The 1986 animated film “An American Tail” begins with a family of mice, the Mousekewitzes, who are forced to flee their home after men on horseback (and accompanying cats) set fire to their village in Russia in 1885. They travel to the United States because, Papa sings, “there are no cats in America and the streets are paved with cheese!”
At the time, some critics said the film did not adequately portray the family’s Jewish background. In his review, Roger Ebert complained that “only a few kids will understand or care that the Mousekewitzes are Jewish.”
In a new stage adaptation of that film at the Children’s Theater Company in Minneapolis, the background of the Mousekewitzes is unmistakable. The show begins with the chanting of the Hebrew blessing for Hanukkah while a menorah is lit. They recite two other Hebrew prayers. There is talk of a “bar mouse-vah” for the main character, the young Fievel.
The musical also bolsters the story’s portrayal of the Irish and Italian mice and adds mice from Sweden, China, and the Caribbean. The female protagonist, an Irish mouse in the film, is now a black mouse quoting ‘the great Frederick Dormouse’. (Murine puns abound.)
Like other recent historical shows, “An American Tail” attempted to prioritize authentic depictions of every character, whether racial, ethnic, or religious. The show’s creators felt it was important to delve deeper into the Mousekewitzes’ Jewishness and involve other groups to reflect the contemporary understanding that Americans’ identities are not subsumed into a larger one.
“We have different experiences, and it shapes us differently,” says Itamar Moses, who wrote the show’s book and co-wrote the lyrics to about a dozen original songs. (A few were taken from the film, including “Somewhere Out There,” Fievel’s song of longing that became a hit for Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram.) “The only way a diverse democracy can work is through both our differences to recognize as to honor. ”
Jewishness and anti-Semitism also come to the fore in several recent plays and musicals, including “Leopoldstadt,” which follows a family of Jewish Austrians before World War II; “Parade,” which tells the story behind the lynching of a Jew in Georgia in 1915; and “Just for Us”, about attending white nationalist rallies in Queens.
For “An American Tail,” the artists and the dramaturge, Talvin Wilks, sought to represent the various groups that lived near midtown Manhattan in the 1880s—because that’s where the Mousekewitzes come in.
“The story that came out in 1986 didn’t fully reflect all of the immigrant populations that were there and were essential to making New York City what it is,” said Taibi Magar, the director. “Is it about waking up? Yeah right. But it is also about telling a deeper, richer and more truthful story.”
The concept for “An American Tail” originated with one of the executive producers, Steven Spielberg, and the hero bears the name of Spielberg’s grandfather. By glorifying the melting pot theory, the film, directed by Don Bluth, epitomized the attitude of its time toward multiculturalism: that immigrant groups would abandon their individual cultures in an attempt to assimilate.
“They didn’t want to get into too much detail about Fievel’s ethnicity because I think they wanted to keep the story as relatable and universal as possible,” says Jonathan Krasner, a professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis University. .
The decision to adapt the film for the stage came from a conversation between Peter C. Brosius, the artistic director of the CTC, and Universal, who produced the film. It didn’t hurt that CTC, a former regional theater Tony Award recipient, has routinely produced shows that have toured the country. First produced by CTC, “A Year With Frog and Toad” made its way to Broadway in 2003 and was nominated for three Tonys.
The CTC paired songwriting partners Michael Mahler and Alan Schmuckler (who wrote the music and lyrics for the CTC musical “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”) with Moses (a Tony winner for “The Band’s Visit”), and in 2018 they met each other for the first time to begin developing the story.
In the film, Fievel is separated from his family during the perilous journey across the Atlantic and ends up in one misadventure after another after arriving in New York. When a diverse assortment of mice battle a gang of cats known as the Mott Street Maulers, they end up – thanks to a plan Fievel devises – being driven onto a boat that goes far away.
“There was an opportunity to understand the points of view of these different groups of mice, why it’s hard for them to come together, and why Fievel is why they do that,” Moses said.
“What do the cats represent?” Moses continued. ‘In Russia they are the Cossacks, in Italy the Mafia. They go to America and the cats have a plan to exploit the mice for their labor.
To bring the story to life on stage, the makers turned to vaudeville, which came into its own in the time and place of Fievel’s adventures. They built a small set and cast 20 actors, several of whom had double roles. A six-piece band supports the company on 16 songs.
In both the movie and the musical, the cats are defeated and the Mousekewitzes are reunited. Still, the musical adds a weighty finale, “There Will Always Be Cats,” which replaces the earlier no-cats hope with an argument for solidarity in the face of perpetual oppression — feline or otherwise. “An American Tail,” according to a positive review in The Minneapolis Star Tribune, “offers a glimpse into a past that doesn’t seem so far away.”
During rehearsals this spring, the show’s musical director, Andrea Grody, hosted the writers and crew for a Passover Seder — a ritual whose message of sympathy for less privileged ancestors is reflected in the closing track.
“If we’re not careful,” said Moses, “we can become the cats by not remembering what our ancestors went through.”
