Jackie Hoffman on Why Being in the Yiddish Fiddler on the Roof Is 'Oysergeveynlekh'

Jackie Hoffman is currently playing Yente in the Yiddish production of Fiddler on the Roof, directed by Joel Grey. The production originally premiered at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, then it transferred to Stage 42 and recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. "What I love about this production is that the Yiddish strips away any element of camp or 'showy show,'" Hoffman said to Beth Stevens in a recent interview on Broadway.com's #LiveAtFive. "It's incredibly pure and honest. It’s a very emotional experience for Jews and non-Jews alike. [Yiddish is] a very powerful language."

With the show being spoken entirely in Yiddish, Hoffman had to really hone in on the language. "Yiddish was always part of my zeitgeist and part of my world," she said. "I could banter and I knew a few catchphrases but not enough to construct sentences. God, every Yiddish word is so cool. In my first scene, I say the word oysergeveynlekh, which means 'extraordinary.' That's my favorite word. Doing this show is spectacular. It's oysergeveynlekh!"

Due to the nature of the show, Hoffman is unable to ad-lib as she was famous for doing in Hairspray and Xanadu. "Maybe this production has lasted so long is because I'm incapable of ad-libbing," she joked. "We had an actor enter late once when it was still early on, and we weren’t super comfortable in Yiddish yet. I covered it brilliantly by standing there paralyzed. You don’t want to be left hanging in this one."

In addition to playing a matchmaker eight times a week, Hoffman is also getting ready for another set of appearances at Joe's Pub on August 12, 18 and 25. "My concert is called 'Themeless,' like Seamless," she said. "There's some new songs that I'm really proud of. When we premiered this concert in July people loved it. For some stuff people were like, 'I want to laugh at that, but I'm afraid.' But some stuff was so sadistically mean, there was silence. That’s the Jackie Hoffman experience."

With so many incredible shows on her resume, Hoffman revealed items she has kept once a show's run has finished. "I take bras from my Broadway shows; I'm wearing one now probably from On the Town," she said. "My only consolation when Fiddler finally does close is that I've got two good bras."

Hoffman's Twitter presence is full of outrageous jokes and biting commentary on anything and everything. "I have a long break in act one and sometimes I think about what to Tweet in my head," she said. "I just discovered that you can delete a Tweet way too late in the game. The damage is already done."

Catch Hoffman in Fiddler on the Roof, playing at Stage 42.

Watch the full #LiveAtFive interview below!