show is planned but that it might be repeated if another Jewish organization in the area asks for a repeat and offers a venue.

Meanwhile, he says he hopes that the upcoming show will be as much of a hit in the club members’ eyes as last year’s offering, a version of “My Fair Lady” called “My Fair Sadie.”

And he says he is already pondering ideas for next year’s show.

“We don’t have any prospective gloomy plays in mind,” he said. “In this prime time of social hypochondria, we don’t need more unhappiness on the American stage.”

When a reporter suggested that social hypochondria might be a good topic for a contemporary Yiddish musical, he exclaimed his agreement and instantly started thinking the potential outline aloud. “It would have to be a father-son type of thing,” Eilbert said. “The son thinks the older generation is burnt out, and the fact that he has a Porsche and a $12,000 stereo system doesn’t bother him. That would be an Orange County musical. Hey, that’s satire! Wait, I’d better consult Mort Sahl on this.”

“It Must Be a Union” will start at 7:30 p.m. at the Jewish Center of Garden Grove, 12181 Buaro St., Garden Grove. $2.50 admission. For information, call (714) 870-8010.