Arts & Culture | Theater

From Lesbian Intermarried Moms To Groucho Marx

09/28/2010 | Ted Merwin | Special To The Jewish Week | Theater

OK, they may not be “Fiddler on the Roof.”

But several new musicals debuting at the New York Musical Theater Festival are taking on Jewish themes and characters in a big way.

Caught In The Crossfire In Belfast

09/15/2010 | Ted Merwin | Theater

As the rest of our society turns toward Halloween, we brave our own demons on Yom Kippur, in a particularly Jewish way that points toward the possibility of redemption. In Gavin Kostick’s new play, “This is What We Sang,” presented at the Synagogue for the Arts in Tribeca, five generations of a Jewish family in Belfast search their souls on the Day of Atonement to come to terms with the tangled, century-long past of their people and their region.

Leaving The Bronx

09/07/2010 | Ted Merwin | Theater

‘The longest journey in the world,” Norman Podhoretz once ruefully noted, “is the journey between Brooklyn and Manhattan.”

Kenny Solms Confronts His Demons

08/24/2010 | Ted Merwin | Theater

When do we stop looking for love in all the wrong places?

Separation Anxiety: "Secrets of the Trade"

08/11/2010 | Ted Merwin | Special to the Jewish Week | Theater

Our parents may be our first and most important teachers, but part of growing up is finding new mentors who can point us toward success in our careers. In Jonathan Tolins’ new play, “Secrets of the Trade,” set in the 1980s, a theater-obsessed suburban Jewish teenager, Andy Lipman (Noah Robbins) becomes the protege of a legendary but egotistical Broadway playwright, Martin Kerner (John Glover).

Jews On The Fringe (Festival)

08/10/2010 | Ted Merwin | Special To The Jewish Week | Theater

Why are we commanded to wear fringes on our garments? They are a potent reminder of our Jewish identity but also indicate that who we are splays out into the rest of the world, and that the boundaries between us and other people can be fuzzy.