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.

Barbra Streisand spoke to the New York Times this weekend, and while the whole piece is magic, it includes this important factoid:

“It’s Streisand, as in ‘sand on the beach,’ not ‘Strize-and,’ a mispronunciation that has plagued her at least since she first appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in the early 1960s.”

WHAT? Oh God. I’ve been saying it wrong my entire life. So let’s take stock of some other Jewish celebrities, and see how we should pronounce their names:

Idina Menzel: Menzel actually changed the spelling of her last name (from Mentzel) so that people would pronounce it correctly (MenZEL), but the tricky part is her first name: EYE-deena? UH-deena? Well, in a clip with her ex-husband Taye Diggs, he seems to address her as “ID-deena,” backing up all of the intense fan message boards I found while researching this piece (and they say “UH-deena” is fine too).

(Also, insert Adele Dazeem joke here.)

Jeff Goldblum: I recall this clip:

But, for real, it’s pronounced “Goldbloom.”

Ralph Lauren: Sure, his birth name is actually Ralph Lifshitz, but all the same, it’s LOR-en. Not Lor-EN.

Jake (and Maggie!) Gyllenhaal: Dude, just give up with this one:

But really, the G is said softly, like a J.

Elie Wiesel: Elie is said “EL-ee.” Wiesel is said “Vee-ZEL” (But hey, if you want to pronounce the W the American way, just call it a transliteration. It’s a minor sin.)

Leonard Bernstein: The last syllable is said “Stine” (like Jewish horror-writer R. L.). Ditto for Oscar Hammerstein (I or II).

Gal Gadot: She’s not French, for HaShem’s sake, and even Wikipedia will tell you: the vowels in “Gal” and “Gad” are like the A in “father.” The O is in between an English short and long O: Listen to her say her own name here.

Most of all, pronounce the T. DO IT FOR WONDER WOMAN.

Noam Chomsky: Most Jews would say that Noam is two syllables: No-OM (second syllable rhymes with calm). Others (like Wikipedia) say it’s one, like “Gnome.” Chomsky himself says it thusly. Is it one syllable or two? Let’s try another example.

The jury may be out on this one. But he doesn’t seem to be correcting people either way.

(Finally, I’m no celebrity, but let me use this opportunity to publish online that the first A in Gabriela is like the A in “father,” and that Geselowitz is said like there’s an animal in it: “Gazelle-o-witz.”)

And now, go forth and be a pedant when someone mispronounces any of these names!

Image via Flickr

The post Have You Been Pronouncing These Jewish Celeb Names Wrong? appeared first on Jewcy.

The Daily Mail, that bastion of serious reportage, published two pieces of news this weekend that will be of interest to Jake Gyllenhaal fans (or anyone who appreciates ruggedly handsome men):

1. Jake is ripped. He has a torso of steel. This is because he is currently shooting scenes for a new film, Southpaw, about the life of Billy ‘The Great’ Hope, “a left handed boxer who stages a comeback from personal tragedy.” He’s gained 15 pounds for the role, and some fake tattoos, too.

Director Antoine Fuqua told Deadline: “I had him training twice a day in the boxing ring… He trained in New York at Church Gym with real fighters. We literally turned him into a beast… Jake, my god, he’s a very electric, powerful fighter in this movie, and a guy who fights for his daughter. I’m confident that this will change how people see Jake, as a leading man.”

2. Jake has a new puppy. It is a German Shepherd. (“Which one is cuter?” asks The Daily Mail.) He was spotted with said puppy and a “mystery woman” in Brooklyn over Thanksgiving.

This concludes today’s Jake Gyllenhaal transmission. (Stay tuned for “Jake Gets a Coffee in Brooklyn” next week!)

Related: Maggie Gyllenhaal Just Learned Her Real First Name—And It’s Super-Jewish

(Image: Jake Gyllenhaal attends at the 62nd Berlin Film Festival on February 18, 2012. Credit: cinemafestival / Shutterstock.com)

The post News You Need: Jake Gyllenhaal Has New Puppy, Ripped Abs appeared first on Jewcy.

