Dave’s Gone By #611 (6/24/2017): BY ANY OTHER NAME

Click above to listen to the episode (audio only).

Here is the 611th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, June 24, 2017. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Host: Dave Lefkowitz
Guests: singer-songwriter Amanda McBroom (“The Rose”). Plus: Dave’s wife Joyce

Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with songstress Amanda McBroom. Plus: Inside Broadway, Saturday Segue (In the News), Potato News, Greeley Crimes & Old Times, Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (Nobel Naughtiness)

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce (hon, aurora, mcmop, gong show)
00:47:00 GREELEY CRIMES & OLD TIMES
01:14:00 POTATO NEWS
01:22:00 INSIDE BROADWAY
01:45:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Amanda McBroom
02:47:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (Nobel Naughtiness)
03:14:00 UNC Radio Push & Sponsors
03:21:30 Friends
03:29:00 SATURDAY SEGUE – In the News
04:08:30 Weather
04:10:00 DAVE GOES OUT

June 24, 2017 Playlist: “Part of the Plan” (01:42:00; Dan Fogelberg). “Make a Memory” (01:45:30), “I’m Here for Life” (02:26:00) & “The Rose” (w/ Vince Gill; 02:42:00; Amanda McBroom). “Dreaming” (02:17:30; Judy Collins). “Big Water” (02:37:30; “The Land Before Time V” soundtrack). “The Times They are a-Changin'” (02:59:00; Bryan Ferry). (03:03:00; “Highway 61 Revisted – Take 3”; Bob Dylan). “Just Like a Woman” (03:07:30; Richie Havens). “Warm Beer and Cold Women” (03:30:00; Tom Waits). “Belgian” (03:35:30; Sexton Ming & Adrian Stout). “Lascio Ch’io Painga” (03:38:00; Sarah Brightman). “Rocky Theme” (03:41:30; Bill Conti). “King Cry Baby” (03:44:30; Johnny Depp). “Got it Twisted” (03:47:30; Mobb Deep). “Mother” (04:13:30; Neil Innes).


(pictured: Amanda McBroom, Bette Midler, Potato News, Dylan & the Nobel)

Dave’s Gone By Interview (6/24/2017): AMANDA McBROOM & Rabbi Sol Solomon

Click above to listen to the interview (audio only).

Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with singer-songwriter Amanda McBroom

Topics include: The Rose, Voices.

Segment airs June 24, 2017 as part of the “Dave’s Gone By” radio program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.

Please Note: Segments extracted from “Dave’s Gone By” may have music and other elements removed for timing and media re-posting considerations. For the full interview with all elements, please visit the audio of the complete original broadcast.

All content (c)2017 TotalTheater Productions.

More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
More information about Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com

Dave’s Gone By #610 (6/17/2017): THE PRODUCER

Click above to listen to the episode (audio only).

Here is the 610th episode of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, June 17, 2017. Info: davesgoneby.com.

Host: Dave Lefkowitz
Guests: film producer Jonathan Sanger (“The Elephant Man”). Plus: Dave’s wife Joyce

Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with film producer Jonathan Sanger. Plus: Inside Broadway (post-Tony wrapup), Saturday Segues (Paul & Brian, In the News), Bob Dylan – Sooner & Later (Saved by the Flood), Greeley Crimes & Old Times

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce (Joyce’s birthday, The Tonys, Cosby, traffic tickets, TV choices)
00:42:30 GREELEY CRIMES & OLD TIMES
01:04:00 Sponsors
01:05:00 DAVE GOES FURTHER IN (Michael Phelps, Captain Underpants)
01:12:00 SATURDAY SEGUE (Paul n’ Brian)
01:30:30 INSIDE BROADWAY
02:27:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Jonathan Sanger
03:10:30 BOB DYLAN – Sooner & Later (Saved by the Flood)
03:31:00 Friends
03:39:30 SATURDAY SEGUE (In the News)
04:12:30 Weather
04:14:30 DAVE GOES OUT

June 17, 2017 playlist: “Too Much Rain” (01:15:00; Paul McCartney). “Oxygen to the Brain” (01:18:00; Brian Wilson). “Mother Nature’s Son” (01:22:00; The Beatles). “God Only Knows” (01:24:30; The Beach Boys). “1984” (02:23:30; David Bowie). “Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)” {live Flood version} (03:14:00), “Saving Grace” (03:19:30) & “It ain’t Me, Babe” {live Flood version} (03:25:00; Bob Dylan). “Batman and his Grandmother” (03:40:30; Dickie Goodman). “Bigger than Baseball” (03:43:00; Meet John Doe 2013 studio cast). “Fire” (03:46:30; Red Hot Chili Peppers). “Comatised” (03:48:30; Leona Naess). “Living Through another Cuba” (03:52:00; XTC). “Father’s Day” (04:19:00; Chris Smither).




