PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at [email protected] and @pjgrisar on Twitter.
PJ Grisar
By PJ Grisar
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Theater LaGuardia High School’s ‘Sound Of Music’ Scraps Nazi Symbols
Tonight marks the opening of LaGuardia High School’s production of “The Sound of Music.” Audiences can expect the rousing score of Richard Rodgers, the inspiring words of Oscar Hammerstein – but if they come looking for historical accuracy, they may leave disappointed. The New York Daily News heard from students at LaGuardia, a New York…
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Culture On Hanukkah: Why We Miss The Seleucids
In the words of Ross Douthat, opinion columnist at The Times: “[W]e miss the WASPs — because we feel, at some level, that their more meritocratic and diverse and secular successors rule us neither as wisely nor as well.” On Hanukkah, we Jews desperately miss Antiochus XIII. For the Jewish people, Hanukkah is a deeply…
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Theater Amy Heckerling Wants To Give Us A Different Singing Cher In ‘Clueless: The Musical’
It took a pessimistic girl from New York to make two of the most penetrating satires of sunny California ever committed to film. I speak of course of filmmaker Amy Heckerling, director of 1982’s “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and 1995’s “Clueless.” In a December 5 profile by The New York Times’ Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Heckerling…
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Film & TV ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Just Dropped Its Most Jewish Episode
While Dick Wolf’s “Law & Order” universe has had its share of legendary Yids from Jerry Orbach’s Lenny Briscoe to Steven Hill’s Adam Schiff (the fictional DA, not the the expected chairman of the House Intelligence Committee), “Law & Order: SVU,” the only show left running, has been noticeably lacking in the Jew department since…
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Culture A 17th Century Book On The Stock Market Is Up For Big Money At Sotheby’s
While Jewish economists are nothing new, readers of the business section may be surprised to learn the man who wrote the first book on the stock market was writing for a Jewish audience. Bloomberg reports that on Tuesday December 4 Joseph Penso de la Vega’s 1688 book “Confusion of Confusions” went on sale at Sotheby’s…
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Art The Art Institute Of Chicago’s New Website Has Over 50K Public Domain Artworks — Here’s What’s Jewish
The trouble with museums is they tend to stay in one place. While any museum’s permanent collection makes up the bulk of the institution’s bragging rights, those of us who don’t live near the Louvre, MOMA or the Art Institute of Chicago don’t have ready access to the masterpieces on display. Luckily for us, that…
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Forward 50 2018 Abby Schachner
Coming Forward Is No Joke It takes a lot of courage to be a performer and comedian. Illustrator and storyteller Abby Schachner may have more than most. In November 2017, Schachner was one of five women to speak to The New York Times about Louis CK’s inappropriate sexual behavior. The choice to come forward about…
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Forward 50 2018 Marc Maron
Next Stop Starring With His Hero, WTF?! Marc Maron, 55, didn’t start out as leading man material. Since 2009 his celebrated podcast “WTF with Marc Maron,” has famously hosted Oscar-winning actors, iconic musicians and even a sitting president — all from the clutter of his garage. But in the past two years Maron has gained…
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