• Hurricane Sandy’s unlikely effect? A meat market uptown when the Yeshiva University Stern girls were transferred uptown to the boys’ campus. [Jewish Week]

• A new study out of Jerusalem reports that attractive women are more likely to act the way society wants them to. Or something. [Huffington Post]

• Horror writer R.L. Stine’s drink of choice? Ginger Ale. [NY Mag]

• Jake Gyllenhaal, still on Broadway, and probably still kicking himself for not giving Taylor Swift that scarf back before her new album came out. [NY Post]

• Chelsea Handler, off the market. [Huffington Post]

• Where did Clueless creator Amy Heckerling get the inspiration to make a vampire movie? “I’m a night person and I’d like to not get older.” [The Daily]

The post Daily Jewce: Hurricane Sandy the Matchmaker, R.L. Stine Drinks Ginger Ale appeared first on Jewcy.

• Rachel Shukert on the lessons of Yom Kippur…and Chatroulette?

• Max Greenfield, aka New Girl’s Schmidt, has been “trying to insert my neurotic Judaism into this show since day one.”

• The Times of Israel talked to female Mossad agents about what they will and will not do to advance a mission. Example: “We flirt, but the line is drawn at sex.”

• Vanessa Redgrave has signed on to play Jesse Eisenberg’s cousin, a Polish Holocaust survivor, in Eisenberg’s latest play, The Revisionist.

• Jake Gyllenhaal got tased in preparation for his new police film, End of Watch.

• Watch Mel Brooks cursing at Jerry Seinfeld:

The post Daily Jewce: Female Mossad Agents Talk Flirting; Watch Mel Brooks Cursing appeared first on Jewcy.

• Mayim Bialik was badly injured when a car of tourists from Chile hit her Volvo yesterday. Her husband later posted on her Twitter account that she wouldn’t lose any fingers.

• Israeli physicists basically swept the 43rd Annual International Physics Olympiad in Estonia. Mazel!

• In the New York Times, Dwight Garner explains why book critics should be critical—and gives a nice shout out to Jewcy columnist Jacob Silverman

• Happy 89th birthday, Israeli President Shimon Peres.

• Jake Gyllenhaal will star as a down-on-his-luck gambler in the upcoming flick Mississippi Grind.

• Stephen Colbert gets some new interns, and one of them is Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman.

The post Daily Jewce: Mayim Bialik Injured in Car Accident, Aly Raisman a Colbert Intern appeared first on Jewcy.

• Rachel Shukert pays tribute to the late Marvin Hamlisch.

• Check out Russell Crowe as Noah in Darren Aranofsky’s new biblicly-inspired movie.

• NPR’s Ira Glass will take your ticket and sell you concessions if you go see his new movie.

The Beastie Boys are suing Monster Energy Drink for using their likenesses and songs in advertising campaigns.

• Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s daughter, Arabella Rose, is really cute.

• Careful, Zake! Gyllenhaal shot live ammo for his new movie, End of Watch.

The post Daily Jewce: Shukert on Hamlisch, Russell Crowe is Noah, Gyllenhaal’s Ammo appeared first on Jewcy.

• “Fashion and comedy go together like Bar Mitzvahs and Galliano,” Seth Meyers joked in a speech at the CFDA awards.

• A pregnant Drew Barrymore married her fiance, Will Kopelman, under a chuppah in a Jewish ceremony.

• The Revealer reviews Laurel Snyder’s new children’s book, Good Night, Laila Tov.

• Jake Gyllenhaal will star in an adaptation of Jose Saramago’s novel, The Double.

• Madonna projected an image of France’s far-right Front National party leader, Marine Le Pen, with a swastika on her forehead during her concert in Israel:

The post Daily Jewce: Madonna’s Le Pen Swastika, Meyers’ Galliano Joke, and more appeared first on Jewcy.

• Son of the Fonz Max Winkler is directing Steve Carell and New Girl’s Jake Johnson in a film about a small-town mafia.

• Behold, a dog fashion show.

• Yikes, here’s a look at former Real Housewife of New York Bethenny Frankel’s new novel.

• Jake Gyllenhaal will make his off-Broadway debut this summer in Nick Payne’s If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet.

• The Obamas author Jodi Kantor will be discussing the first couple with New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson on Sunday at 92Y.

The post Daily Jewce: Max Winkler Directing Mafia Film, Creepy Ads Featuring Hitler, and more appeared first on Jewcy.

• Liel Leibovitz does not like Lena Dunham’s new show, Girls.

• A Gyllenhaal family affair in Tribeca.

• HBO is working on an Ira Glass series centering around a segment of This American Life.

• Israel Horovitz, playwright and father of Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz, was made a Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres at the French Embassy (the younger Horowitz, meanwhile, will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame this month. Not too shabby).

The post Daily Jewce: Beastie Boy’s Father Honored, Someone Doesn’t Like ‘Girls,’ and more appeared first on Jewcy.