(JTA) — Historian Ron Chernow has written successful biographies of the likes of J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller and George Washington. So it’s fair to say that at this point in his career, the Alexander Hamilton biographer knows the drill: There’s the author tour, the positive reviews, the making of the best-seller lists. There…
I never expected to hear Yiddish in the lobby of the Richard Rodgers Theatre for “Hamilton, the hip hop mega hit musical. “Do you know how to get to your seat?” asked the feisty petite, blonde senior veteran usher who had just told a theatergoer “We’re all mamelige,” a reference to corn meal mush and…
“I’ve always been in love with dance and always will be,” honoree Joel Grey told the audience at the 33rd Annual Fred & Adele Astaire Awards 2015 held at NYU Skirball Center of the Performing Arts. Recipient of the Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award, Grey lauded a roster of Broadway choreographers noting: “My life was…
The magic of Broadway is far more than the amazing casts’ ability to do it — and do it right — eight times a week. The magic is the ability to stage something original (or sometimes translate it from film) that speaks to a broad audience. That touches their hearts. And, sometimes, tells a story…
Two years ago, I took a morning off work to attend my childhood rabbi’s funeral. Ours wasn’t an observant family, and I really didn’t have any relationship with the rabbi beyond my decades-ago bar mitzvah, but Jehiel Orenstein, of Congregration Beth El in South Orange, N.J., was a nice man and a good man, a…
When I first meet Helen Mirren, the actress pauses before she shakes my hand. Instead, she goes for the hand sanitizer. “I’m appearing in a play,” she says, “and I’m deathly afraid of catching a cold.” I suggest a fist bump instead, but once sanitized she goes with the more traditional route. Mirren is currently…
Although he is by all appearances a man who does what he wants when he wants, Larry David is nevertheless obsessed by etiquette. It is a recurring motif throughout his two landmark television series, “Seinfeld,” which he co-created, and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” which he created and in which he stars. There are debates about tipping,…
When “Fiddler on the Roof” opened on Broadway in the fall of 1964, I was singing in the chorus in “Ben Franklin In Paris,” another Broadway show, which starred Robert Preston. I also performed in the ballroom scene whenever one of the dancers wasn’t feeling well, because I was the only singer who could also…
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