Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

This Jewish Olympian Ice Skating To ‘Hamilton’ Will Make Your Day

Meet Jason Brown, the Jewish figuer skating sensation Image by Getty Images

Jason Brown is one of the most formidable names in men’s figure skating, known for his flawless spins and extension and astonishing flexibility. And it’s not just that Brown is a graduate of the Union of Reform Judaism camp systems whose tight knit Jewish family celebrates holidays together and spent Brown’s bar mitzvah party volunteering at a school. It’s not just that Brown is an Olympian medalist who gained a cult following for his viral Riverdance-style routine in 2014. It’s that Brown, a likely contender for next month’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, has delivered the sublime: a near-perfect figure skating routine to a song from the Broadway musical blockbuster “Hamilton.”

Like tater tots drowning in melted cheese, or Bon Jovi’s drummer writing a musical about Princess Diana, Brown has taken two fabulous things and made them into an exhilarating third thing. Beyond Brown’s technical skill is his singular ability to lavish joy on an audience, inspiring mass elation with the intensity of his connection to the music. Brown, whose rendition of the show stopping “Hamilton” tune “The Room Where It Happens” earned him third place in the Men’s U.S. Championships short skate program, will be competing again in the men’s free skate on Sunday. His final scores will help decide whether he will gain a place on the U.S. Olympic team, an issue that, with much grappling, is settled by committee (if you will, “Hamilton” fans.)

Brown does not perform a quadruple jump, the move that garners the greatest number of points in men’s figure skating, and his performance in this year’s Olympics is not a guarantee. But his exceptional grace and unparalleled passion tell us not to count him out. History most certainly has its eyes on him.

If you’re craving more Jason, here is a triple-lutz-mitzvah: Jewish Jason Brown ice skating to Jewish composers Ben Pasek and Justin Paul’s “Waving Through A Window” from the musical “Dear Evan Hansen,” performed by Jewish actor Ben Platt.

And, of course, we would be remiss not to introduce you to the exuberant Jason Brown the world fell in love with in 2014:

B’hatzlacha (good luck) Jason!

Jenny Singer is a writer for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.