Avi Hoffman did not take long to decide when the offer came from Boca Raton’s Wick Theatre to be in Milk and Honey, Jerry Herman’s 1961 Broadway debut. He has a special affection for this musical about a romance between a middle-aged couple, set against the turmoil of the early days of the state of Israel.
For starters, he grew up in Israel, living there from 1969 to 1977, a time when incoming rocket fire was a nightly occurrence. In addition, he appeared in the 1994 off-Broadway revival of the show when he was a considerably younger performer.
In the Wick production, which opens this Saturday evening (Oct. 15), he now plays Phil Arkin, an American businessman who travels to Israel to visit his married daughter, While over there, he meets and falls in love with Ruth Stein, who is touring the fledgling country with a group of widows from the United States. Conveying romantic feelings for Ruth is an easy, enviable task for Hoffman since she is played here by his real-life wife, Laura Turnbull.
“It was really a wonderful privilege to be able to come back and revisit this show as an older person,” says Hoffman. “Interestingly enough, when I did it in New York, it wasn’t my favorite show in the world. I thought, ‘Eh, it’s a little hokey.’ But now, at 64 years old, I’m finding myself so emotional about Israel and what it means. I see this show very differently now.”
“The music is beautiful,” says Peter Loewy, who directs this production. Pointing to Hoffman and Turnbull, he adds, “I think the warmth that they bring to the book and to the songs brings it to life a lot more than what’s on the page. This story will resonate with an audience, especially here. But not just for the Jewishness. There’s the romance between an older couple and then there’s the widows. Everyone will relate to something.”
On Broadway, Phil and Ruth were sung by Robert Weede and Mimi Benzell, renowned Metropolitan Opera stars. Do Turnbull and Hoffman find such comparisons daunting? “Yes,” says Turnbull and laughs at her quick response. “Did I answer that too hastily? It is for me, because as you know, I don’t do a lot of musicals down here. That’s just how the jobs line up. In this, I’ll be singing as a soprano, which I haven’t done in a while.”
But Hoffman rejects the notion of living up to Weede’s booming baritone voice. “I think part of the problem with this show in the past is that it was done with big, operatic voices. This is not a show for opera singers. These are real, honest-to-God people, I think one of the reasons it hasn’t been revived after all these years on Broadway is the perception that this is an big operatic score. But it’s really a show with realistic people singing real lyrics.”
The score, brimming with such memorable numbers as “Shalom,” “I Will Follow You” and the title tune, contains musical themes that suggest the composer of blockbuster hits that Herman would become. “I can hear it,” agrees Turnbull. “Oh, I think he may have borrowed a bit of this for ‘Hello, Dolly.’ Or oh, that sounds a little bit like ‘La Cage (aux Folles).’ His style is definitely in there.”
Milk and Honey skirts much of the political conflict that has so defined the Middle East to this day, but it does not avoid other challenges in the way of Israel’s survival. “There is a dichotomy in Israel. It’s the history of modern civilization. The Judeo-Christian-Muslim ethic. Everything came out of there,” says Hoffman. “And yet, it’s terrible. It was created out of stress. It was created out of guilt (over) the Holocaust. The day it was created they were attacked from all sides. How stressful it is, yet how beautiful it is.
“That’s one of the beautiful parts of this musical, They’re not afraid to show it as this not idealistic place, No, there are problem and it’s not easy. But somehow those people stood up and said, ‘We’re going to make this work. We’re going to create a blooming orange grove in the middle of the desert.’ Which is amazing.”
With a cast of 24, Milk and Honey is a big show for the Wick, though it is perhaps half the size of the 1961 original Broadway company. “I think back then they had dancers and then they had singers,” two separate ensembles, notes Turnbull. “We have both in one body and they’re amazing.”
“We’ve done some cutting and pruning,” concedes Loewy. “But we’ve done it without losing any of the story, without losing any of the songs. It’s still huge.”
Rarely revived, Milk and Honey is likely to be unfamiliar territory for much of the Wick’s audience, but it is classic musical theater from Broadway’s Golden Era. “The music is outstanding, the dancing is incredible and it’s a love story,” says Turnbull. “Not just about the couples, but about the country.”
Hoffman says that the production is a rare opportunity to see Turnbull and himself in a musical, adding, “I think Laura is one of the best actresses I’ve ever worked with.”
And she replies, as only a wife can, “I keep telling him he needs to get out more, he needs to work with more people.”
MILK AND HONEY, The Wick Theatre, 7901 N. Federal Hwy., Boca Raton. Saturday Oct. 15–Sunday, Nov. 6. $79-$99. 561-995-2333 or visit thewick.org.