Podcast appearances and mentions of alisa solomon

In The Ally—a new play at the Public Theater by Itamar Moses—an Israeli American adjunct professor is forced to confront the limits of his solidarity when his decision to support a Black student seeking justice for the police murder of a cousin becomes entangled with questions of Israel and Palestine. Though set before October 7th, the play is undoubtedly “ripped from the headlines,” taking up questions of campus antisemitism and liberal Jewish discomfort with left politics, and giving every “side” in the argument—hardline Zionists, Palestinians, young Jewish leftists, Black activists, and Jewish liberals—a chance to state its case. But does the play actually push liberal audiences beyond their preconceived biases, or does it allow them to remain in a state of comfortable ambivalence? In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, contributing writer Alisa Solomon, and artist-in-residence Fargo Nissim Tbakhi discuss what The Ally reveals about liberal America's view of the left, and the opportunities and limitations of theater in spurring action. Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).” Plays Mentioned and Further Reading:The Ally by Itamar Moses at The Public TheaterDisgraced by Ayad Akhtar“Who Is Tom Stoppard's “Jewish Play” For?,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents “Jewish Groups Condemn Black Lives Matter Platform for Accusing ‘Apartheid' Israel of ‘Genocide,'” Sam Kestenbaum, Haaretz

Thinking Cap Theatre's Artistic Director Nicole Stodard talks with Alisa Solomon, professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, writer, and dramaturg about Fornes' relationship with Susan Sontag. ALISA SOLOMON'S BIO Alisa Solomon is a teacher, writer, and dramaturg in New York City. She is a professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, where she directs the Arts & Culture concentration in the MA program. A theater critic and general reporter for the Village Voice from 1983 to 2004, she has also contributed to The Nation, Jewish Currents, ⁠newyorker.com⁠, The Intercept, The New York Times, American Theater, Howlround.com, TDR, and other publications. Her award-winning books include Re-Dressing the Canon: Essays on Theater and Gender, and Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof. Alisa has also edited several books: The Reverend Billy Project: From Rehearsal Hall to Super Mall with the Church of Life After Shopping by Savitri D and Bill Talen; Wrestling with Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (co-edited with Tony Kushner); The Queerest Art: Essays on Lesbian and Gay Theater (co-edited with Framji Minwalla), a special issue of the journal Theater on theater and social change, and a forthcoming volume of plays and essays by and about Robbie McCauley, The Struggle Continues (co-edited with Elin Diamond and Cynthia Carr). As dramaturg, Alisa's most recent projects are Anna Deavere Smith's Love All and Pipeline Project. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thinking-cap-theatre/support

Two weeks ago, a trailer was released for the new Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro. Immediately, controversy surfaced about Bradley Cooper—the director of the film who also stars as Bernstein—wearing a prosthetic nose, intended to resemble Bernstein's own formidable schnoz. Because Cooper is not Jewish, this also revived a conversation about so-called Jewface, a term that has, over the last several years, become a buzzword in conversations about non-Jews being cast as Jews in dramatic roles. In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel talks to contributing writer Rebecca Pierce, author and theater critic Alisa Solomon, and writer and collector of “Jewface” artifacts Jody Rosen about the controversy—exploring the long history of “Jewface” performances and what's really underneath these repeated dust-ups over Jewish representation.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Articles, podcasts, and further reading:Trailer for Maestro, directed by Bradley Cooper“The Politics of ‘Jewface,'” Rebecca Pierce, Jewish CurrentsJewface: ‘Yiddish' Dialect Songs of Tin Pan Alley, YIVO exhibitionJody Rosen discusses “Jewface” on PBS“A ‘Merchant of Venice' That Doubles Down on Pain,” Alexis Soloski, The New York Times“Fables and Lies,” On the Nose podcast about Armageddon Time and The Fabelmans“On the Nose,” inaugural On the Nose podcast, discussing our Spring 2021 Nose cover

