At the heart of every great performance at The Soraya is a great artist. Some appear on the stage, and some are composers, choreographers, or others who act as inspiration across generations and geography. Please meet some of those creative powerhouses who elevate the 2025-26 Season.
Versatile actor Steven Skybell is equally home onstage and onscreen, from his role on the soap opera “All My Children” to feature films such as Cradle Will Rock; from Broadway shows, such as The Full Monty and Wicked, to roles at regional theaters that include Shakespeare and contemporary scripts alike. His leap to fame came in 2018, performing in Yiddish in the off-Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, which earned him a 2019 Drama Desk Awards nomination. Skybell speaks three languages, so performing in Yiddish was a natural for the highly capable linguist.
So popular, Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish transferred twice and ran for over a year. The actor told NPR’s Terry Gross about this Fiddler: “It really feels like it’s in service of something larger than just, let me entertain you, or even, let me tell you a story. It’s, let me show you about a slice of time that is actually still ongoing.”
In 2024, Skybell returned to Broadway in the new production of Cabaret in the role of Herr Schultz, a performance that garnered him his first Tony nomination.
Fiddler on the Roof
Directed by Joel Grey
Sat Sep 13 | 8 PM
Sun Sep 14 | 3 PM & 7 PM
The original 1964 Fiddler on the Roof garnered nine Tony Awards. The popular show leaned on universal themes of changing times and a household torn by young love. But reality was not so simple. Behind the scenes, there were bitter disagreements between the lead actor, Zero Mostel, and director and choreographer Jerome Robbins, divided, in part, by their opposing views on the House Un-American Activities Committee. The production was also criticized for being whitewashed, too far a departure from the original short stories written by Sholem Aleichem about the persecution of Jews in Eastern Europe.
In 2018, New York-based National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene reclaimed Fiddler as a piece of Jewish culture, translating the script and lyrics into Yiddish, with English supertitles. They engaged a top-notch Broadway cast led by Steven Skybell as Tevye. The results were historic, praised as fresh, authentic, personal, and highly emotional. New York Times critic Jesse Green exclaimed, “Even the jokes were making me cry.”
The pandemic interrupted touring plans, but now The Soraya partners with the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene to bring it to the West Coast for the first time in a special concert version with Skybell reprising his leading role.
2025–26 SEASON JUST ANNOUNCED
The spotlight’s on our boldest season yet! From a reimagined Fiddler on the Roof, to a star-studded Tribute to Quincy Jones, and the electrifying return of Veronica Swift with the Pacific Jazz Orchestra, the stage is set for unforgettable moments.