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The genesis of creating Those Were the Days was a phone call in  from Moe Septee, legendary producer in Philadelphia of the Philly Pops and many other concerts and theatrical presentations. He asked me and my collaborating partner Moishe Rosenfeld (The Golden Land, On Second Avenue)  to conceive of an evening using the ‘chestnuts’ of the Yiddish repertory, and build a theatrical evening using them. 

We asked Eleanor Reissa to direct the piece and she helped us shape the evening.

We did performances in Philadelphia, South Florida, and Los Angeles. We came back to New York, and brought it to Broadway at the Edison Theater. The original cast was Bruce Adler, Mina Bern, Norman Atkins, Eleanor Reissa and Lori Wilner. Joanne Borts and Bob Abelson joined the cast.

For the Broadway production,  Moe enlisted the support and backing of Emanuel (Manny) Azenberg, and Victor Potamkin to produce our show.

Those Were the Days on Broadway (November, 1990) was nominated for two Tony nominations: Best Director of a Musical—Eleanor Reissa, and Best Featured Actor in a Musical—Bruce Adler.

For the opening night Playbill full credits click here.