Tom Stoppard, perhaps the most famous living British playwright, learned only in his fifties that his mother's family was Jewish and that nearly all her relatives were killed in the Holocaust—a fate his own immediate family narrowly escaped. Now in his eighties, Stoppard has turned these revelations into the material of his play Leopoldstadt, which tells the story of a bourgeois Viennese Jewish clan inspired by his own Czech family, and an assimilated British grandson's discovery of their fate at the hands of the Nazis. The play, now a Broadway hit, has drawn accolades, but left several of us at and around Jewish Currents distinctly underwhelmed. Why is theater still treating the Holocaust as an object of dramatic irony? What are audiences looking for in stories of this kind? Where does Leopoldstadt fit in the long history of anti-Nazi theater, and what are its politics around Zionism? Alisa Solomon, who reviewed the play for Jewish Currents, and dramaturg Gabrielle Hoyt joined JC editors Arielle Angel and Ari Brostoff to discuss. Articles and Reports Mentioned:“Review: In Stoppard's ‘Leopoldstadt,' a Memorial to a Lost World,” Jesse Green, The New York Times“Attention Must Be Paid,” Alisa Solomon, Jewish Currents“Monuments to the Unthinkable,” Clint Smith in The Atlantic “Culture Under the Nazis,” Brooks Atkinson, The New York TimesThanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

**Cities After…will be taking a short hiatus. We'll be back with new episodes in September!** Continuing with Pt. 3 of Cities After…Summer Climate Change series, Prof. Robles-Durán talks to the world-renowned performance artist and activist William Tallen, famously known for his character Reverend Billy, described in a recent National Public Radio article as a Veteran anti-consumerist crusader taking aim at capitalism and climate change. Tallen and Robles-Durán discuss the destruction of NY's East River Park, the inseparable connection between art and the environment, the Sixth Extinction, greenwashing, and more. About our guest: William Tallen began performing as Reverend Billy on the sidewalk at Times Square in 1998 outside the Disney Store, where he proclaimed Mickey Mouse to be the anti-Christ, duct-taping Mickey Mouse to a cross. Reverend Billy's early sermons decried the evils of consumerism and the racism of sweatshop labor and what Talen saw as the loss of neighborhood spirit in Rudolph Giuliani's New York. According to William Tallen, the Reverend Billy character isn't so much a parody of a preacher as a preacher motif used to blur the lines between performance and religious experience. "It's definitely a church service," Talen explained to Alternet, but, he added, it's "a political rally, it's theater, it's all three, it's none of them." Alisa Solomon, the theater critic at the Village Voice said of Reverend Billy's persona, "The collar is fake, the calling is real." Along with the Church of Stop Shopping, a project directed by his life partner Savitri D, they have been referred to by academics as "performance activism," "carnivalesque protest," and "commercial disobedience." In addition to protest performances throughout a given year, Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping have organized various campaigns focused on consumerist and environmental issues, often highlighting a particular company they feel best symbolizes the issue. The group stages actions in public spaces near the targets of their actions, often in the lobbies, halls, and plazas in buildings owned by the companies they protest.  Since April 2020, Reverend Billy and Savitri D, have been hosting the EARTH RIOT podcast, which they describe as a comedy-infused, music-filled exploration of humanity's most urgent issue—the planet's Sixth Extinction. Made by "Earth-loving urban activists" from The Church of Stop Shopping, their podcast educates, inspires, and urges listeners to embrace reality and take action.

