Stuart Isacoff
By Stuart Isacoff
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Culture What Jews Can Learn From ‘Hamilton’
Everything you’ve heard about Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton” is true. The musical, which has won 11 Tony Awards, is not merely wonderful. It’s pure genius. The music, acting, dancing, stage direction, and libretto are all simply stunning. Even for a reviewer not especially inclined toward rap — the rhythmically chanted performance style that comprises Miranda’s coin…
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Culture Gary Graffman’s Journey From Jewish Piano Virtuoso to Civil Rights Pioneer
Recent commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the civil rights movement’s landmark March on Washington might not appear to have much in common with the legacy of American Jewish pianist Gary Graffman, who celebrates his 85th birthday on October 14. But history entwined the two in 1964, when one of this country’s most revered musicians…
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The Schmooze Broadway ‘Porgy and Bess’ Rests on Lead Roles
The avowed intention of director Diane Paulus and writer Suzan-Lori Parks in “reimagining” “Porgy and Bess” was to invest the opera with a sensibility that would reach modern audiences and “fully realize the characters.” That is, they hoped to achieve a theatrical authenticity they believed was missing in the original. Their statements, which included a…
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Culture How Authentic Is ‘Porgy and Bess’?
George Gershwin was insecure. He never showed it at high-society parties, where he could always be found perched at the nearest piano like a king on his throne. (He played incessantly. Once, when Gershwin wondered aloud if his music would be performed in 100 years, his friend Oscar Levant quipped, “It will be if you’re…
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Holy Ground A Jewish farmer broke ground on a synagogue in an Illinois cornfield. His neighbors showed up to help.
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Opinion I discovered anti-Zionism at the University of Michigan. I’m glad it lives on there
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Opinion An alarming new battleground in campus fights over Israel
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News Middlebury College Hillel votes to rebrand, distancing from parent group on Israel
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News Why do some people think Mike Lawler is Jewish?
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Art At the Venice Biennale, protests, self-mutilation and rage against Israel and Russia. Is anyone left to talk about the art?
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News Alex Soros commits $30 million to organizations fighting antisemitism — and its weaponization
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Fast Forward Israeli singer says he is tuning out ‘stop the genocide’ chants as he heads into Eurovision final