“After a lifetime of storytelling, what story remains for me to tell?” muses Theodore Bikel near the beginning of Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears, as he reflects on his multi-faceted acting career that’s spanned both the stage and screen. For him it’s the story of Sholom Aleichem, the prolific Jewish Ukrainian writer who has been a part of Bikel’s life since he was a young boy.

Sholom Aleichem is best known for immortalizing traditional Jewish life in the shtetls through his many novels and stories – most famously in the Tevye stories, which inspired Fiddler on the Roof, a musical Bikel knows quite well as he’s played the role of Tevye over 2,000 times.

For those of us whose only connection to this world are the stories of our parents or grandparents, there’s a wonderful familiarity to the characters and personas Bikel brings to life onstage, whether he’s playing mischievous school kids, teachers, old men and women, or the contemplative writer himself. His warmth, sincerity, and deeply felt connection to the show (he wrote it himself over a three year period) even made me nostalgic for a world I’ve never experienced firsthand, but only know through stories and memories.

The show is also a fascinating lens into late nineteenth/early twentieth century Jewish history. Bikel recalls the Russian pogroms and hardships of immigration through the eyes of his writer, as he laments the poverty and squalor they experience in America, the longed-for promised land, or the persecutions that forced him to emigrate. And later, with a quick change of his outfit, Bikel slips into the role of Tevye as a character in Sholom Aleichem’s stories.

The action is interwoven with beautiful Eastern European melodies, sung in both Yiddish and English by Bikel, and complemented by the music and sound effects of Tamara Brooks on the piano (also the musical director) and Merima Ključo on the accordion. The music fits seamlessly into the action, enhancing the atmosphere without ever overpowering Bikel’s performance.

There are some scenes that go on a bit too long and lose their focus, and the action tends to jump from era to era in his life – making the transitions a bit hard to follow – but Bikel’s passion for this character and this long-ago world is infectious, and you can tell that he’s just scratching the surface in terms of material. And throughout his performance, Bikel perfectly maintains the tenuous balance of ‘laughter through tears’: even though Sholom Aleichem requested in his will to be remembered only through laughter – and the show is full of humourous moments – Bikel doesn’t shy away from the more serious moments as well, that are just as much a part of Jewish history.

Watching Bikel roam about the stage, it’s hard to believe he’s 85, and his rich voice and charismatic presence made me wish I’d been able to see one of his many Broadway performances in Fiddler on the Roof. Instead, Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears is as good a time as any to be introduced to Theodore Bikel onstage, and a lovely recreation of a slowly fading world.

Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears runs until Oct. 18. For more information visit www.hgjewishtheatre.com.