Those who thought Sir Ian McKellen was booked to appear at the Theatre Royal Windsor until mid-July are in for a surprise. For here he is, our celebrated theatrical knight, Gandalf himself – albeit not quite as large as life, but…
Matt Tannenbaum was 29 years old when he bought a small bookshop in Lenox, Massachusetts, in 1976. His love of books, however, started much earlier in life, correlating with his love of people. Hello, Bookstore, aptly presented in chapters, offers an insight into Tannenbaum’s sanctuary…
What is the German for Les Mis? Because this musical reworking of The Third Man seems to be attempting to cut itself from the same cloth (Die Elenden, if you're still wondering). Like the Graham Greene book on which it’s based, the story is set on the grim streets of post-war…
On the eve of its imminent move to a stunning new building close to the Knesset in Jerusalem, the National Library of Israel (NLI) bid farewell to its current premises in Givat Ram with a day of celebrations. Entitled Epilogue…
Having conquered the musical adaptation of Matilda, comedian/composer Tim Minchin and director Matthew Warchus team up once again on another hit. Groundhog Day the musical, based on the much-loved 90s movie by screenwriter Danny Rubin (who also reworked…
Mizrahi Jewish musician David 'Dudu' Tassa has teamed up with Jonny Greenwood, lead guitarist in internationally renowned British rock outfit Radiohead. The pair became firm friends when Tassa's band opened for Radiohead…
What does an actor from Maryland have in common with a cultist from California? Or a hijacker from Philly with an Italian immigrant in New Jersey? They all wanted to kill the president of the United States. Not all succeeded, but all tried. What were their motives? What were they thinking…
As the great sage Rabbi Hillel said, "If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?" This might be the motto of Boris Berezovsky, Russian Jewish oligarch and antihero of Peter Morgan’s biographical drama, which feels almost contemporary despite being set in the early 1990s. Hillel…
Old coins, synagogue documents and newspapers dating back to 1873 have all been unearthed by Manchester Jewish Museum (MJM) in a 150-year-old time capsule. The sealed glass jar was first uncovered in 2020 in the museum’s Grade II-listed Spanish and Portuguese synagogue…
For any community undergoing a process of revival, it is important to have access to diverse forms of cultural and spiritual enrichment, including literature and the press. For the past nine years Chidusz, a small but excellent…
The pink neon ladder heading ever upwards is a visual cue to the USP of what turns out to be a timely, thought-provoking revival of a satirical musical, that is very much of the moment. The title refers to a handy little self-help…
Father/daughter duo Victoria and Todd Buchholz – the former a singer-songwriter, the latter a best-selling author, inventor and senior White House economic adviser – have collaborated on this exciting new musical. It tells the story of the wartime rescue missions undertaken by Italian…
This original comedy from Canadian Jewish playwright Jason Sherman opens in the classroom of young Hebrew school teacher Rachel Benjamin, where she’s in trouble for her even-handedness over the need for a two-state solution in Israel. But while tackling disputatious parents of pupils…
A new platform launches tonight to offer resources and an online community for Jewish fiction writers and those writing literature of Jewish interest around the world. The Global Jewish Literary Alliance aims to encourage more…
I was saddened at the recent death of Barry Humphries, a consummate, warm and witty performer. Born in Melbourne in 1934, it was always evident that Humphries – who would dress up as various characters at a young age to entertain his parents and their friends – would grow…