Show Synopsis:
Rebecca immigrates to America from Russia with her son David in hopes of finding her husband Nathan, who went to America years ago and never wrote to his family. Without a man to supper them, Rebecca and David are almost deported until Rebecca?s friend Bella begs her father Avram to claim them as relatives. They stay at Avram?s brother?s tenement for the night. Rebecca begins working in a sweatshop and looking for her husband and David helps the widow Rachel sell her wares. Bella pines for Ben, a man she met on the boat to New York. Saul tells Rebecca she needs to stand up for her rights as a worker and teaches her and David how to speak English. Rebecca begins to have feelings for Saul and Avram discovers that Bella loves Ben, who he does not approve of. Nathan sees an ad in the paper that Rebecca placed looking for him, and realizes that she is in New York. Mr. Rosen tells the tenement dwellers that they must pay him money or get beat up by this thugs, but David stands up for his mother and is beaten. Rebecca argues with Saul for teaching David Socialist principals, and Nathan finds Rebecca and David, but Rebecca does not approve of how he has changed. He has Americanized his name and puts emphasis on money and power, having risen to a prominent political position in Tammany Hall. Avram marries Rachel and Bella begins to work at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. David interrupts an upscale party to tell Rebecca that there has been a fire at Bella?s factory, and Nathan is angry when she leaves. Bella dies jumping from the building and Rebecca leads the sweatshop workers in a strike to protest the workers? bad conditions. Ben visits Avram and gives him a gramophone with a recording of Bella?s voice, convincing him to stay in America, or else she will have died for nothing. Rebecca leaves Nathan and commits to a new life with Saul and David and Avram?s son Herschel joins him in America.	

Character:
Rebecca Hershowitz, a hopeful Russian Jewish woman who loves her family; lonely but wants to be optimistic.

Song Context:
Rebecca knows she is in love with Saul, but laments the fact that she can never be with him because she also wants to be faithful to her husband.	

Fun Facts:
1) Teresa Stratas originated the role of Rebecca on Broadway and received a Drama Desk Award and a Tony Award nomination for her performance. 
2) When asked about the composition and creative process of Rags, composer Stephen Schwartz said that "The inclusion of the rise of labor unions was always a part of the story, as it was so integral to the history of that era and something that Joe cares about socially and politically. I wouldn't say that there was anything going on nationally that particularly affected this production. Perhaps people were a bit more interested in their heritage then, and America was less imperial in its attitude, so we looked to our European backgrounds with more of a sense of continuity. But that's speculative and generalizing. I know for me personally, working on the show made me more interested in my own family heritage, and I learned for the first time more about where my parents' families had come from and some fascinating stories about the experiences of their parents and grandparents." 
3) This musical was based off of an idea of producer Lee Guber, who asked the book writer of Fiddler on the Roof, Joseph Stein, to write a sequel about what happens to Tevye and his family after they leave Antevka and come to America, and to focus on a female figure.