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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Theater Hidden in this picture, the murder of 1.1 million Jews
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News The great tent conspiracy theory: Are ‘outside agitators’ supplying protesters’ tents?
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Opinion Edward Said tried to erase Jews. So do the pro-Palestinian Columbia protesters citing his legacy
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Opinion Yes, antisemitism is rising. But pro-Palestinian protests aren’t the real threat to our campuses
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Opinion USC taught its pro-Palestinian valedictorian to ask good questions — then axed commencement because it was afraid of them
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Fast Forward Hundreds of students arrested from Texas to California as college Israel protests continue
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Fast Forward USC cancels graduation amid tumult over Israel and Gaza
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News Columbia’s campus is rocked by protests. The surrounding neighborhood? Not so much