(pictured: Jonathan Sanger, The Elephant Man poster, Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson, Kevin Spacey hosting the Tonys)

Dave’s Gone By Interview (6/17/2017): JONATHAN SANGER & Rabbi Sol Solomon

Click above to listen to the interview (audio only)

Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with film producer Jonathan Sanger

Topics include: The Elephant Man, Mel Brooks, Thieves, Movie Movie, Baby, it’s You.
Segment airs June 17, 2017 as part of the “Dave’s Gone By” radio program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.

Please Note: Segments extracted from “Dave’s Gone By” may have music and other elements removed for timing and media re-posting considerations. For the full interview with all elements, please visit the audio of the complete original broadcast.
All content (c)2017 TotalTheater Productions.

More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
More information about Rabbi Sol Solomon: http://www.shalomdammit.com

Dave’s Gone By Skit: Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection #146 (6/11/2017): 2017 TONY NOMINATIONS

RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #146 (6/11/17): 2017 Tony Nominations

(Aired June 10, 2017 on Dave’s Gone By.  Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwGK7_VBYGE)

click above to listen (audio only)

Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of June 11, 2017.

Once again we have an opportunity to celebrate one of the most glorious attractions in New York and, indeed, the entire world. No, not college girls in spring dresses, I’m talking about the Broadway theater! Within half a square mile, dozens of the most brilliant playwrights, composers, actors, designers, dialect coaches — these happy few create lasting memories that straddle a magnificent line between art and entertainment. It’s kind of like what I do, without the art or entertainment.

Because I love Broadway — when it isn’t too self-indulgent, patronizing, boring, or stupid — every year I celebrate the arrival of the Tony Awards. Not because this actress is better than that one, but as an excuse to thank all the artists who contribute to the Great White Way, even the black ones. Most importantly, as a Rabbi, I like to find the Jewishness, the Yiddishkeit, in the Tony nominations. Back in the day, Broadway was Jewish. You had more Yids shlepping to the Morosco Theater than came to Ma’ariv services. Behind the scenes, too. Nearly all the classic musicals were Jew-composed. Faigelehs, too, but mostly faigeleh Jews. And the producers, the directors, the writers — David Merrick, Arthur Miller, Frank Loesser, Neil Simon, Eugene O’Neill’s accountant — all had a hand in building the Broadway we know today.

So when I skim over the 2016-17 season Tony nominees, I look for my people, and when I find them, I kvell. For example: Kevin Kline, still a matinee idol, still a comedy master as proved by his performance in Noel Coward’s Present Laughter. Kline’s mama was a Roman Catholic, and he was raised in that faith, but his papa was Jewish, so I like to think the part of him that’s shtupping Phoebe Cates is circumcised. More tricky is the star of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. Josh Groban, a pop idol in his own right, would have been Jewish if his father had more taste. Instead, papa married a shikseh and converted to Episcopalianism, which turned his son from a Hebe to a dweeb. Still, there’s footage of teenage Josh playing Tevye in a high school production of Fiddler on the Roof, so the boy’s not all bad.

Disappointingly, Kevin Kline aside, all the other lead actors and actresses in plays are jaw-droppingly goyish. I mean, if Chris Cooper had a baby with Laura Linney, it would be so white, it could hide in a box of q-tips. The news isn’t much better in musicals—Christian Borle? Christine Ebersole? Who’s next—Crucifixia Smith? However, we do have one ringer—and she’s a humdinger: Bette Midler! She’s taken Broadway by storm in a revival of Hello, Dolly!. Now, it’s never stated in either The Matchmaker or Hello, Dolly! that Dolly Levi is Jewish but…come on. If it swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, and it complains about the thinness of the local deli’s corned-beef sandwiches, it’s a Jewish duck. Especially since Dolly, which is a shoo-in for best revival, was written by Jerry Herman and the equally Jewish Michael Stewart (fka Myron Stewart Rubin, if you please. And I do please).

