BONUS: Sondheim & Judaism (with Michael & Ida Rae Cahana)!

Today we welcome two very special guests: Cantor Ida Rae and Rabbi Michael Cahana of Portland’s Congregation Beth Israel!

We're chatting about Sondheim’s Jewish heritage – and the subversive power of ritual & theatre in Jewish contexts.

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We talk about:

Jewishness in the music of Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim
West Side Story as an immigrant show exploring the tension between alienation and assimilation
"Outsider" narratives in Sondheim’s stories as a reflection of both his Judaism and his homosexuality
The "problem of the ending" – and the phenomenon of unresolved musical, dramatic, and theological conclusions
Purim, the tradition of the Purim Spiel, and the subversive nature of Purim
How we pass down our stories to our children

*Read Gabrielle Hoyt’s article "Kaddish for Steve" at https://www.americantheatre.org/2022/01/28/kaddish-for-steve-on-the-jewishness-of-sondheim/

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You’ll hear:

The Prologue and Quintet ("Tonight") from West Side Story (2022 film soundtrack)
The documentary Original Cast Album (You can find it on YouTube!)
The Finale ("Children Will Listen") from Into The Woods (Original Broadway Cast recording)
"I Remember" from Evening Primrose (Sung by Bernadette Peters on the 2016 Album The Essential Sondheim)
The cast of Congregation Beth Israel’s 2016 production of West Side Spiel. Watch the whole Spiel on CBI’s YouTube page: https://youtu.be/Ely7r_Ax_AE

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Check out some of our all-time favorites!

Phantom of the Opera
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Jesus Christ Superstar!
Schmigadoon! (Season 1 / Season 2)
West Side Story!
Yentl!
Frozen!
Barbie!

BONUS: Sondheim & Judaism (with Michael & Ida Rae Cahana)!

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