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Updated: 05/23/08

MIKE WILL BE HONORED AT THE ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL IN LOS ANGELES ON JUNE 18 WITH THE SCREENING OF "KUNI LEML"

CYONA & MIKE WITH PRIME MINISTER EHUD OLMERT

CYONA & MIKE WITH PRESIDENT SHIMON PERES

MIKE PERFORMED IN ISRAEL IN CELEBRATION OF THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE "FORWARD" ON NOVEMBER 9

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VARIETY Legit

Posted: Thurs., May 17, 2007, 2:36pm PT

'Lansky' set to make U.S. debut

Bologna to direct Burstyn in one-man show

By LAURA CLARK

The U.S. preem of "Lansky" is gunning its way to Los Angeles.

Joseph Bologna will direct the production, based on the life of gangster Meyer Lansky and his rejected efforts to become an Israeli citizen in the 1970s. The one-man show starring Mike Burstyn (Broadway's "Barnum") will begin perfs at the Odyssey Theater June 14.

Bologna and Richard Krevolin penned the play, which was inspired by the book "But He Was Good to His Mother," by Robert Rockaway. Play uses Meyer's life to explore Jewish identity and the choices first-generation Jewish-Americans made to achieve success.

Burstyn was recently seen in the L.A. production of "On Second Avenue," for which he received a Drama Desk nomination.

Bologna wrote and starred in stage productions "Made for Each Other" and "Lovers and Other Strangers," both of which he wrote with wife Renee Taylor. Krevolin penned comedy "King Levine."

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MIKE BURSTYN was been nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Actor in a Musical.

Outstanding Actor in a Musical :
Hank Azaria, Monty Python�s Spamalot
Mike Burstyn, On Second Avenue
Norbert Leo Butz, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Matthew Morrison, The Light in the Piazza
David Hyde Pierce, Monty Python�s Spamalot
Bill Thompson, God Hates the Irish: The Ballad of Armless Johnny

Here is the full Drama Desk webpage: http://dramadesk.com/nom01.htm

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Mike Burstyn to Star in Folksbiene Revival of On Second Avenue

By Robert Simonson
January 14, 2005

Mike Burstyn, a scion of Yiddish theatre performers, will star in On Second Avenue, a tribute to New York's Yiddish theatre legacy, at the Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre, Feb. 20-April 10. Feb. 20 is the opening.Second Avenue was, of course, the address of New York's Yiddish theatre community during its heyday in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The street was lined with playhouses from Houston Street to 14th Street and supported the careers of countless Yiddish actors and playwrights.

On Second Avenue was created by Moishe Rosenfeld and Zalmen Mlotek. The bi-lingual English-Yiddish musical revue also stars Joanne Borts, Lisa Fishman and Robert Abelson. It will feature the songs of Yiddish composers such as Abraham Goldfaden, Sholom Secunda, Alexander Olshanetzky and Yosef Rumshinsky, and excerpts from landmark shows.

Burstyn is an apt choice for the project. His parents were Pesach Burstein and Lillian Lux, both Yiddish stage stars. He performed with his folks as a kid, and, after he grew up, starred in such shows as Barnum and Ain't Broadway Grand.

The 90-year-old Folksbiene is America's only professional Yiddish theatre.

Tickets, which are $45, are now on sale and can be purchased by phone at (800) 9-YIDDISH or online at www.folksbiene.org.