Saturday, October 10th 2026   |

Theatre

Neo-Nazis rally outside Broadway preview of ‘Parade,’ about an antisemitic murder

By PHILISSA CRAMER

(JTA) — Members of a neo-Nazi group rallied Tuesday night outside the Broadway theater that is hosting “Parade,” a play about the 1915 lynching of a Jewish man in Georgia.

“It was definitely very ugly and scary,...

Brilliant ‘Leopoldstadt’ weaves Austria’s shameful past with family’s tragic assimilation

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“)

Tom Stoppard had long established his credentials as one of the 20th century’s leading playwrights and authors before he learned the full extent of his Jewish heritage. A proud Englishman with a...

London theater group cancels Nazi-Jewish ‘Romeo and Juliet’ after wave of criticism

By JACKIE HAJDENBERG

(JTA) — The London-based theater group behind a Romeo and Juliet-inspired Nazi-Jewish love story has canceled the play after receiving an onslaught of criticism related to the story’s premise and a botched casting call.

The Icarus Theatre...

Jessica Sherr prepares to channel Bette Davis at BB’s Stage Door Canteen

By ALAN SMASON, Exclusive to the CCJN

It’s taken two lifetimes for Jewish actress Jessica Sherr to approach her role as Hollywood screen icon Bette Davis. Sherr, a New York City method actor, arrives in the Crescent City this  weekend...

In ‘Leopoldstadt,’ Tom Stoppard tackles the Holocaust, intermarriage, Zionism — and his own Jewishness, for the first time

By GABE FRIEDMAN

(JTA) — Speaking on the phone from an empty balcony in the Longacre Theater in New York, several hours before a preview performance of his latest play, Tom Stoppard said the show is “one that people like...

Rob McClure’s addition to ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ makes stellar cast go nova

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“)

When the musical “Mrs. Doubtfire” was preparing to open in 2020, the show became a victim of the forced lockdown of all theaters in New York. When COVID restrictions were relaxed and...

Lea Michele will replace Beanie Feldstein in ‘Funny Girl’ on Broadway

By ANDREW LAPIN

(JTA) — Lea Michele will replace Beanie Feldstein as the lead of Broadway’s revival of the extremely Jewish musical “Funny Girl,” with Jewish Broadway legend Tovah Feldshuh stepping into a key supporting role.

Michele and Feldshuh’s first...

Billy Crystal performs ‘Yiddish scat’ at the Tony Awards

By ANDREW LAPIN

(JTA) – “Ella Fitzgerald, wherever you are, I apologize in advance.”

Billy Crystal gave this year’s Tonys a jolt of Jewish shtick when he coaxed the audience into a call-and-response “Yiddish scat” routine, as part of a...

Broadway’s new ‘Evan Hansen’ is an Asian-American Jew

By EVELYN FRICK, Special from Hey Alma

In a different world, Asian Jewish actor Zachary Noah Piser would’ve become an Olympic swimmer.

“Before the age where everyone started growing, I was like, becoming an Olympic swimmer is my journey. This...

Ben Platt to play Jewish lynching victim Leo Frank in a revival of Broadway musical ‘Parade’

By ANDREW LAPIN

(JTA) – Broadway’s Jewish golden boy is set to play one of the most infamous victims of antisemitism in American history.

“Dear Evan Hansen” star Ben Platt will star as Leo Frank in a new revival of...