The other two musical revivals up for Tonys: Miss Saigon, written by Boublil and Schonberg—which is the French equivalent of Goldstein and Cohen—and the great Falsettos, by William Finn. That show opens with a song called “Four Jews in a Room Bitching” and ends with a Bar Mitzvah, so if you take away the AIDS, the infidelity, the spousal abuse, the fags, and the death, it’s the perfect Jewish family musical.

And let’s not forget the Yidlach making new musicals, too. Benj Pasek, is nominated for co-writing the acclaimed Dear Evan Hansen. Pasek also wrote songs in the almost-Oscar-winning “La La Land.” In fact, one tune did win an Oscar, and in Pasek’s acceptance speech, he namechecked a Jewish Community Center in Philadelphia! Meanwhile, the writers of Come from Away are married couple Irene Sankoff and David Hein. They’re so tribal, they wrote one play called Mitzvah, and a musical called My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding. And I thought was Mitch McConnell’s worst nightmare.

The book for Groundhog Day was penned by someone who wouldn’t eat a hog, Danny Rubin. (Or at least he shouldn’t eat a hog.) And the director of the aforementioned Natasha, Pierre, and the whatever of whenever is Rachel Chavkin, who calls herself culturally Jewish even though she wasn’t Bat Mitzvahed. It’s okay, Ruchel, there’s always time.

Saving the best for last, two of the four Tony-nominated new plays have central Jewish themes. Oslo, by the shaygitz J.T. Rogers, is all about how two low-level Norwegian diplomats got Israel and the Palestinians to talk peace in 1993. We all know how that worked out, but the play manages to humanize everybody—amazingly, without making a false moral equivalency between Palestinian terrorism and Jewish self-protection. Yes, one of the Israeli negotiators is a total asshole, but he bargains in good faith and, well, let’s face it, Israelis…

The other Tony-nominated play is by the Pulitzer-winning Paula Vogel, and it’s called Indecent. Which reminds me of the joke about the old Rabbi having sex with a hooker. He gets on top of her, but then he starts crying. “Whatsamatter?” the hooker says. “I’m sorry,” says the Rabbi. “This is indecent.” “Indecent?” says the hooker. “No it isn’t. It just fell out.” But more to the point—yet still involving hookers—Indecent the play is all about the premiere of another play 100 years ago. God of Vengeance, by Sholem Asch, scandalized the Jewish theater community when it was translated into English and performed on Broadway in 1923. Asch’s drama told of a brothel owner who tries to go respectable but just ends up even more morally bankrupt than where he began. The play has prostitutes, hypocrisy, even a lesbian kiss. Yeah! Unfortunately, the whole cast was indicted on charges of obscenity, leading to a trial and eventual exoneration.

As for Paula Vogel’s play, Newsday Jewess Linda Winer called Indecent “a gripping and entertaining show with laughter and tears and a real rainstorm”—because who doesn’t go to the theater to experience lousy weather?

Anyhoo, when it comes to the Tony Awards, I do have one complaint. Remember two years ago at the Oscars, when no black people were nominated for anything? Even then, they had a schvartze host: Chris Rock. Can you remember the last time the Tony Awards had a Jewish host? Not Kevin Spacey, not James Corden, not Neil Patrick Harris, not Hugh Jackman. If we go back to 2008, Whoopi Goldberg hosted—but she doesn’t count. She just chose that last name because it was somewhere in her family line, and because she wanted to be taken more seriously as an actress. (Oddly enough, “Whoopi” wasn’t doing that for her.) You have to go back to 2001, when Matthew Broderick, whose mom was Jewish, co-hosted the Tonys with Nathan Lane, who really should be Jewish. And before that? Amy Irving co-hosting in 1994. Prior to that? Tony Randall, 1982. So basically, once a decade, we get a landsman on the dais. So maybe in 2018, the American Theater Wing will remember who built Broadway in the first place and pick a heimische host. It just so happens my calendar is free that night, whatever night that is. So Broadway League—you have my number, my twitter, and my umbrella, which I really need to get back from you.

Until then, this Sunday night, I will be watching the 71st annual Tony Awards, applauding for the winners, pitying the losers, marveling at the production numbers, and praying for a nip slip on the red carpet. God, I love the theater.

