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The Four Bursteins: When the two successful stage performers, Pesach Burstein and Lillian Lux, married and had twins, it was only a matter of time before the four of them were performing as "The Four Bursteins" to audiences around the world. Michael and Susan Burstein started performing in Yiddish theaters with their parents from the age of three. They played in musicals and melodramas produced by their father and were billed as Motele and Zisele. Michael later established his own performing career under the name of Mike Burstyn. |
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Pesach Burstein: The ultimate Yiddish performer, Pesach Burstein spent a lifetime bringing Yiddish comedy and theater to audiences around the world. He performed as a solo performer, as part of an itinerant Yiddish entertainment troupe co-starring with his wife Lillian Lux and as the patriarch of the family’s act, The Four Bursteins. |
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Lillian Lux: Pesach Burstein was already an established Yiddish Theater star when he hired 17 year old Lillian as his leading lady for his travelling Yiddish acting troupe. They married and after the birth of their twins, Mike and Susan, she became the matriarch of the family’s entertainment act, The Four Bursteins. After the death of her husband in 1986 Lillian narrated the award-winning Israeli film, "Die Komediant" (now on DVD), a documentary about the Burstein family. |
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Mike Burstyn (Burstein): Mike Burstyn (Burstein) walked out on stage at the age of three and stole the show. The son of Yiddish theater stars Pesach Burstein and Lillian Lux, entertaining is in his blood. As part of The Four Bursteins he performed around the world with his parents’ Yiddish theater troupe. He became an Israeli sensation in 1966 when he starred in the musical film, "Shnei Kuni Leml" (also known as "Two Kuni Lemel," The Flying Matchmaker). He made his Broadway debut in 1980 playing a role in ''Barnum,'' and eventually got the title role. But he never stopped being a star of Yiddish theater. In 2005 when Mike Burstyn starred in the Yiddish American Musical Theatre production of On Second Avenue he received rave reviews in The New York Times. |
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| Rights to the music in this collection courtesy of Mike Burstyn. |
