A new year— a chance at new beginnings, and most importantly, a new round of Broadway and off-Broadway shows. The fall season brought us singing sponges, live goats, and Amy Schumer. What will the next months bring, and, of course— is it good for the Jews?

It depends on what you’re looking for. While musicals continue to boast Jewish stars (Elsa in the upcoming Broadway production of Frozen went to Camp Ramah!) and creators (shows by writing teams Rodgers and Hammerstein and Lerner and Loewe are being  revived), if you want to look for overtly Jewish content onstage, you’re probably going to need to see a play. But on Broadway and off, you’ll have plenty of options, first off-Broadway, and later on in the season, on the Great White Way itself:

Off Broadway:

In the Body of the World (begins performances January 16):

While the play may not have much Jewish content, it is a new autobiographical piece (based on a recent memoir) by an artist of Jewish descent— Eve Ensler, the creator of The Vagina Monologues, has a one-woman show about becoming deathly ill while doing advocacy work abroad.

Jerry Springer the Opera (January 23):

This one is a revival, and, yes, an opera. It actually has fairly Christian themes, but it is what it says on the label: an opera about Jewish television personality Jerry Springer.

Amy and the Orphans (February 1):

This new family drama features a bickering bunch on a road trip on the Long Island Expressway following the death of their father; while the degree of Jewishness is not yet clear, one character is a Jewish convert to Christianity, so it follows that the rest of his family is probably of Jewish origin as well.

Admissions (February 15):

This play is the latest from Jewish writer Joshua Harmon, the mind behind Bad Jews and Significant Other. It features a woman trying to diversify a prep school and explores larger questions of ideology and privilege. The main character’s name is Sherri Rosen-Mason, and like many Harmon protagonists, she is a secular Jew.

Broadway:

Angels in America (February 23):

Tony Kushner’s famous two-part play on New York and the AIDS crisis is revived in New York, by way of London. It features the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg serenading a dying Roy Cohn in Yiddish. Enough said.

Travesties (March 29):

This production is another revival— of a 1974 play by Jewish playwright Tom Stoppard. One of its three protagonists (the other two being Lenin and James Joyce) is Tristan Tzara, the Jewish co-founder of Dadaism.

Photo of Jerry Springer the Opera via Wikimedia

The post Jewish Theatre on the Horizon appeared first on Jewcy.

After our piece last week about Camp Ramah alumni starring (or about to star) on Broadway, we have a few updates.

In addition to the leads in Dear Evan Hansen, Frozen, and SpongeBob SquarePants (the musical), there is a current Ramahnik on Broadway. One of the child performers in School of Rock as “Katie” is Rachel Katzke (Camps Berkshires and Nyack). She brings her Ramah backpack to her performances, and took a week off of the show this summer to go back to camp for just a little while. In addition to acting and singing onstage, she also plays the bass in the show. How many actors make their Broadway debut before their Bat Mitzvah?

Jewcy is on a summer residency! To read this piece, and our others for July and August 2017, go to our big sister site, Tablet Magazine!

The post Mazal Tov! It’s More Camp Ramah Alumni on Broadway! appeared first on Jewcy.

What is it about Camp Ramah?

Specifically, what is it about Camp Ramah’s theater program? A bunch of Jewish teens performing simplified Hebrew translations of classic musicals can apparently lead to the Great White Way. And this isn’t about a lone example— there is soon to be three different Camp Ramah alumni on Broadway at the same time— all of them in leading roles.

…

Jewcy is on a summer residency! To read this piece, and our others for July and August 2017, go to our big sister site, Tablet Magazine!

The post Three Camp Ramah Alums Now Have Leading Roles on Broadway. What’s in the Bug Juice? appeared first on Jewcy.

Playing on Broadway currently is A Doll’s House, Part 2, a sequel of sorts to Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 drama about the collapse of a respectable marriage. The play, of course, isn’t about Jews; there were virtually none in Norway until 1892, only about two years before Lucas Hnath’s new play takes place. But there are parallels between the 19th century period drama and a problem in the Jewish community today.

(Minor spoilers ahead.)

The “Part 2” to A Doll’s House takes place fifteen years after the conclusion of the original play, when Nora Helmer has finally realized that her marriage is toxic, and that she has no identity of her own outside of that of wife and mother, so she leaves her family. Part 2 begins when she knocks on the door through which she had left. It turns out, despite her thinking otherwise, her husband, Torvald, never filed their divorce. Having made enemies for her radical beliefs about women and marriage, Nora now realizes that she is vulnerable to legal action for acting in a way a married woman in her society may not— like owning property, and having lovers.