This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches, in Great Neck, New York. Curtain up!

(c) 2017 TotalTheater. All rights reserved.

Dave’s Gone By #609 (6/10/2017): THE 13th ANNUAL TOTALTHEATER TONY SHOW

Click above to listen to the episode (audio only).

Here is the 609th episode–our annual Broadway Tony Awards special–of the long-running radio show/podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired on UNC Radio, June 10, 2017. Info: davesgoneby.com.

June 10, 2017 (show #609) THE 13TH ANNUAL TOTALTHEATER TONY SHOW

Host: Dave Lefkowitz
Guests: composer-lyricists Irene Sankoff & David Hein (Come from Away), Dallas Morning News theater critic Nancy Churnin, Dave’s wife Joyce, critics Joe Dziemianowicz (NY Daily News), Ed Rubin (Artes), Charles Gross (“Two on the Aisle”), Leslie (Hoban) Blake (“Two on the Aisle”), Eva Heinemann (“Hi! Drama”), Simon Saltzman (Outer Critics Circle).

Featuring: A look at the 2016-2017 Broadway season and Tony Award nominees with interviews, trivia, showtunes, Broadway Timeline, a giveaway, and Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection on the Tonys.

00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce (on the show)
00:17:30 BROADWAY TIMELINE – By the Numbers, Cirque, Act of God, 2016 Tonys, Motown, Cats
00:36:30 GUEST: Charles Gross
00:49:30 Sponsors
00:53:00 BROADWAY TIMELINE – Black, Encounter, Holiday Inn, Oh Hello
00:59:30 TRIVIA
01:03:00 BROADWAY TIMELINE – Heisenberg, Cherry Orchard, Front Page, Valli, Falsettos
01:17:30 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #146 – The 2017 Tony Awards
01:28:00 BROADWAY TIMELINE – Liaisons, Cheno, Natasha
01:36:00 GUEST: Eva Heinemann
01:46:30 BROADWAY TIMELINE – Illusionists, Alton Brown, A Bronx Tale
01:53:00 AWARDS ROUNDUP
02:02:00 BROADWAY TIMELINE – Dear Evan Hansen
02:09:00 GUEST: Michall Jeffers
02:21:30 BROADWAY TIMELINE – In Transit
02:24:00 GIVEAWAY
02:26:00 BROADWAY TIMELINE – The Present, Jitney, Sunset Boulevard, Sunday, Significant Other, Glass Menagerie, Come from Away
02:45:30 GUESTS: Irene Sankoff & David Hein
03:06:00 BROADWAY TIMELINE – Price, Miss Saigon
03:14:00 GUEST: Simon Saltzman
03:26:30 BROADWAY TIMELINE – Sweat, Goes Wrong, Amelie, Present Laughter, War Paint, Oslo, Groundhog Day
03:36:30 GUEST: Leslie (Hoban) Blake
04:00:00 BROADWAY TIMELINE – Indecent, Little Foxes, Hello, Dolly!
04:09:00 GUEST: Nancy Churnin
04:23:00 BROADWAY TIMELINE – Charlie
04:30:00 MORE TRIVIA
04:35:00 MUSICALS IN MEDIA
04:42:30 GUEST: Edward Rubin
04:57:30 ANOTHER GIVEAWAY
05:00:00 Sponsors
05:01:30 BROADWAY TIMELINE – Anastasia
05:06:00 GUEST: Joe Dziemianowicz
05:15:00 BROADWAY TIMELINE – Six Degrees, Bandstand
05:25:00 BROADWAY TIMELINE – A Doll’s House Part 2, Tony Info
05:28:30 NEXT SEASON!
05:32:30 Thank Yous
05:37:30 DAVE GOES OUT

