Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy explores the role of Jewish composers and lyricists in creating the modern American musical.

““In any great adventure, if you don’t want to lose…you won’t succeed on Broadway if you don’t have any Jews.” – Monty Python’s Spamalot

Broadway had offered Jewish songwriters an opportunity to make it in America. A number of them turned out hit after hit. Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy is the first documentary of its kind to tell the story of the Jewish creators behind Broadway. The documentary tells its story through contemporary interviews, archival interviews, and clips of Broadway shows or their feature film adaptations. It isn’t just that Broadway’s legacy was ensured by so many Jews but that your favorite showtune might have a Jewish history behind it!

Some of the prominent Jewish songwriters that had an impact on Broadway include Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Kurt Weill, Sheldon Harnick, Jerry Bock, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz, Jule Styne, and many others. By and large, they are the creators of what we know as The American Songbook.

The film does a stupendous job at exploring how Jewish music and ethos informed a number of Broadway musicals. It’s not a surprise that Yiddishkeit would make its way onto the stage in one form or another. It was more likely to do so via the music than characters. Much like films, writers were hesitant to insert Jewish characters into their storytelling.

Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy features clips of the following:

• David Hyde Pierce (Spamalot)
• Matthew Broderick and Kelli O’Hara (Nice Work if You Can Get It)
• Zero Mostel (Fiddler on the Roof)
• Betty Comden and Adolph Green (On the Town)
• Nathan Lane (The Producers)
• Al Jolson (Sinbad)
• Fanny Brice (The Great Ziegfeld)
• Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl)
• Joel Grey (Cabaret)
• Dick Van Dyke (Bye Bye Birdie)
• Danny Kaye (Lady in the Dark)
• Ethel Merman (Gypsy)
• Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel (Wicked)

Michael Tilson Thomas brings up the connection between both Broadway and Yiddish theater in Broadway’s foundations. There’s not much difference if one is listening to early Broadway tunes. Thomas plays some examples on piano, including George Gershwin’s “Swanee.” The song relied on Blackface in musical performances. Interestingly, Gershwin was rejected by the Yiddish theater because he was considered to be too American. His brother, Ira, became a lyricist and built lyrics around American slang. One family encounter was the basis for “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off.”

George Gershwin had been commissioned to write what became Rhapsody in Blue. It started out with a klezmer clarinet. This piece was also influenced by jazz, truly reflecting the American experiment. He was influential in bringing jazz, blues, ragtime–Black music–into Broadway musicals. Stephen Schwartz and Marc Shaiman play some examples on their pianos, pointing out what sounds Jewish.

The tunes used for “It Ain’t Necessarily So” in Porgy and Bess is lifted straight from Jewish liturgy. Talk about having chutzpah! Miles Davis reworked it later for jazz.

Mary Rodgers Guettel is the daughter of Richard Rodgers. She talks about his story working on Broadway and how he first met Lorenz Hart. Rodgers was all set to leave the business before they struck gold with “Manhattan.”

Irving Berlin came to America has a five-year-old. He began writing shows for Broadway revues and other talent, including the Marx Brothers. Berlin made his imprint on American popular music with songs like “G-d Bless America.” The thing about Jewish songwriters is that they didn’t always write Jewish stories. What they did was writer about the experiences of other outsiders as a way of sharing their stories. In a way, this was what contributed to erasing Jewish characters from the stage.

Summer camps were one way of training the next generation of Jewish songwriters. But that’s not all they did. They were also pivotal for forming partnerships between Jewish songwriters. Jamie Bernstein and Phyllis Newman share anecdotes from when Leonard Bernstein first met Adolph Green. The two of them had first met while at a camp.

The exception to the rule is Cole Porter. Three shows flopped and then he played his material for Richard Rodgers. Porter figured out the secret to writing hits: writing Jewish tunes. It checks out according to Maury Yeston. “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” sounds somewhat like davening. Porter’s show became a form of escapism during the depression.

Kurt Weill was one of those who escaped Germany on the day that Hitler became chancellor. They knew that their lives would have been doomed. Weill would later be paired with Ira Gershwin. According to Laurence Maslon, he was obsessed with assimilating. Hollywood told him he was too Jewish.

It didn’t matter that Berlin was also Jewish. Berlin’s daughter mentions how “G-d Bless America” came from the heart. Yeston points how it sounded liturgical, drawing from the start of the Amidah, but with a bass tone playing underneath. I never would have thought about this until watching the film. There were non-Jews opposed to Berlin penning the tune, asking why Jews would want to ask G-d to bless America.

