Beth-El on Broadway
Most of the non-Jews (and maybe also some Jews) look at the synagogue as a kind of a church, a religious temple. Actually this word of Greek origin has three different meanings: a house of prayer, a house of study and a house of reunion. Perhaps a musical show in a synagogue is not something usual, but cultural activities, lectures and conferences are rather common.
A couple of years ago I had an idea: to organize in my synagogue, Beth-El, a musical show to honor some important Jewish composers that made significant contributions to the Broadway musicals.
The Jewish emmigration to the United States was very significant, and these immigrants made important cultural contributions to the country that received them so well. One of the areas that received a substantial contribution was music.
The American music critics agree that five of the all-time Broadway composers were geniuses: Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Richard Rodgers. Of the five only Cole Porter was not a Jew, but we know that he looked for inspiration in Jewish songs.
Our Rabbi, Iehuda Gitelman, liked the idea, and so did our President, Daniel Bialsky. My good friends Marcio Besen – the Synagogue’s chazan – and Daniel Szafran – our organist - liked it too. And so did the singers Patricia Nacle, Hayley Riemer-Peltz and Georgia Besen. This year we finally set a date and began to practice.
The idea was, basically, to say something about each of the composers that we selected and sing some of their songs. We picked the four Jewish geniuses and added Harold Arlen, Kurt Weill, Jerrold Bock and Leonard Bernstein. Marcio did a fantastic job in coordinating all of the show.
We did not expect that this event would attract a lot of attention, but it actually did. The synagogue was packed and it was easy to see that our audience enjoyed the show very much and participated enthusiastically throughout the evening. And we received suggestions to present it again in the near future.
We started the show with the theme from Bock’s Fiedler on the Roof, with a violin solo by Pedro Della Rolle. Then came Kern’s Ol’ Man River, The Way You Look Tonight and All the Things You Are, Berlin’s What’ll I Do, Blue Skies and How Deep is the Ocean, Gershwin’s Summertime, They Can’t Take That Away from Me and Someone to Watch Over Me, Rodgers’ The Lady Is a Tramp, Bewitched, Edelweiss (this one sang by a young girl, Sofia Koln Rudge Ramos) and My Favorite Things, played on the piano by Dalio Sahm.
After we sang Arlen’s Stormy Weather, I’ve Got the World on a String and Somewhere Over the Rainbow; then Weill’s Speak Low, My Ship and September Song, and Bock’s Sunrise, Sunset. Bernstein’s Somewhere was the grand Finale. As you can see, we carefully chose beautiful songs and we all sang them as well as we could.
A large portion of the show was recorded. If you are willing to spare 90 minutes of your time, take a look at it. In www.bethelsp.org.br/blog you will find the texts about each of the composers, a gallery of photos and the link to YouTube in order to see the show.
A couple of years ago I had an idea: to organize in my synagogue, Beth-El, a musical show to honor some important Jewish composers that made significant contributions to the Broadway musicals.
The Jewish emmigration to the United States was very significant, and these immigrants made important cultural contributions to the country that received them so well. One of the areas that received a substantial contribution was music.
The American music critics agree that five of the all-time Broadway composers were geniuses: Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Richard Rodgers. Of the five only Cole Porter was not a Jew, but we know that he looked for inspiration in Jewish songs.
Our Rabbi, Iehuda Gitelman, liked the idea, and so did our President, Daniel Bialsky. My good friends Marcio Besen – the Synagogue’s chazan – and Daniel Szafran – our organist - liked it too. And so did the singers Patricia Nacle, Hayley Riemer-Peltz and Georgia Besen. This year we finally set a date and began to practice.
The idea was, basically, to say something about each of the composers that we selected and sing some of their songs. We picked the four Jewish geniuses and added Harold Arlen, Kurt Weill, Jerrold Bock and Leonard Bernstein. Marcio did a fantastic job in coordinating all of the show.
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Haley and I singing Blue Skies |
We started the show with the theme from Bock’s Fiedler on the Roof, with a violin solo by Pedro Della Rolle. Then came Kern’s Ol’ Man River, The Way You Look Tonight and All the Things You Are, Berlin’s What’ll I Do, Blue Skies and How Deep is the Ocean, Gershwin’s Summertime, They Can’t Take That Away from Me and Someone to Watch Over Me, Rodgers’ The Lady Is a Tramp, Bewitched, Edelweiss (this one sang by a young girl, Sofia Koln Rudge Ramos) and My Favorite Things, played on the piano by Dalio Sahm.
After we sang Arlen’s Stormy Weather, I’ve Got the World on a String and Somewhere Over the Rainbow; then Weill’s Speak Low, My Ship and September Song, and Bock’s Sunrise, Sunset. Bernstein’s Somewhere was the grand Finale. As you can see, we carefully chose beautiful songs and we all sang them as well as we could.
A large portion of the show was recorded. If you are willing to spare 90 minutes of your time, take a look at it. In www.bethelsp.org.br/blog you will find the texts about each of the composers, a gallery of photos and the link to YouTube in order to see the show.
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