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF COMPOSER: Jerry Bock LYRICIST: Sheldon Harnick BOOK: Joseph Stein SOURCE: Sholem Aleichem's short stories Tevye the Dairyman (1894) DIRECTOR: Jerome Robbins CHOREOGRAPHER: Jerome Robbins PRINCIPLE CAST: Maria Karnilova (Golde), Joanna Merlin (Tzeitel), Zero Mostel (Tevye), OPENING DATE: Sep 22, 1964 CLOSING DATE: Jul 02, 1972 PERFORMANCES: 3,242 SYNOPSIS: Tevye, the local milkman, has five daughters that must enter into arranged marriages as dictated by the traditions of his culture. When Tzeitel, his eldest, chooses to make her own match, Tevye's world is turned upside down and traditions become vulnerable. After acclaimed musical successes commissioned by producers, Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock set out to write a musical which was of personal, familial interest to them. Based on a series of short stories by Sholem Alecheim, Fiddler on the Roof explores the importance of Jewish traditions to the inhabitants of a small, Russian village. Beth Burrier summarizes the complex identities of Jewish-American theatre artists working on Broadway, many of whom were attacked by the House Un-American Activities Committee or faced other forms of antisemitic discrimination in their lives. Although a liberal wave saw an onslaught of Jewish-American stories on Broadway, Fiddler on the Roof was deemed risky by producers because its characters were Russian villagers, not Americans. Upon opening with a seismic performance by the blacklisted Zero Mostel, and despite a pleased general public, Yiddish writers took issue with the liberal message of the show. Work by director/ choreographer Jerome Robbins posited the piece as a new sort of musical, where the authors took a back seat to the vision of the director. Beth Burrier is head of musical theatre at Manhattanville College in Purchase New York, and a principal conductor and the Associate Artistic Director of the College Light Opera Company in Falmouth, Massachusetts. She holds a Master of Music summa cum laude from Ithaca College, and a Bachelor of Music Education summa cum laude with honors from Otterbein University. Beth has been on the faculty at Baldwin Wallace and Penn State, and has taught Music Theatre History, Music Theory, Acting the Song, Audition Technique, Voice and Piano. National tours include RENT, The Full Monty, and Beehive the Sixties Musical.   SOURCES Fiddler on the Roof by Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, and Joseph Stein, published by Limelight (2004) Fiddler on the Roof, Original Broadway Cast Recording. RCA (1964) Fiddler on the Roof, starring Topol and Neva Small, directed by Norman Jewison. MGM Films (1971) Fiddler: Miracle of Miracles, starring Sheldon Harnick and Lin Manuel Miranda, directed by Max Lewkowicz. Samuel Goldwyn Films (2019) The Making of a Musical: Fiddler on the Roof by Altman, Richard and Mervyn Kaufman. New York: Crown Publishers, 1971.  Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof, by Alisa Solomon, published by Picador (2014) Tradition!: The Highly Improbable, Ultimately Triumphant Broadway-to Hollywood Star of Fiddler on the Roof, the World's Most Beloved Musical by Barbara Isenberg, published by St. Martin's Press (2014) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gender and sexuality can feel natural and even immutable, but science and the lived experience of numerous humans tell us that these categories are far more variable than they may seem. At a time when dozens of states around the US have passed or are considering legislation to enforce rigid definitions of gender, queer theorist Jack Halberstam and journalist Zach Stafford discuss the fallaciousness of what scholars call the “gender binary.” Bringing an intersectional perspective, and looking at examples from women's sports, they invite journalists to speak truth to the power that is exercised, often violently, through an insistence on “normative” ideas of gender and sexuality. Guests: Zach Stafford & Jack Halberstam