But the law has another unfair obstacle against women. A man may quickly, and for no reason, obtain a bill of divorce from his wife. A woman must begin a protracted legal battle, in which she must prove she deserves her freedom, with extreme allegations such as that her husband was abusive.

One strength of the play is how modern it feels; though the setting is firmly nineteenth century, the characters speak with modern voices, and their debates feel fresh, from conversations about feminism to the question of why we even have the institution of marriage. But it is in the inciting action of the play, Nora needing Torvald to be free, that wouldn’t quite apply in today’s society.

Well, in today’s secular, American society. While divorce is largely a lengthier process than a trip down to the town clerk, it tends, at least on paper, to provide equal footing to men and women alike. Not so in Judaism (and by extension, Israel), where a marriage ends when a man presents a woman with a divorce document. Even when men eventually relent and grant their wives divorces, it often puts them in positions of power, having the upper hand in negotiating finances, custody of the children, et cetera.

In A Doll’s House, Part 2, Nora finds herself similarly beholden to Torvald, after taking it on blind faith over a decade ago that he would do what they agreed. Although their marriage has been over for fifteen years, she suddenly finds herself coaxing, pushing, even manipulating to make a formal end of things that would set her legally free. All he has to do is sit there and become convinced, or not.

Torvald is clearly not a bad man. But as the man, he holds the power, and while it doesn’t exactly corrupt him, he’s not eager to level the playing field. Nora, the early feminist, is furious at the unfairness of it all. Even outside of her own circumstances, she wants the release of women everywhere from the bonds of marriage; she considers it a cage.

How upset would Nora be that over a century later, even when so much has changed about marriage and women in society, some women are still stuck in shells of former marriages, because the man refuses to relinquish his power over her?

And how much of a shondeh is it that it’s happening in parts of our community?

Photo of Chris Cooper and Laurie Metcalf in A Doll’s House, Part 2. By Brigitte Lacombe. 

The post ‘A Doll’s House, Part 2’ and Agunot appeared first on Jewcy.

Good news! After a relatively gentile 2016 scene, This Broadway season is looking to be mighty Jewish. Here are the Semitic-seeming shows scheduled for spring:

First of all, Sondheim. Second of all, Sondheim where Jake Gyllenhaal is taking on a role made famous by Mandy Patinkin. That’s right, the Jewish actor stars in a revival of Sunday in the Park with George, opening next month.

Onto March! What a gift— it moves The Price from previews to opening; it’s a revival of the Arthur Miller play that actually has some overt Jewishness, unlike many of his more coded shows. March gives us the Broadway transfer of Oslo— as in, the Accords; the play tells the story of the little-known key players behind the scenes of the 1990s Israeli-Palestinian peace process. And, perhaps best of all, March brings us War Paint, the musical that stars Patti LuPone as Helena Rubinstein (focusing on her lifelong rivalry with Elizabeth Arden).

April showers bring Bette Midler back to Broadway! That’s when the revival of Hello, Dolly! opens, and everyone is rightfully freaking out. April also brings Indecent to the Great White Way, the new play with music about the controversy of Sholem Asch’s God of Vengeance playing Broadway in the 1920s (women kissing each other!? How scandalous!).

Also, hey, did you know off-Broadway (or even, God forbid, off-off-Broadway) is a thing? One such promising play is If I Forget, opening February. It’s a family drama about a liberal Jewish studies professor, set a few months before 9/11. Also, a new David Mamet play about a psychiatrist, The Penitent, opens around the same time (it may not be particularly Jewish; it remains to be seen. But Mamet sure is).

So the pickings are ripe! Whether you want a new family drama, or an old musical favorite, there’s something for you.

The post Upcoming Jewish Broadway Shows appeared first on Jewcy.

(OK, OK, it also stars David Hyde Pierce, and its director is the great Jerry Zaks. The Jerry Herman-written musical tells the story of a meddling matchmaker who turns the town upside down at the turn of the twentieth century. It’s also worth noting that Midler hasn’t been in a Broadway musical since the 1960s.)

