Even at that age, Kalich already had a major career in at least three countries and four languages.
Her success prompted jealousies, however and in 1894 there was rumored to be an assassination plot in the works by some of her rivals.
Joseph Rumshinsky, whom she had met during her the Shulamis tour, introduced her to Joseph Edelstein of the People's Theatre who offered to sponsor her to New York.

His newly founded Thalia Theater was looking for fresh talent, and there Kalich appeared in Di Vilde Kenigin (The wild queen) and a Yiddish production of La Belle Hélène (Beautiful Helen).
She took reprised former roles of Shulamis, Juliette, and Desdemona in a number of Yiddish-language productions.

In her new home, Kalich set out to emphasize her dramatic skills over her musical talents, working hard as a proponent of the Yiddish theater movement, hoping to help the theatres gain credibility in addition to notoriety.
Anti-semitism in America had initially led audiences to believe that Jewish immigrants were incapable of producing anything more than low-brow, minstrel entertainment, but Thalia had made a name for itself with its revolutionary Yiddish-language translations of Shakespeare.
Kalich played a number of roles in these landmark works, even beating out the other male stars for a chance to play the coveted role of Hamlet.

According to Yiddish theatre scholar Joel Berkowitz, Shakespeare's plays served "as both sources and symbols" in helping Jewish immigrants "cross the bridge from Yiddish to American culture."
It didn't hurt that fans compared Kalich to another famous female Hamlet of the era, Sarah Bernhardt, and in fact many newspapers would go on to call her the "Jewish Berhardt" in the years to come.

In addition to her work with Shakespeare, Kalich's performance in Leon Kobrin's The East Side Ghetto won enormous critical praise and increased Kalich's fanbase outside of the Jewish community.
 This production in combination with her performances in playwright Jacob Gordin's didactic plays brought unprecedented attention to the Yiddish stage.
In 1900, she starred as Freydenyu in the premiere of Gordin's God, Man and the Devil, and that prompted Gordin to write the role of Etty in The Kreutzer Sonata and the title role in his Sappho and Phaon especially for Kalich.
These productions made it out of the Yiddish playhouses, going all the way to Broadway, and establishing Kalich as a household name.

Along with her male counterpart, Boris Thomashefksy (1868–1939), Kalich became a darling of the press, admired by her fans and critics alike.
 According to theatre historian Henry Bial, minorities in American had not yet seen such accolades:
[They] were celebrated in the Yiddish press and idolized by Jewish audiences.
They were the royalty of American Jewry, embodying the immigrant success story and enjoying a celebrity attained by few Jewish artists before or since.
Thanks to the exalted status of its stars, the Yiddish theatre itself has come to play a central role in the narrative of Jewish inmmigration to the United States.

Her roles tended to be "women of the world", such as the title characters she played in Pierre Berton and Charles Simon's play Zaza, Victorien Sardou's Fédora (1905), Sappho and Phaon, and Magda in Hermann Sudermann's Heimat.
Under the tutelage of Harrison Grey Fiske, she gained in reputation, eventually going on to star in plays such as Maeterlinck's Monna Vanna.

She picked up English easily, however, her accent was slow to fade.
She worked with Minnie Maddern Fiske for months to correct her speech, but was never completely successful.
Kalich acted in a number of plays for Fiske, both original works and adaptations of roles that she had created in Yiddish.
Even at that age, Kalich already had a major career in at least three countries and four languages. Her success prompted jealousies, however and in 1894 there was rumored to be an assassination plot in the works by some of her rivals. Joseph Rumshinsky, whom she had met during her the Shulamis tour, introduced her to Joseph Edelstein of the People's Theatre who offered to sponsor her to New York.
His newly founded Thalia Theater was looking for fresh talent, and there Kalich appeared in Di Vilde Kenigin (The wild queen) and a Yiddish production of La Belle Hélène (Beautiful Helen). She took reprised former roles of Shulamis, Juliette, and Desdemona in a number of Yiddish-language productions.
In her new home, Kalich set out to emphasize her dramatic skills over her musical talents, working hard as a proponent of the Yiddish theater movement, hoping to help the theatres gain credibility in addition to notoriety. Anti-semitism in America had initially led audiences to believe that Jewish immigrants were incapable of producing anything more than low-brow, minstrel entertainment, but Thalia had made a name for itself with its revolutionary Yiddish-language translations of Shakespeare. Kalich played a number of roles in these landmark works, even beating out the other male stars for a chance to play the coveted role of Hamlet.
According to Yiddish theatre scholar Joel Berkowitz, Shakespeare's plays served "as both sources and symbols" in helping Jewish immigrants "cross the bridge from Yiddish to American culture." It didn't hurt that fans compared Kalich to another famous female Hamlet of the era, Sarah Bernhardt, and in fact many newspapers would go on to call her the "Jewish Berhardt" in the years to come.
In addition to her work with Shakespeare, Kalich's performance in Leon Kobrin's The East Side Ghetto won enormous critical praise and increased Kalich's fanbase outside of the Jewish community.  This production in combination with her performances in playwright Jacob Gordin's didactic plays brought unprecedented attention to the Yiddish stage. In 1900, she starred as Freydenyu in the premiere of Gordin's God, Man and the Devil, and that prompted Gordin to write the role of Etty in The Kreutzer Sonata and the title role in his Sappho and Phaon especially for Kalich. These productions made it out of the Yiddish playhouses, going all the way to Broadway, and establishing Kalich as a household name.
Along with her male counterpart, Boris Thomashefksy (1868–1939), Kalich became a darling of the press, admired by her fans and critics alike.  According to theatre historian Henry Bial, minorities in American had not yet seen such accolades:
[They] were celebrated in the Yiddish press and idolized by Jewish audiences. They were the royalty of American Jewry, embodying the immigrant success story and enjoying a celebrity attained by few Jewish artists before or since. Thanks to the exalted status of its stars, the Yiddish theatre itself has come to play a central role in the narrative of Jewish inmmigration to the United States.
Her roles tended to be "women of the world", such as the title characters she played in Pierre Berton and Charles Simon's play Zaza, Victorien Sardou's Fédora (1905), Sappho and Phaon, and Magda in Hermann Sudermann's Heimat. Under the tutelage of Harrison Grey Fiske, she gained in reputation, eventually going on to star in plays such as Maeterlinck's Monna Vanna.
She picked up English easily, however, her accent was slow to fade. She worked with Minnie Maddern Fiske for months to correct her speech, but was never completely successful. Kalich acted in a number of plays for Fiske, both original works and adaptations of roles that she had created in Yiddish.
Bertha Kalich