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"Meester Amerika" is the musical within a musical about a prominent 1920s Yiddish-theater family whose son, the star of their ensemble, wants to train to be a cantor instead of the Broadway star his father envisions him becoming. To form an acquaintance with the format of Yiddish theater is to understand the premise of "Meester Amerika". But to know the creative team who gives the show life is to understand "Meester Amerika" itself.

Jennifer Berman crafted the story idea for "Meester Amerika" while working wardrobe for Broadway's "Ragtime". She grew up in Asbury Park's Temple Beth El and considers her earliest rebellion to be her misinterpretation of Psalm 23. "I thought, 'I shall not want' meant I didn't have to obey, as in 'I shall not want to eat my vegetables. I shall not want to go to bed. I should be feisty' -- and I was."

The death of Berman's father, right before her bat mitzvah, turned her against Judaism temporarily. "I don't remember the bat mitzvah very well," she said. "I was angry at God." She embarked on a spiritual journey in which "I studied other religions; I studied 'no-religions.' Over the years, theater became my religion as I came to realize its importance in my life, but I realized it wasn't enough. I needed to believe in something."

At Temple Beth El, which had by then moved to Oakhurst, she married David. "He wasn't particularly religious until our daughter was born. At that point we slowly started coming back." They joined B'nai Jeshurun, on New York's Upper West Side. "All the rabbis there helped bring us back. I felt myself opening up my Jewish side." With the rising success of "Meester Amerika," Berman felt compelled to give something back in gratitude. "While putting the production together, I signed up for a class on Purim but accidentally showed up on the wrong day," she recounted. "That's how I found my Torah teacher." She now studies Torah, both alone and with her teacher, on a regular basis.

Michael Bias, artistic/producing director of the Garage Theater Group, was drawn to the production when he was invited to a staged reading. He first began to build the production three years ago and said, "Timing and economics led us to 2009." Bias marveled at how many musical theater composers were the sons of cantors, notably Irving Berlin and Harold Arlen. He grew up at the Flatbush Park Jewish Center in Brooklyn and attended sleep-away camp in Spring Glen, N.Y., where the future Rabbi Avi Weiss was his head counselor. Bias' wife Barbara grew up classically Reform at Temple Beth Avodah in Oceanside, Long Island. The couple was married by Beth Avodah's Rabbi Berger, who appeared in a brief, uncredited role in the 1976 film "Rocky".

Artie Bressler composed the new songs for "Meester Amerika" and arranged its traditional Yiddish songs to achieve a seamless relationship between the pre-existing melodies and new songs. "I'm proud of the score," he said. "If you don't know in advance which pieces were original and which were new, you'd never know the difference. It's singable; you walk away humming." Bressler and Berman grew up together in Belmar. Bressler and Berman worked together for two years until Bressler said, "We need a lyricist." Michael Colby came on board. He rewrote lines and lyrics, fit the English translations to the storyline, and made the lyrics accessible to modern audiences.

To Bressler the most important ingredient is "Comedy -- farce. The music, books, and lyrics take care of themselves. Michael Bias is bringing the humor to the foreground. If people laugh, the show will be a hit." Bressler plays clarinet, flute, and saxophone and can be heard on the saxophone in the OJays' R&B hit "The Backstabbers." Bressler also composed and recorded the 11-second sax solo that opened Beth Henley's "Crimes of the Heart" on Broadway. He laughed, recalling, "I applied to the Guinness Book of World Records for 'shortest Broadway score.' I got a letter back saying, 'thank you for applying; at this time we have not established such a category. We wish you the best of luck, and perhaps next time you could try writing something longer?'"

Steve Sterner, who plays Joey's uncle Benjamin, hails from the Bronx. He is the nephew of Samuel Sterner, who directed the choir at Congregation Emanu-El in Manhattan and had his own radio show in the 40s and 50s. As a youth, Steve joined his uncle's choir when it performed at Kutscher's. Steve was raised Conservative, attended Hebrew school, sang with various choirs, and did Yiddish theater. "Benjamin is a performer and I'm a performer. I enjoy making people laugh and so does Benjamin. That's basically it. I've enjoyed it since I was a boy, cast when I was 7-8 years old in a day camp production of 'The King & I' at Kutscher's. I got to sing 'We Kiss in a Shadow'. The following year I was Henry Higgins in 'My Fair Lady'. I always enjoyed entertainers and I wanted to join their ranks, so this is what I do."

Sterner began working as an actor upon entering the City University of New York (CUNY), working with a children's theater company in the tri-state area. "I was acting and going to college at the same time until finally after three-and-a-half years it got to the point where I either had to stop acting and finish college, or take a leave of absence," he said.

He's still on that leave. Most notably he has performed with the Folksbiene, including a review: Night of Yiddish Theater on 2nd Avenue with Godfrey Cambridge, Molly Picon, Marilyn Michaels, and Herman Yablakoff, composer of the well-known Yiddish song, "Papirossen." Other highlights include Kuni Leml; an adaptation of the Goldfaden musical with The Jewish Repertory Theater; and an English revival of "Yidl with a Fidl" at Town Hall. Mostly notably with the Folksbiene: the "Pirate King in Di Yam Gazlonim," an immensely popular Yiddish adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance."

"Meester Amerika" opens Thursday, Feb. 12 and runs Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through March 1 at the Becton Theater, Becton Hall, at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Tickets are $35, $30 for seniors, and $25 for students http://www.garagetheatre.org.