But yes, with half a year to go, you’re going to be able to make a purchase for so far into the future you’ll think you’re seeing Hamilton. The Divine Miss M herself bestowed us with this amazing tweet:

Move over Wikileaks! Betteleaks! “Hello, Dolly!” tickets go on sale Saturday 9/17 at 10am!! RUN!!https://t.co/Hh2JsNtDw3

— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) September 14, 2016

Wait, Saturday? It’s annoying that Shabbat observant Jews won’t be able to sit at their computers the second virtual box offices open for a Jewish musical starring a Jewish performer, but that’s Broadway for you.

181 days until previews. 3 days to ticket sales. Take Midler’s advice, and don’t walk. Run.

The post ‘Hello Dolly’ Tickets Are About to Go on Sale! appeared first on Jewcy.

If you’re in New York before the end of August, you should absolutely see Oslo, the new off-Broadway play at the Lincoln Center Theater. If you miss your chance, fear not! Lincoln Center has announced the play’s Broadway transfer for March 2017.

The J. T. Rogers piece follows the famous 1993 peace accords through the lens of a Norwegian couple (real-life acquaintances of the playwright) that played a key role in the negotiations behind the scenes. It opened earlier this month to rave reviews, including the Times.

Jewish media also favored the play overall (making diplomatic conversation entertaining for three hours is no easy feat), but was wary of the sunny political messaging.

“No inherent criticism of the Accords is permitted, and with this absolute certainty comes a lack of nuance,” wrote the Forward, for example, adding that it lacks “historic weight and immediacy.”

Well, now you’ll have ample opportunity to decide for yourself. The play runs at the Lincoln Center Theater through August 28th, and will begin Broadway previews March 23rd for an April 13th opening.

Image: Michael Aronov, Anthony Azizi (foreground), and Jefferson Mays (background) in Oslo. Photo by T. Charles Erickson.

The post ‘Oslo’ Is Broadway-Bound appeared first on Jewcy.

Bad news, kinderlakh: The current revival of Fiddler on the Roof has announced its closure, for the last day of 2016. At the time of its final performance, it will have been on Broadway slightly more than a year, earning three Tony nominations (no wins, but literally only three musicals got any this year).

This production did well critically and decently commercially; it is closing at a loss, but because Broadway is a scary, weird place, this isn’t unusual. Fiddler is going to be fine; don’t you fret.

So to look on the bright side, I decided to gather some numbers about Fiddler on the Roof to figure out just how OK it is:

—This was its sixth outing on Broadway— that’s more productions than Tevye has daughters (in the musical; not in the original stories). This makes it tied for the fourth-most revived musical on Broadway of all time (and the three shows ahead of it on the list are older, and have had more time for productions).

—In fact, if you divide the years by number of Broadway productions from the list of the twenty most revived shows, Fiddler has the lowest number; it averages a new production every 8 years and 8 months. (This doesn’t factor shows with long-running productions that haven’t had a chance for revivals; it’s why Cats, say, only has one.)

—Between all six productions, Fiddler has garnered 21 Tony Award nominations, winning a total of 9 of those. This isn’t counting the honorary award it took home in 1972 for becoming then the longest-running musical in Broadway history (it’s currently at #16 for that first run).

—The mean duration of these six productions is 726.5 days, and exactly half of them have run more than a year.

—For the big question: Since its first Broadway performance in 1964, what percentage of the time is it playing on Broadway? Time for some math:

When this production closes December 31st, how many days will it have been since its first performance (previews count), September 17, 1964?  19,099.

How long did the first production play? 2,846 days (shows tend to average more than one a day, and here it passed 3,200 performances).

The second production lasted 146 days.

The third lasted 46 days.

The fourth: 226 days (and there was probably a performance the day I was born! How nice!).

The fifth: 717 days.

This production (assuming it closes on the date promised, but these things are subject to change):  378 days.

This means that since 19,099 days ago, Fiddler on the Roof has been open on Broadway for 4,359 days.

Well, we do some quick division, and discover, that if you took a time machine to any day after September 16th, 1964, the odds that you would land on a date during a run of Fiddler on Broadway is 22.82%. That’s right, higher than the percentage of Tevye’s daughters that move to Siberia.

I leave you with that figure as a sign of hope that within the next decade we’ll have Fiddler back, and that it will stick around for a bit. Also, be cheered that you still have time to see this production; it’s a shame it’s running about half as long as the one before it when it’s easily twice as good.

