PBS special on Broadway’s Jewish ‘Legacy’ continues on WYES
By ALAN SMASON, Theatre Reviewer, WYES-TV’s “Steppin’ Out”
The history of the Broadway musical and the influence of Jews in its development is examined extensively in a PBS “Great Performances” special that bowed New Year’s Day on WYES-TV. “Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy” is a 90-minute documentary by award-winning producer and director Michael Kantor and will be rebroadcast this Saturday night, January 5, at 10 p.m. and also on January 7 at 2 a.m. Kantor won an Emmy for his previous series “Broadway: The American Musical” that also aired over PBS’ “Great Performances.”
One of the most successful "Jewish" musicals, "Fiddler on the Roof" was written by Jews, performed by Jews and about Jews.
Narrated by Broadway legend Joel Grey (the son of famous Jewish singer and musician Mickey Katz), the documentary looks at the role of famous Jewish composers and lyricists, whose mark on the Great White Way is still quite notable.
Included in the special are interviews and conversations with some of the most acclaimed creators of the modern Broadway musical. These include Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, Jerry Bock, George and Ira Gershwin, Oscar Hammerstein II, Sheldon Harnick, Lorenz Hart, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, Stephen Schwartz, Stephen Sondheim, Jule Styne and Kurt Weill to name but a few.
The intent of the special is to link the success of the Broadway musical and its distinctive sound with the experience of the American Jew and the musical strains that can be traced to traditional Jewish melodies . Care is taken to cover the influence of the early Yiddish theatre on the more widely accepted Broadway stage as well as to explore prominent works by Jewish composers and writers like “Porgy and Bess,” “Cabaret” and “West Side Story.”
Historic footage and performances included in “Broadway: A Jewish Legacy” include those by well-known stars such as David Hyde Pierce (Spamalot), Matthew Broderick and Kelli O’Hara (Nice Work if You Can Get It), Zero Mostel (Fiddler on the Roof), Betty Comden and Adolph Green (On the Town), Nathan Lane (The Producers), Al Jolson (Sinbad), Fanny Brice (The Great Ziegfeld), Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl), Joel Grey (Cabaret), Dick Van Dyke (Bye Bye Birdie), Danny Kaye (Lady in the Dark), Ethel Merman (Gypsy), and Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel (Wicked).
The film documentary examines the undeniable contribution of Jewish Americans to the Broadway stage, so much that over a half-century, the predominant successful Broadway musical selections and books were created almost without exception by Jews. Many of these songs have become standards of today taking places in what is known as the “Great American Songbook.” As Kantor’s work points out, these were the songs to whom parents sung their children to sleep, soldiers marched off to wars and with whom boys and girls fell in love.
Historian Phil Furia cites the example of Berlin, recalling that two of his largest hits were “White Christmas,” the most popular Christmas song ever, as well the most popular Easter song, “Easter Parade.” “It’s the Horatio Alger story told in Yiddish,” he says. Furia claims that Berlin was so accepted and assimilated that his tune “God Bless America” became extremely popular and nearly replaced the National Anthem.
The most noted exception to this Jewish dominance rule was Cole Porter, who listed his religion as Episcopalian. Reportedly, after his third successive flop, Porter was quoted as coming up with a new formula for success: “I’m going to write Jewish tunes,” he said. Many of his more famous songs, the series points out, utilize the minor chords that characterize Jewish music and the klezmer musical forms.
Some of the famous Jewish personages featured in interviews include Mel Brooks, Mary Rodgers Guettel, Ernie Harburg, Sheldon Harnick, John Kander, Arthur Laurents, Andrew Lippa, Phyllis Newman, Harold Prince, Stephen Schwartz, Marc Shaiman, David Shire, Stephen Sondheim, Charles Strouse, and Maury Yeston.
Included among the rare film clips are Irving Berlin singing “God Bless America,” rehearsal scenes from Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim’s “Gypsy“ and original South Pacific star William Tabbert from the original cast of “South Pacific” singing “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught” and accompanied by composer Richard Rodgers on piano.
Kantor won a 2005 Emmy Award for Outstanding Non-fiction Series for “Broadway: The American Musical,” which was estimated to be seen by 15 million fans. He has also served as executive producer of a recent special on the banjo featuring Steve Martin and produced “The Thomashefskys” with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas for “Great Peformances” earlier in the year. Kantor also created the critically-acclaimed “Make ‘Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America,” a six-part PBS documentary series hosted by Billy Crystal in 2009 that was also nominated for an Emmy Award.
In “Monty Python’s “Spamalot,” Sir Robin sings to King Arthur an adage with which Kantor’s newest documentary apparently agrees. “In any great adventure, if you don’t want to lose, you won’t succeed on Broadway if you don’t have any Jews,” he warbles in rhyme.
