STAGE REVIEW : Persoff Brings the Stories of Sholem Aleichem to Life : Theater: The actor’s telling of some of the most famous of Yiddish stories becomes a memorable one-man show.

For those needing a break from December’s ubiquitous Christmas carols and egg nog, the Gaslamp Quarter Theatre Company is offering an evening steeped in the bittersweet glories of Yiddishkeit: Nehemiah Persoff’s one-man show, “Sholem Aleichem.”

Persoff adapted and edited the show from five stories by Aleichem. There’s not much about Aleichem the man here; Persoff’s goal, as Aleichem, is to bring to life the turn-of-the-century Jews in the poor Russian villages that Aleichem wrote about in his more than 40 volumes of novels, stories and plays.

But Persoff achieves that goal remarkably well, needing only a nearly bare stage and his own perfect understanding of the nuances of his characters to segue from Tevye the milkman to the wise, elderly rabbi to twin brothers fighting bitterly over a seat in the synagogue left to them by their deceased father.

Aleichem, born Solomon Rabinowitz near Kiev, Russia in 1859, is best known for writing the stories that inspired “Fiddler on the Roof.” He took Sholem Aleichem, meaning “peace be with you,” as a pen name, and took the meaning of that name to heart, using his money to encourage other Yiddish writers. When he died in New York in 1916, more than 150,000 people attended his funeral.

Persoff, through these stories, reminds us of the breadth of Aleichem’s talents for pathos and wit. Stripped of the music of “Fiddler,” the story Persoff tells of how Tevye got to be a dairyman in the first place is still moving. Aleichem was often called the Jewish Mark Twain; he was a writer who passionately loved his subjects, but saw their foibles, flaws and fears.

His Jewish characters fight, grumble and lie, and, yet, the stories embody an essential decency epitomized by the rabbi, who untangles even the bitterest quarrels and takes the sins of others as a burden on his own conscience. Perhaps, not coincidentally, Aleichem once served as a rabbi himself.

Persoff inhabits the material like a comfortable old suit of clothes and easily acknowledges the audience as he weaves the tales. When, at Tuesday’s performance, one member of the audience let loose with an “Oy,” at a charged emotional moment in a story about a father and an estranged son, he nodded at her and waved a finger--not of reproach for being interrupted, but of pleasure at being understood.

The direction by William S. Bartman, Jr. is very natural. Throughout the show, Persoff comes off as a simple, unassuming storyteller addressing the audience with the warmth of an old visiting friend, adopting a stoop or a squint or straightening up as he moves from character to character.

There isn’t much in the way of production values, but then “Sholem Aleichem” is a show that is literary in inspiration and so depends on the mind’s ability to take flight with the suggestive power of words. There isn’t even a credit for set design, but the “set” provides all that is needed: Persoff, a few chairs and a table with a samovar full of hot tea to give a little Russian flavor to the proceedings.

The show will obviously be more accessible to audiences familiar with the liberally sprinkled Yiddish expressions and references to Jewish holidays and customs. But this show’s appeal is really as universal as “Fiddler on the Roof.”

“SHOLEM ALEICHEM”

Edited, adapted and performed by Nehemiah Persoff from the works of Sholem Aleichem. Director is William S. Bartman, Jr. Incidental music by Ami Aloni. Lighting by Bob Zentis. Costumes by Miriam Daif. At 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 6 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 7 p.m. Sundays with Saturday/Sunday matinees at 2 through Dec. 20. Tickets are $20-$22. At 444 Fourth Ave., San Diego, 234-9583.