*Insert joke that Fiddler playing Broadway is a “Tradition!” here.*

Image credit: Alexandra Silber, Samantha Massell, Melanie Moore, Danny Burstein, Jessica Hecht, Jenny Rose Baker, and Hayley Feinstein in Fiddler on the Roof. Photo by Joan Marcus.

The post ‘Fiddler’ is Closing on Broadway, So We Crunched Some Numbers appeared first on Jewcy.

The Book of Mormon (the musical, not the scripture), opens with young Mormon missionary Elder Kevin Price trying to interest people in the holy Book of Mormon.  If a door-to-door missionary looked like Kevin Price—perfect hair, gleaming smile, all-American good looks—I would let him prattle about Jesus forever. As one of his peers gushes, Price is  the “smartest, best, most deserving Elder the world has ever seen.”

Other charming, put-together missionaries join in. They ring doorbells and sing in perfect harmony, smiling, complimenting houses, and praising their amazing holy book.

Then, the unkempt Elder Cunningham breaks the synchronicity, barging in and shouting: “HELLO WOULD YOU LIKE TO CHANGE RELIGIONS I HAVE A FREE BOOK WRITTEN BY JESUS!!!”

Price and Cunningham are a Mormon Odd Couple, a devoted Golden Boy partnered with a schlubby, loud, and shrill Star Wars nerd. Eventually, Cunningham reveals that he hasn’t even read the Book of Mormon, to Price’s horror. Together, they must go to Uganda to convert as many people to Mormonism as they can.

Andrew Rannells, whom Ben Brantley called a “human Ken doll,” originated the role of Elder Price on Broadway. Josh Gad—the voice of Olaf from Frozen, lest we forget—originated Elder Cunningham. Rannells went to an all-boys Catholic school in Omaha. Gad is Jewish, as was his understudy and eventual replacement Jared Gertner, as was Gertner’s understudy, Jon Bass (I could go on).

In the Chicago tour, the pair was played by Nic Rouleau, another Catholic school alumnus, and Ben Platt, another Jew. Although Platt deviates from the physical formula of previous Cunninghams (“You’re skinny, I’ll say it,” Rouleau says in an interview), he still looks more New York corned beef than Utah cornfield—in other words, visibly Jewish.

Gertner is the only actor to talk at length about how (at that time) every Elder Cunningham had been played by a Jewish person. In an interview with Jewish Journal, he explains, “Maybe if you’re looking for people who are very different from an all-American, uptight, very white, very blond person, then physically you’re going to look for a difference; maybe you’re going to find a Jewish person… And if there’s any Jewish humor in the show, it’s just humor that comes from us, because we actually all are Jewish.”

Sure, Jews are funny, but there are other types of people who look different than, say, Rannells and Rouleau. So why are Jews consistently cast as a Mormon? Is it anti-Semitism? Should we be offended?

Maybe—if the show’s character arcs didn’t end in brilliant subversion.

It turns out Price’s greatest asset in Utah is a liability in Uganda. He’s too full of his faith—and himself—to convince anyone to listen, let alone convert. His preaching of the “blonde-haired, blue-eyed voice of God” is profoundly tone-deaf (meaning “not receptive to his African audience.” Everyone who has played Elder Price sings beautifully). He bravely marches up to a warlord, confident that his faith will protect him. He is wrong.

On the other hand, Elder Cunningham breaks through to the Ugandans, not through strict adherence to the Scripture, but through creativity and adaptation. Unlike Price, he is willing to alter Mormon text to include problems like dysentery and AIDS, which are conspicuously absent from the original teachings. Cunningham starts as the comic relief and sidekick, but his weakness  in Utah—making things up—becomes his strength.

If  the embodiment of Mormonism starts out as a rigid literalist from the American Midwest heck-bent on converting as many people as possible, then clearly his physical—and ideological—opposite would be Jewish, or at least Jewish-coded.

Strangely, show-writers Trey Parker and Robert Lopez are not Jewish. The third writer, Matt Stone, is the exception, having a Jewish mother, though he identifies as Jewish only ethnically, and religiously as secular/agnostic.  Still, the show taps into Judaism’s inherent curiosity and questioning as a contrast to Price’s strict adherence to stories that, by his own admission, sometimes don’t make sense.

Yes, there is the immediate physical contrast of the Mormons’ perfect (usually light) hair and impeccable posture with the slouching Cunningham’s dark, wild Jewfro. There’s also the strong connection of Judaism and humor, as Gertner points out. But more important than the comedy of the mismatched duo is the musical’s message about faith.