Tradition, tradition! In honor of a new Yiddish production of Fiddler on the Roof, we're heading back to Anatevka. Our Jewish guest is Rachel Zatcoff, who plays Tzeitel in The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene Off-Broadway production, Fidler afn Dakh. Our Gentile of the week is James Monroe Števko, who plays Mendl, the rabbi's son. They tell us about learning Yiddish for the show and what it's like working with director Joel Grey and Jackie Hoffman, who plays Yenta. We also sit down with Alisa Solomon, author of Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof, to discuss the cultural significance of Fiddler on the Roof, which first opened on Broadway in 1965, as well as the Sholem Aleichem stories the play is based on. We love hearing from you! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at our listener line: 914-570-4869. We may share your note on the air. If you like listening, please consider leaving a review in iTunes. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and join our Facebook group to chat with the hosts and see what happens behind-the-scenes! Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Show your love for Unorthodox with our new T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies. Get yours at bit.ly/unorthoshirt This episode is sponsored by One Day University. Get 20% off your ticket to see Mark Oppenheimer's Oct. 14 lecture on religion in America by using the code MARK when you register at OneDayU.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof (Metropolitan, 2013), Alisa Solomon, Director of the Arts and Culture concentration in the MA program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, traces how and why the story of Tevye the milkman, the creation of the great Yiddish writer Sholem-Aleichem, was reborn as blockbuster entertainment and a cultural touchstone. She examines the pre-history of the first adaptations, the core story of the development of the broadway musical, and the fascinating afterlife of the musical including adaptations in Israel and Poland. This book is a great read and the essential volume on Fiddler on the Roof. Max Kaiser is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. He can be reached at kaiser@student.unimelb.edu.au. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof (Metropolitan, 2013), Alisa Solomon, Director of the Arts and Culture concentration in the MA program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, traces how and why the story of Tevye the milkman, the creation of the great Yiddish writer Sholem-Aleichem, was reborn as blockbuster entertainment and a cultural touchstone. She examines the pre-history of the first adaptations, the core story of the development of the broadway musical, and the fascinating afterlife of the musical including adaptations in Israel and Poland. This book is a great read and the essential volume on Fiddler on the Roof. Max Kaiser is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. He can be reached at kaiser@student.unimelb.edu.au. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof (Metropolitan, 2013), Alisa Solomon, Director of the Arts and Culture concentration in the MA program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, traces how and why the story of Tevye the milkman, the creation of the great Yiddish writer Sholem-Aleichem, was reborn as blockbuster entertainment and a cultural touchstone. She examines the pre-history of the first adaptations, the core story of the development of the broadway musical, and the fascinating afterlife of the musical including adaptations in Israel and Poland. This book is a great read and the essential volume on Fiddler on the Roof. Max Kaiser is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. He can be reached at kaiser@student.unimelb.edu.au. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof (Metropolitan, 2013), Alisa Solomon, Director of the Arts and Culture concentration in the MA program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, traces how and why the story of Tevye the milkman, the creation of the great Yiddish writer Sholem-Aleichem, was reborn as blockbuster entertainment and a cultural touchstone. She examines the pre-history of the first adaptations, the core story of the development of the broadway musical, and the fascinating afterlife of the musical including adaptations in Israel and Poland. This book is a great read and the essential volume on Fiddler on the Roof. Max Kaiser is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. He can be reached at kaiser@student.unimelb.edu.au. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof (Metropolitan, 2013), Alisa Solomon, Director of the Arts and Culture concentration in the MA program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, traces how and why the story of Tevye the milkman, the creation of the great Yiddish writer Sholem-Aleichem, was reborn as blockbuster entertainment and a cultural touchstone. She examines the pre-history of the first adaptations, the core story of the development of the broadway musical, and the fascinating afterlife of the musical including adaptations in Israel and Poland. This book is a great read and the essential volume on Fiddler on the Roof. Max Kaiser is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. He can be reached at kaiser@student.unimelb.edu.au. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof (Metropolitan, 2013), Alisa Solomon, Director of the Arts and Culture concentration in the MA program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, traces how and why the story of Tevye the milkman, the creation of the great Yiddish writer Sholem-Aleichem, was reborn as blockbuster entertainment and a cultural touchstone. She examines the pre-history of the first adaptations, the core story of the development of the broadway musical, and the fascinating afterlife of the musical including adaptations in Israel and Poland. This book is a great read and the essential volume on Fiddler on the Roof. Max Kaiser is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. He can be reached at kaiser@student.unimelb.edu.au. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since 2005, the Vox Tablet team—producer Julie Subrin and host Sara Ivry—have done our best to create a Jewish podcast with conversations, stories, and reports from across the Jewish cultural world. But good things—even pioneering, award-winning podcasts—come to an end, and their makers move on to new adventures elsewhere. In our final episode, we take a brief walk down memory lane to some of our favorite moments from the past decade. Among highlights we feature are our visits with actor Fyvush Finkel; illustrator and author Roz Chast; Silver Jews’ frontman David Berman; tourists en route to the Statue of Liberty; South African justice Albie Sachs; attendees at an annual deli luncheon in a small Mississippi town; Israeli musician Noam Inbar; and West Side Story aficionado Alisa Solomon. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Theater Talk marks the 50th anniversary of "Fiddler on The Roof" with author Alisa Solomon, discussing "Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof," the history of this classic Broadway musical.

It’s fairly common nowadays to hear renditions of “Sunrise, Sunset,” for instance, or “The Sabbath Prayer,” memorable melodies from the Fiddler on the Roof, at bar mitzvahs or weddings. Songs from that musical—whose story is inspired by the work of Sholem Aleichem—have become an indelible part of our popular cultural lexicon not just in the United States, but worldwide. Directed by Jerome Robbins and starring Zero Mostel, Fiddler debuted on Broadway in 1964 and quickly became a smash, resonating with Jewish audiences comfortable enough in their assimilated lives in America to be able to look fondly back at the shtetl their parents left behind. How the play got made and what its significance has been for peoples of all ethnicities and backgrounds is the subject of a new book by Columbia University professor Alisa Solomon. Solomon joins Vox Tablet host Sara Ivry to discuss

Panel discussion moderated by Alisa Solomon with Edward Albee, Israel Horovitz, Anna Deavere Smith and Wallace Shawn. In partnership with Public Theater.

Panel discussion moderated by Alisa Solomon with Edward Albee, Israel Horovitz, Anna Deavere Smith and Wallace Shawn. In partnership with Public Theater.

Panel discussion moderated by Alisa Solomon with Edward Albee, Israel Horovitz, Anna Deavere Smith and Wallace Shawn. In partnership with Public Theater.