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

May 19, 2022

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’

May 19, 2022

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...

‘Funny Girl’ snubbed, but ‘Lehman’ stock rises, in Tony nominations

May 11, 2022

(JTA) – Some of the biggest Jewish names on Broadway weren’t shining so bright in this year’s Tony nominations. 

The much-anticipated revival of “Funny Girl,” with Beanie Feldstein in the Barbra Streisand role as pioneering Jewish comedienne Fanny Brice,...

Manilow & Sussman’s ‘Harmony’ extends Off-Broadway run in New York

May 01, 2022

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“), Special to the CCJN

It’s taken 25 years for Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman to birth their baby, but “Harmony: A New Musical,” with direction and choreography by Warren Carlyle, is proof...

Beanie Feldstein opens up on ‘Funny Girl’ role: ‘Incredibly meaningful for me as a Jewish woman’

April 19, 2022

(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — “Funny Girl” is so deeply ingrained in Beanie Feldstein’s life that she doesn’t even remember the first time she watched the movie. “From my developmental psychology classes in college, I think I remember...

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick headline revival of Neil Simon’s ‘Plaza Suite’

April 17, 2022

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

Of all the ironies, after two years of preparing to open the very first revival of Neil Simon’s “Plaza Suite” on Broadway, Sarah Jessica Parker and her husband Matthew Broderick had a...

Playing a rabbi, Chip Zien is the central character in ‘Harmony’

April 15, 2022

By ALAN SMASON, Exclusive to the CCJN

With the opening of “Harmony: A New Musical” on Wednesday night, April 13, a 25-year journey for composer Barry Manilow was finally completed. Manilow, the 78-year-old successful singer whose string of hits established...

Barry Manilow tests positive for COVID, misses NYC debut of his musical ‘Harmony’

April 13, 2022

(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Singer Barry Manilow tested positive for COVID-19, preventing him from attending the New York premier of his musical “Harmony.”

The show, about a real-life musical group popular in Germany in the years before...

10 minutes with Barry Manilow: The iconic singer dishes on bringing his Nazi-era musical to NYC

March 31, 2022

By JACOB HENRY

(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Barry Manilow could fill a stage just by showing up with a piano, and he has: Starting in 1977, his stints on Broadway have nearly always sold out. With 13...

Musical planned about Fred Neulander, a rabbi convicted in his wife’s murder

February 10, 2022

(JTA) — A musical about a Philadelphia-area rabbi who had his wife murdered in 1994 is stirring painful memories among his former congregants.

The Philadelphia Inquirer on Wednesday reported that the Gefen Playhouse in Los Angeles is set to debut...