Jews played their role during World War II. Berlin helped stage a show to raise money. Elsewhere, serviceman received free tickets to a new show from Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, Oklahoma! Guettel, again, talks about their partnership. Rodgers and Hammerstein penned South Pacific, a musical about serviceman abroad. It was more than just a musical as it also delivered a plea for tolerance.

West Side Story was originally going to be East Side Story about Jews and non-Jews. It later focused on a different group of immigrants when it became transformed. Just think for a moment how something like West Side Story would play right now, what with all the anti-immigration coming from the White House. Jamie Bernstein mentions how the musical is about intolerance, hatred, and misery and how it sows in the world.

Jule Styne was raised in Chicago after immigrating from London. He memorized a number of Irving Berlin songs on the piano. He wrote the score for Gypsy. Sondheim wrote out the rhythms for the songs. Styne made sure to incorporate Merman’s trademark. Arthur Laurents recalls a time when Styne hosted a seder and mentioned how Ethel Merman insulted him by pulling a ham sandwich out of her purse.

Finding someone to bring Fanny Brice to the stage was not an easy feat. Jule Styne found such a performer in Barbra Streisand. Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy airs a few clips from Funny Girl.

In 1964, something magical happened on Broadway. An entirely Jewish musical premiered on Broadway, Fiddler on the Roof. Archival clips show how Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock didn’t think it would be a universal show. Harnick didn’t feel so brave putting on a show about Jews. Harnick discusses the audition process. Hal Prince had to convince people that the show was going to be fun. You have to remember that there was a pogrom in the second act! Prince, who also produced, suggested Jerome Robbins as director. It became a hit no matter which country.

Fiddler opened doors for Jewish stories in a way we couldn’t have imagined. At one point, it was the longest-running musical on Broadway. And then, it had to happen: Broadway tackled the rise of Nazi Germany in Cabaret. It’s important that one of the characters in the musical be Jewish. Americans weren’t immune to antisemitism either. Charles Strouse recalls his experiences growing up and dealing with antisemitism on a farm. After all that, Strouse starts playing “Put On a Happy Face” from Bye Bye Birdie. Prince says that Strouse and Lee Adams wrote optimistic songs that one associates with America. Strouse later wrote the music for Annie.

Stephen Sondheim soon came along. Stuart J. Hecht says Sondheim’s shows consistently questioned, is the American dream fulfilling the promise? Jews gained acceptance but does it coincide with being happy? I guess it depends on how one reads the lyrics. Sondheim’s work has looked at both sides of humanity. Sondheim reflected on his work:

“Ambivalence is the stuff that–I don’t know why people have made so much out of it. It’s just that I tend to deal with it on a more realistic level than has been dealt with in musicals before. Had been, I should say. But ambivalence is what drama’s about.”

Marc Shaiman points out that Sondheim changed Broadway. Nothing became off limits. It didn’t matter the genre of music. Not everyone can be a Sondheim. Musicals didn’t always run for seven years. Meanwhile, Mel Brooks always had a dream to marry music and comedy. The Producers brought Nazi characters back to Broadway and Jewish audiences roared with delight. “The Broadway musical distinguishes us from every other country.”

One of the more recent long-running hits is Wicked. The musical itself is something of a Jewish story with Elphaba and the animals representing how the Jews were othered.

“That’s the Jewish legacy to America and America’s legacy to the world,” Ben Sidran says about Broadway musicals.

Jewish songwriters played a prominent role in creating The American Songbook–Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy ensures their legacy will never be forgotten.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Michael Kantor
NARRATOR: Joel Grey
FEATURING: David Hyde Pierce, Eric Idle, Carol Channing, Mary Rodgers Guettel, Phyllis Newman, Jamie Bernstein, Andrew Lippa, Ben Sidran, Michael Tilson Thomas, Philip Furia, Michael Strunsky, Stuart J. Hecht, David Lehman, David Shire, Stephen Schwartz, Marc Shaiman, Josh Kun, Laurence Maslon, Mary Ellin Barnett, John Kander, Charles Strouse, Maury Yeston, Ernest Harburg, Hal Prince, Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim, Margaret Styne, Jerry Herman, Harvey Fierstein, Mel Brooks

PBS aired Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy on January 1, 2013. Grade: 4/5

Please subscribe to Solzy on Buttondown and visit Dugout Dirt.