At the end, a humbled Elder Price proclaims, “We are all Latter Day Saints, even if we change some things, or break the rules, or have complete doubt that God exists.” His new faith focuses on helping others, not his own personal glory. The conclusion wouldn’t be possible without the culture clash between not just the Americans and the Ugandans, but also between Price and Cunningham. When unquestioning faith fails, Price embraces what Cunningham represents: a fluid, realistic, but still hopeful religion—what Judaism happens to be known for.

That’s not to say that The Book of Mormon is like an inverted Jews for Jesus, trying to stealthily convince Mormons to become Jewish. The Book of Mormon ends with a message that is oddly both agnostic and faith-affirming. As irreverent as The Book of Mormon can be, at its heart is deep respect for whatever belief systems help create kinder, better people.

Image credits: Wikimedia and André-Pierre du Plessis via Flickr.

The post “Sefer Mormon”: What Jewish Casting Choices Mean appeared first on Jewcy.

As is Broadway law, Fiddler on the Roof is back on the Great White Way this year, for its sixth production total, and less than a decade since the previous one closed. The latest incarnation recently released a new cast recording prompting the question, why?

Lord knows there are enough Broadway recordings of Fiddler out there anyway, including the 2004 production, to say nothing of the film soundtrack and recordings from around the world in a multitude of languages (including, of course, both Hebrew and Yiddish).

Well, if you’re sure you don’t want any more Fiddler CDs scattered throughout your home, then you can pass by this one. But if you have it in your heart, or shelf space, for one more recording, then you’re in a pile of luck.

This album is, for the most part, unafraid of the competition from what came before it. It’s not a carbon copy of any of its predecessors, but it’s not different for the sake of standing out, either; it lets the music and performances speak for themselves.

And boy, are there some performances. Most notably, Danny Burstein is a brilliant Tevye, conveying in the album the same nuances he does onstage of a man of great compassion, humor, and at times, anguish. Plus, the man knows his way around a niggun.

The real star, however, is not any actor, but Ted Sperling, the music director. Sperling is one of the greatest conductors and arrangers in musical theatre today, particularly adept at bringing new life to old shows, and here he doesn’t disappoint. From, the opening strains of, well, fiddling, that feel a bit like drugs to a Fiddler fan, the score is lush and celebratory, without losing its folksy, down-to-earth quality. After decades of Fiddlers and their recordings, there has never been anything like the joyous, klezmer-infused “Wedding Dance” on this album.

This production of Fiddler has been noted for its new choreography by Israeli artist Hofesh Shechter, which doesn’t fully depart from the Jerome Robbins version, but brings in a modern edge that uses the original dancing as a reference point. The same can be said for the score, which is loyal to the original incarnation without being a slave to it, even sometimes adding references of one number into another. Its occasional risks, like a slowed-down, more pensive “Matchmaker,” usually pay off. It’s a recording of Fiddler that’s also a love letter to the musical.

Since this album is also as completist as possible, the producers have erred on the side of including dialogue from the show, which is largely well-performed and adds texture to the recording, if you don’t mind waiting a few extra seconds to get to a particular song.

The album also attempts new content at its end with two additional tracks: one number is a medley conducted by John Williams, featuring a cadenza by Itzhak Perlman (always a joy), so it’s a star-studded affair.

The other addition is a song cut from Fiddler‘s original production, and never quite put back: a duet between Motel and Tzeitel called “Dear Sweet Sewing Machine.” There’s also an adorable, if slightly saccharine music video. Is it necessary? No, but neither is this album, and an official recording of this song is a gem for any Fiddler completist (But nu? No “When Messiah Comes?”).

These additions are indulgent, sure, and definitely not indispensable, when the rest of the album speaks for itself as a celebration of one of the greatest American musicals of all time. But since they are there, at least they’re good, and once again, while the medley may seem a bit pandering, “Sewing Machine” is further proof of this album as a labor of love.

If you’re convinced but your shelf of Fiddler recordings is absolutely full, trade this one out for the 2004 recording. It’s better in virtually every way. But why not be a hoarder? Tevye has five daughters. Surely you can have at least five recordings of Fiddler on the Roof at your disposal.

Photo credit: Joan Marcus

The post ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ Has Yet Another Cast Recording, And It’s Glorious appeared first on Jewcy.