Backstage Bite with Katie Lynch: Yiddish FIDDLER Stars Celebrate the Tradition of Baking!

This episode of Backstage Byte is brought to you by the In The Raw family of sweeteners

Woohoo! You guys, we have Rachel Zaskoff and Ben Liebert who play Zaytel and Mottel in the Yiddish Fiddler on the Roof

It's so good. First off, how much Yiddish did you know before the show

I knew the little things in our family, but I certainly didn't speak the language or anything like that

I had done one other Yiddish show, but I mean... I thought learning lyrics is easier than learning dialogue because at least there's a set rhythm to it

As opposed to the lines where you're like, I'm hitting an operative word and I don't know what it means

You know? Right. Wow. And we only had three and a half weeks. That's no time to learn a language

Wow. What was the hardest phrase for both of you to get? I have a good message

It is the spittiest stage I've ever been on. Well, let's get down to business

How much do you know about cooking and baking? My husband's a really good cook and baker. Really

And does a lot of baking. So I watch baking happen. I've gotten better. Hey

Yeah, but also a great British baking show gives me a lot of buzzwords. So I don't know how to do it, but I know how to critique it

In honor of a very traditional fiddler on the roof, I figured we'd make a very traditional Jewish dish

So we are making Haventashen. Haventashen. Haventashen. So we should get started. Yes

I'm going to have both of you crack an egg into our bowl. Can you do it with one hand is the real question. No

Do you want to learn? Yes. Crack it on a flat surface, basically kind of pull apart

Throwing them to the laser balls. Harder than that. Yep. There's those fingers

It's partially scrambled, but it is out, and there is not a single shell

Now I'm real nervous. I have never seen it. Now that that was a pure success we are going to move on to our favorite ingredient of the day sugar in the raw Two cups of sugar in the raw please

Next, you are going to do a fourth a cup of vegetable oil because this is a dairy-free recipe

Thanks, I'm lactose intolerant. Next, do the zest of an orange. You can put your back into it

Yeah, perfect. Finally, we need one teaspoon of vanilla extract. Togglein, Togglein

Guys, this is my favorite part of the show because it's time to mix this together

Here we go. It's time to... MIX UP! Oh, look at that coming together

Mottel, you really save all of your money to buy your sewing machine

What are your dream purchases that you would save all of your money to buy

Oh my gosh. I'd love this space for a desktop computer. Ooh

I would want a grand piano. Ooh. Steinway. Now you're going to set your wet ingredients aside, and we're going to move on to the dry

Dry ingredients, dry ingredients, here we go, here we go. We need two and a fourths cup of all-purpose flour into this bowl, please. Poof! Bam

I would now like to know what your favorite Yiddish word is

Ungloyblech, which means, like, unbelievable. I just missed my train. Ungloyblech! I like ungeblism

It's a mood. What's it mean? It's like a little cranky. Ungloyblism

Like, you don't know what you want, you don't know what you need, but you're just in a mood

It's time for one teaspoon of baking powder, please. Don't leave it on the table

Just like auditions, don't leave anything on the table. We need a pinch of salt. Oooooh

Now is the time for your two beautiful souls to get married in union and to blend together. Aww

So cute! Add your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients while you are slowly mixing it all together

into those little pebbles. That Froomacera nightmare. It's amazing. It's the best

It's crazy! What's the craziest nightmare you've ever had? I had a recurring nightmare when I was a little girl

There was this man with orange hair with a lawn mower in my bedroom It vivid I mean I can still see it It was terrifying Isn that scary That awful That a little weird Right

And it happened more than once. Lately in this show, and it's not just me, it's a lot of the guys in our show

we have dreams that we've shaved our beards. And we are in trouble. Trouble

I had one last week. I was like, OK, I shaved, but we don't have another show for four days

I could probably grow some stubble back and then put some makeup on. And then I saw people from the show, they're like

you're getting fired. So that is the actor's nightmare now for our show

What I need you to do is now to knead this into a dough ball. And if this is feeling a little dry

you can do one teaspoon at a time of water. Yeah, boop. Perfect

So now we're just gonna roll this out and cut our circles for our hamantaschen

There are staples of this town. There's the butcher, there's the matchmaker

You today, if you were to enter this town, what town member would you be

I would be the bagel guy. Bagels! It'd probably be like the village idiot

The village idiot! Sounds about right. Okay, now we can get a little sentimental

I mean, this production truly is very special. What does it mean to you to be doing it in a traditional tongue

It's hitting people in a very deep place because of the language

Especially the generation that speaks Yiddish, and the generation of children whose parents spoke Yiddish

It's meaning a lot to them. What's so special about the language, but especially about doing this show and the fact that it's got this mass appeal

is that it is a language without a home. And so to give it this broad audience is really..

We're not just putting on a musical, we're keeping a language alive. A fiddler offendach

Meshuggah, man. Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey

Now we are actually going to put our haventoshing together and stuff them with apricot jam

Can you tell me about your most memorable moment doing the show

In the scene that Rachel and I have with Stephen who plays Tevye, he repeats something I say with chalk and dick and knock and dick

He is so in the moment sometimes and he just like chalk and dick schnock and block and block and and it works so well because it sounds like he just making fun of what I said But he also just making up Yiddish And it gives me such joy I have to say I really love getting lifted in a chair Oh

Because I didn't have a bat mitzvah and I get lifted eight times a week now

Now it is time to put these in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes

And while we do that, we're going to get to know you guys super duper fast in my favorite

game called Quick Fire Questions. Ready, set, go. Chicken beef or fish

Chicken. Karaoke go-to song. I want to dance with somebody. Drama class or chorus

Chorus. Drink of choice? Vodka. What do you have for breakfast? A banana

How do you like your steak cooked? Medium rare. 15 plus 3? 18

Middle name? Lee. Pancakes or waffles? Pancakes. Hugs or kisses? Hugs. Oh, that was good

Ready? Yes. Set, go. Favorite musical? Sweeney Todd. How do you take your coffee

I don't drink coffee. Belting your head, boys? Mix. What do you order at Chipotle

A burrito. Backyard or rooftop access? Backyard. Last book you read? Anything by John Irving

Sweet or salty? Sweet. Clean or messy person? I mean, I'm organized

These are actually beautiful. They look so traditional and perfect. Look at them

I'm very impressed for a non-dairy dog. I was just going to say that

They're good. Yeah. I got to book another show just so I can come back to this kitchen. Done

Can you guys tell me how to follow you on social media? Because I think you're lovely. At Rachel Zatchkoff

Ready for mine? At glorious underscore idiot. Glorious idiot. Says the town joker. Uh-huh

What about Fiddler? Fiddler NYC. Oh, and don't forget to follow us

At Backstage Bite on everything. But really though, your show is truly beautiful

It gives me chills. I love it. Please, please, please. Honestly, I can't suggest it enough

Go see Yiddish Fiddler on the Roof at Stage 42. Thank you guys so much for being here

Thank you! Yay! Thank you for having us. Oh, you're the sweetest

See you next time. On Backstage Bite. Woo hoo! Hey, thanks for watching Backstage Bite

brought to you by my favorite family of sweeteners, In The Raw

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