June 10, 2017 Playlist: “History has its Eyes on You” (00:25:00; Hamilton 2016 Broadway cast). “Memory” (00:31:30; Cats 1982 Broadway cast). “Blue Skies” (00:56:00; Holiday Inn 2016 Broadway cast). “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” (01:08:00; Jersey Boys 2005 Broadway cast). “Four Jews in a Room Bitching” (01:13:00; March of the Falsettos 1981 off-Broadway). “Charming” (01:32:00; Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, 2013 off-Broadway cast). “Out of Your Head” (01:50:00; A Bronx Tale 2016 Broadway cast). “Waving Through a Window” (02:03:00; Dear Evan Hansen 2017 Broadway cast). “Laura Benanti Explains the Plays” (02:07:00) & “Laura Benanti Explains the Musicals” (05:21:00; Laura Benanti). “In Transit (excerpts)” (02:23:00; In Transit 2016 Broadway cast). “With One Look” (02:30:30; Sunset Boulevard 1994 L.A. cast). “Children and Art” (02:36:30; Sunday in the Park with George 2006 London cast). “Me and the Sky” (03:01:30) & “Finale” (05:39:00; Come from Away 2017 Broadway cast). “The Movie in My Mind” (03:09:00; Miss Saigon (2014 London cast). “Times are Hard for Dreamers” (03:30:30; Philippa Soo). “War Paint” Excerpts (03:37:00; War Paint 2017 Broadway cast). “Playing Nancy” (03:43:30; Groundhog Day 2017 Broadway cast). “Before the Parade Passes By” (04:05:00; Hello, Dolly! 2017 Broadway cast). “It Must Be Seen to be Believed” (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 2013 London cast). “City of Stars” (04:40:00; “La La Land” 2016 film soundtrack). “My Petersburg” (05:03:00; Anastasia 2017 Broadway cast). “Welcome Home” (05:19:30; Bandstand 2017 Broadway cast).


(pictured: your humble host, Charles Gross, Rabbi Sol Solomon, Eva Heinemann, Michall Jeffers, Irene Sankoff & David Hein, Simon Saltzman, Leslie (Hoban) Blake, Nancy Churnin, Edward Rubin,  Joe Dziemianowicz)

Dave’s Gone By Interview (6/10/2017): SIMON SALTZMAN

Click above to listen to the interview (audio only).

Dave Lefkowitz interviews theater critic Simon Saltzman

Topics include: Tony Awards, Hello, Dolly!; Bette Midler, Outer Critics Circle, Miss Saigon, Cats, Falsettos.

Segment airs June 10, 2017 as part of the “Dave’s Gone By” 13th Annual TotalTheater Tony Special, hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.

Please Note: Segments extracted from “Dave’s Gone By” may have music and other elements removed for timing and media re-posting considerations. For the full interview with all elements, please visit the audio of the complete original broadcast.

All content (c)2017 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com

Dave’s Gone By Interview (6/10/2017): LESLIE (HOBAN) BLAKE

Click above to listen to the interview (audio only).

Dave Lefkowitz interviews Two on the Aisle theater critic Leslie (Hoban) Blake

Topics include: Tony Awards, Oslo, Daniel Sullivan, Jitney, A Doll’s House Part 2, The Little Foxes, Indecent.

Segment airs June 10, 2017 as part of the “Dave’s Gone By” 13th Annual TotalTheater Tony Special, hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.

Please Note: Segments extracted from “Dave’s Gone By” may have music and other elements removed for timing and media re-posting considerations. For the full interview with all elements, please visit the audio of the complete original broadcast.

More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com

Dave’s Gone By Interview (6/10/2017): IRENE SANKOFF & DAVID HEIN

Click above to listen to the interview (audio only).

Dave Lefkowitz interviews musical-theater writers Irene Sankoff and David Hein

Topics include: Tony Awards, Come from Away, 9/11, My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding.

Segment scheduled to air June 10, 2017 as part of the “Dave’s Gone By” 13th Annual TotalTheater Tony Special, hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.

Please Note: Segments extracted from “Dave’s Gone By” may have music and other elements removed for timing and media re-posting considerations. For the full interview with all elements, please visit the audio of the complete original broadcast.

All content (c)2017 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com

Dave’s Gone By Interview (6/10/2017): JOE DZIEMIANOWICZ

Click above to listen to the interview (audio only).

Dave Lefkowitz interviews NY Daily News theater critic Joe Dziemianowicz

Topics include: Tony Awards, Dear Evan Hansen, Come from Away, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812; Groundhog Day, The Band’s Visit.

Segment scheduled to air June 10, 2017 as part of the “Dave’s Gone By” 13th Annual TotalTheater Tony Special, hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.

Please Note: Segments extracted from “Dave’s Gone By” may have music and other elements removed for timing and media re-posting considerations. For the full interview with all elements, please visit the audio of the complete original broadcast.

All content (c)2017 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com