The Schmooze lies at the intersection of high and low culture. Here, the latest developments and trends in Jewish art, books, dance, film, music, media, television and theater are all assimilated into one handy pop culture blog.
The Schmooze
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Simon Cowell Takes Blowback for $150K IDF Gift
Celebrity music impresario Simon Cowell is getting blowback for a $150,000 donation to the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. Cowell’s donation, made at a Beverly Hills gala last October, has recently drawn more public attention, and with it some harsh online criticism for Cowell. According to Ynet, critics of Israel have been tweeting images…
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London’s Crusade Drama Falls Flat
Photo: Marc Brenner Is this the most ill opportune time to mount a “fantasia on the Third Crusade and the history of violent struggle in the Holy Lands”? That’s how the pompous, Kushner-esque subtitle of David Eldridge’s underbaked new play “Holy Warriors” would have it. London’s Globe Theatre might believe this is quite the coup,…
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‘The Passenger’: Holocaust On And Below Deck
Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s 1968 opera “The Passenger,” which Lincoln Center Festival and Park Avenue Armory co-presented at the Armory, offered a soupcon of “Titanic” vibes with its 1960’s Brazil-bound ocean liner’s huge white funnel and its first class carefree passengers — elegant in all-white suits and gowns — waltzing to an orchestra’s calming beat. Among the dancers, Walter…
The Latest
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Toronto Deli Sponsors Palestinian Film Fest
It seemed like a great publicity stunt: Just as the conflict in the Middle East started boiling over, Caplansky’s Deli announced its sponsorship of September’s Toronto Palestinian Film Festival. Except Zane Caplansky, the deli’s owner, inked the deal months ago. And while he expected some backlash, the war’s escalation has cast an outsized spotlight on…
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Javier Bardem Anti-Israel Letter Backed by Celebs
Getty Images A letter accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza was endorsed by 100 Spanish celebrities including Academy Award winners Penelope Cruz and Pedro Almodovar. On Monday the renowned actors, writers and directors endorsed a letter that Spanish actor Javier Bardem published last week in the Barcelona-based El Periodico de Catalunya, the daily reported. “This…
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Holocaust Victim, Artist Charlotte Salomon’s Life Premieres as Opera
Photo: Salzburger Festspiele / Ruth Walz (Reuters) — The Berlin-born Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon left behind a body of watercolors and text she called “Life? or Theater?” before she was killed at Auschwitz in 1943 at age 26, carrying her unborn child. Salomon’s life, which has inspired films, plays and a musical, was turned into…
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When the Occupied Film the Occupiers
At its best, art is about connection. A new Israeli-Palestinian documentary short film exploits the natural three-way relationship between artist, audience and subject to reveal an unexpected source of real-life intimacy: that between occupier and occupied. Produced by B’Tselem and directed by Ehab Tarabieh, Yoav Gross, and the al-Haddad family, “Smile, and the World Will…
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‘Sam the Record Man’ Sign Returns to Toronto
Rush frontman Geddy Lee called it “an important fixture on Toronto’s musical landscape.” Singer Feist wrote of the “importance of commemorating and protecting” it. Crooner Anne Murray called it “an integral part of music history in Canada.” Now, after years in storage, Toronto’s iconic red-and-white Sam the Record Man sign, complete with spinning discs, will…
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First Look at Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman. Has. A. Sword. “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” director Zack Snyder tweeted out a photo during Comic Con this weekend, showing what the glorious combination that is Israel model/actress Gal Gadot and badass superchick Wonder Woman will look like. This isn’t your good ol’ red, blue and gold getup. Gadot seems to…
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One Direction Divided Over Gaza
One Direction is at a crossroads. It seems that two members of the popular British boy band have very different opinions when it comes to the war in Gaza. Frontman (and sometimes Jewish wannabe) Harry Styles was criticized last week for being too pro-Israel, after he started following Israel journalist Lliana Bird on Twitter, the…
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Bel Kaufman, Author and Tango Dancer, In Her Own Words
Bel Kaufman, who died on July 25 at 103, gave the impression she might live forever. During lunch on August 31, 2012 at her favorite eatery Demarchelier, she told me: “I have just stepped into the future.” Her two novels, “Up the Down Staircase” (which was made into an award-winning film) and “Love, Etc.” were…
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