It’s possible that you’ve never heard of theater producer Jeffrey Seller. But even someone with a passing knowledge of Broadway musicals will likely know the award-winning shows that he’s produced, including “Rent,” “Hamilton” and “Avenue Q.” Over his 40-year career, Seller, 60, who was raised in a Reform Jewish family in suburban Detroit, has earned […]
Continue Reading
Jon Stewart hosted writer Peter Beinart on “The Daily Show” Monday night, for a conversation in which the two Jewish liberals agreed that the war in Gaza was “horrific” and that Israel bore near exclusive blame for the suffering endured by Palestinians in the 22 months since the Oct. 7 attacks. While the two discussed […]
Continue Reading
Yiddish is the language of the Jews of Eastern Europe and all the places to which they spread. It is the language of socialists and capitalists, the Partisans who fought the Nazis and most of the millions who were killed in the Holocaust. It is the everyday tongue of tens of thousands of haredi Orthodox […]
Continue Reading
Jewish singer-songwriter Regina Spektor shot back at a pro-Palestinian protester who interrupted her concert Saturday night, telling the protester, “You’re just yelling at a Jew.” Later, she engaged in a back and forth with another audience member about the hunger crisis in Gaza, in a dramatic example of how deeply Israel’s war in Gaza is […]
Continue Reading
Tom Lehrer never identified closely with his ancestral Judaism. But the famed satirist and mathematician, who died Saturday at 97, wrote one of the first popular songs about the Jewish holiday. “(I’m Spending) Hanukkah in Santa Monica” debuted in 1990, well after Lehrer’s peak as a performer, on a come-from-retirement performance on Garrison Keillor’s radio […]
Continue Reading
NUREMBERG, Germany — On a spring evening in Nuremberg, an orchestra of New York students gathered for a concert celebrating 80 years since the end of World War II. They also came with a peace mission. Bard College’s The Orchestra Now, or TŌN, was invited by the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra and made its first overseas […]
Continue Reading
Award-winning actor and singer Billy Porter sparked controversy while promoting his new lead role in the revival of “Cabaret” on Broadway when he stated that “Black people have replaced the Jews.” The revival of Cabaret, the 1966 musical about the fate of a Berlin nightclub and its patrons during the rise of the Nazism, will […]
Continue Reading
On this day in 1849, Jewish writer and activist Emma Lazarus was born in New York City. Lazarus is, of course, most famous for “The New Colossus,” the sonnet with the famous lines “Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” that’s practically synonymous with the Statue of Liberty. The poem […]
Continue Reading
The Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, Radio City Music Hall. One thing these iconic New York buildings all have in common: They’re all built in the art deco style, which is characterized by geometric forms, bold colors and lavish ornamentation. These famous buildings may be timeless, but as it happens, the art deco movement […]
Continue Reading
A new generation of music lovers got turned on to mid-century pop star Connie Francis’ oeuvre in recent months when her 1962 song “Pretty Little Baby” went viral on TikTok. Now, Francis’ death on Wednesday at 87 has drawn attention to another little-known element of her discography: her 1960 album of Jewish music, including songs […]
Continue Reading
