JR OutLoud

JR OutLoud Archive>>

Rainer Hersch's Victor Borge – two comedy piano virtuosos for the price of one!

Listen.....

Victor Borge was a brilliant pianist, virtuoso comedian and once voted "the funniest man in the world" by the New York Times. During the 1960s he became the highest paid entertainer on the planet, loved by audiences worldwide.

In the London premiere of this one-man show, his extraordinary life is retold and his hilarious act re-imagined for the 21st century by his natural successor, brilliantly funny and talented comedy musician Rainer Hersch.

For JR OutLoud, Rainer Hersch talks to Judi Herman about his take on the comedy legend at the piano that was Danish-Jewish-born Victor Borge. And there's just a taste of the show which got five star reviews in Edinburgh ("Don’t miss this divine comedy" – the Daily Mail).

Rainer Hersch and canine critic Ted

LISTINGS INFORMATION
Rainer Hersch's Victor Borge runs at the Jermyn Street Theatre, right by Piccadilly Circus from 6-31 March. Box Office: 020 7287 2875 or www.ticketweb.co.uk. Further details at www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk.

Iraqi and Jewish in London today

In 1917 the Jewish community comprised a third of Baghdad’s population, as we explained in our Jews of Iraq feature in our very first issue in 2001 (reprinted last October in Pick of A Decade). Jewish people had government jobs and dominated the music scene. They were an integral part of the community, living peacefully with Arab neighbours. The Jews had been in Iraq for more than two and a half millennia, since it was called Babylon, and remembered in Psalms. For centuries it was the centre of Jewish learning.

In the 1940s, everything changed. Nazism, Arab-nationalism and anti-Zionist feeling created a wave of antisemitism. Violent pogroms flared up, young Jewish men were publically hanged, Jews were forced from jobs. By the 1970s nearly all had left, many in 1951 when 110,000 people were flown to safety in Israel.

In November 2011, Alan Yentob, BBC Creative Director and himself the child of Iraqi Jewish immigrants, presented on Radio 4 The Last Jews of Iraq, a very personal programme uncovering the hidden history of the Jews of Iraq. He found that although the community is now almost vanished in Iraq itself, its traditions survive around the world.

While making the programme, Alan visited the home of playwright Samantha Ellis. Samantha is the daughter of Iraqi-Jewish parents – her mother came to Britain in 1971, shortly before Samantha was born. In traditional Iraqi style, Samantha served up a feast for Alan and two other guests, Lina Ghazal, also the daughter of Iraqi-Jewish immigrants, and Anna Dangoor, whose father is Iraqi. Over their meal they discussed what it means to be Iraqi-Jewish in Britain today.

Listen.....

In the January 2011 issue of Jewish Renaissance on page 27 you will find the story of the Sulman family of Scarborough who maintained Jewish Iraqi traditions there through five generations.

Find out more about Samantha Ellis and her writing HERE. The music in the piece is performed by Dr Sara Manasseh. The producer was Hannah Marshall, and it is a Loftus Audio production for JR OutLoud.

Palestinian visitors

 Listen.....

Even with the release of Corporal Gideon Shalit, the young Israeli exchanged by the Palestinians in Gaza for more than one thousand Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, you might be forgiven for assuming that relations between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Muslims must always be tense.

So it might surprise you to know that last summer, a party of Palestinian teenagers chose to visit Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue (right) and to spend time at Kadimah, the Liberal Jewish youth movement’s hugely popular annual summer camp for young people. Their busy itinerary meant they only spent one packed day with their new Jewish friends, but the friendships they made look set to last and they are still in touch thanks to email and Facebook. Judi Herman took the opportunity to speak to the Palestinian visitors when they were here, and has since caught up with some of their new Jewish friends.

First though you'll hear young people at Kadimah singing a song in Hebrew and Arabic that’s become a sort of peace anthem. It’s actually called Salaam – again peace will come upon us.

Young visitors at Kadimah

Time to put on top hat, white tie and tails.....
..... as one of Irving Berlin's best-loved movie musicals comes to the stage, thanks to theatre producer Kenny Wax

Listen.....

In April this year, the exciting new stage version of the Irving Berlin musical Top Hat, based on the wonderful RKO film starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, arrives in the West End after its acclaimed world stage premiere in Milton Keynes last year. Top Hat has already enjoyed an extensive UK tour and it will visit Woking and Bristol in March ahead of its West End opening.
 
The man behind this ambitious and imaginative project is the young Jewish producer Kenny Wax. He's cast  Strictly Come Dancing winner Tom Chambers and Summer Strallen, who's played Maria in the smash-hit production of The Sound of Music, in the Fred and Ginger roles of tap dancer Jerry Travers and Dale Tremont, the girl of his dreams. And this production is Kenny Wax's dream come true, as he's been telling Judi Herman for JR OutLoud.

Booking Information: Top Hat visits Woking and Bristol between 13 and 31 March 2012 and begins previewing on 19 April at the Aldwych Theatre, London. For full details visit www.tophatonstage.com

Yiddish Theatre Karaoke from the Jewish Museum

Listen.....

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.

Judi Herman meets a pair of ‘Jewish Lads'

Listen.....

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