The cast featured Donna Murphy (Bubbie/Raisel), Alexander Gemignani (Moishe Rosenwald), Christopher Innvar (Chaim Bradovsky), Nicole Parker (Red), Rachel Resheff (Jenny), Hal Robinson (Doovie Feldman/Rabbi Velvel), Lewis J. Stadlen (Avram Krinsky), Joyce Van Patten (Chayesel Fisher) and Chip Zien (Yossie Pinsker).
[2] Ben Brantley, reviewing for The New York Times, wrote that the musical "has all the elements of an emotional bulldozer on autopilot: a plucky Jewish theater group working defiantly in the shadow of Nazism; mothers and daughters longing to love but locked in conflict; a family secret—buried in the rubble of postwar Poland—that must be revealed if any of our main characters are to find (no, stop me, please don’t let me say that word) closure.
The standouts include Alexander Gemignani, Chip Zien and Lewis J. Stadlen as troupers, Parker as the mother and a young charmer, Rachel Resheff, as Jenny.
"[6] Mark Kennedy of the Associated Press wrote, "Dart, the playwright, gets full credit for conceiving of a cute way to have one generation talk to its descendants and has movingly captured an unconventional history lesson into a musical.
"[7] Talkin' Broadway's reviewer called it "an unbelievably powerful look at the history we create and destroy, and the lives that are shattered or strengthened in our wakes … an achingly affecting antidote to the plethora of recent musicals, from this season and others, that throw everything at you except honesty.