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Yiddish Theatre Karaoke from the Jewish Museum

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David Schneider in Yiddish Theatre Karaoke
David Schneider as Libenyu in Yiddish Theatre Karaoke

One of the most original and entertaining interactive exhibits at the newly expanded Jewish Museum in Camden is the Yiddish Theatre Karaoke, hosted by David Schneider.

Judi Herman couldn't resist having a go at auditioning to be David's leading lady. Of the two female roles on offer, she went for the title role of Mirele Efros in Jacob Gordin's celebrated 1898 Yiddish drama. Play the audio to hear how she got on.

And if you can get to the Museum and want to have a go yourself, you will, like Judi, hear David helpfully prompting sotto voce – and you'll also be able to follow the words on screen – and see David as Mirele Efros (top picture right).

There are three other roles for you to try: the other female role, Libenyu from the musical comedy Di Tsvey Kuni Lemels (The Two Kuni Lemels - bottom picture right shows David wearing his Libenyu costume!); and two male roles, one from The King of Lampedusa, and the other of course is Shylock from The Merchant of Venice.

The Jewish Museum is at 129-131 Albert Street, London NW1 7NB, telephone 020 7284 7384 and online at www.jewishmuseum.org.uk.

For much more about Yiddish see the July 2010 edition of Jewish Renaissance.

A Jewish King Lear at the Royal Shakespeare Company!

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GregHicks and Kathryn Hunter in King Lear
Greg Hicks (King Lear) and
Kathryn Hunter (Fool)

As The Royal Shakespeare Company opens its new production of Shakespeare's King Lear Judi Herman talks to actor Greg Hicks who plays Lear. Hicks is already playing the title role in Julius Caesar and Leontes in The Winter's Tale (another of Shakespeare's kings who acts tyrannically towards his own family); but before he trained as an actor, he considered training for the Rabbinate. For JR Out Loud he tells Judi Herman about his take on Lear, Caesar and Leontes – and about his upbringing in Leicester, where his father was one of the founders of the city's Liberal Synagogue. But first you'll hear Greg Hicks as Lear in a brief extract from the famous storm scene from King Lear.

King Lear continues in the RSC repertoire in Stratford, then Newcastle, London and next year New York. The Winter's Tale and Julius Caesar return to the repertoire in July. Book online at www.rsc.org.uk.

And if you want to check the plots of any of Shakespeare's plays simply follow this link!

Judi Herman meets a pair of ‘Jewish Lads’

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Dreamboats and Petticoats

The musical Dreamboats and Petticoats with a score of 1960s classic hits and a book by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran is back in the West End and on tour round the UK. The great comedy team who brought us such comedy classics as Birds of a Feather and Goodnight Sweetheart met at the Jewish Lads Brigade and they drew on their own youth club experiences for this story of a pair of aspiring rock stars, who are rivals in love for the same girl. Judi Herman got to meet Marks and Gran.

N.B. The musical has its own website at www.dreamboatsandpetticoats.com

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