Mike Burstyn to Star in Lansky Off-Broadway

Mike Burstyn will star in Lansky, written by Richard Krevolin and Joseph Bologna, to play St. Luke’s Theatre, beginning January 23 with an opening scheduled for February 5. Bologna will direct.

Inspired by the book But He Was Good To His Mother by Robert Rockaway, the play imagines the notorious businessman and gangster Meyer Lansky, who masterminded some of the most ingenious wealth managements systems of his day, and struggled to reconcile his material successes with his desire to gain Israeli citizenship.

Burstyn’s Broadway credits include Barnum and Ain’t Broadway Grand, and he starred in the national tours of The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife and Jolson. He received two Drama Desk nominations, for the productions On Second Avenue and The Rothschilds. For over 50 years as a singer and actor, Burstyn has alternated between projects in Yiddish, Hebrew, Dutch and English.

Bologna is the author (with wife Renee Taylor) of the Broadway comedies Lovers and Other Strangers, It Had to Be You, and If You Ever Leave Me…I’m Going With You! Krevolin’s prior works include King Levine and another version of Lansky.