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(New York Jewish Week) – A lady dressed as Fanny Brice from “Humorous Woman” and one other dressed as Fruma Sarah from “Fiddler on the Roof” had been among the many 100-plus individuals who filed right into a Midtown convention room on Friday morning to debate Jewish id on Broadway.
The Jewish followers — whose actual names had been Jackie and Michelle, and declined to share their final names — had been dressed as their favourite Jewish musical characters, and had been attending one of many first panel discussions of BroadwayCon 2023. The convention, on the New York Marriott Marquis resort in Occasions Sq., is an annual gathering within the vein of ComicCon that brings hundreds of followers and trade professionals for a weekend of celebration, singing, dialogue and meet-and-greets.
The panel, referred to as “Jewish Identification and Broadway,” got here collectively in lower than every week, its organizer Ari Axelrod — a Jewish actor, singer and educator — informed the New York Jewish Week. He stated he organized it in response to the July 11 casting announcement for the nationwide tour of “Humorous Woman,” by which a non-Jewish actress had been chosen to play Fanny Brice, a task made well-known by Barbra Streisand. Brice, a pioneering Jewish comic within the early twentieth century, struggled together with her Jewish id in her rise to fame.
Within the aftermath of the casting announcement, the talk over whether or not or not non-Jews can play Jewish characters — a time period actress and comic Sarah Silverman dubbed “Jewface” — resurfaced on-line.
Amid the hubbub, “Someone had stated to me, ‘It’s best to host one thing,’” Axelrod informed the New York Jewish Week. “It was in direct response to the casting.”
Whereas there have been Jewish-focused panels at BroadwayCon because the annual convention started in 2015, the previous yr has been a landmark one for Jewish tales on Broadway — notably people who cope with antisemitism, together with “Parade” and “Leopoldstadt,” which each received Tony Awards. “Parade,” concerning the real-life antisemitic lynching of Jewish manufacturing unit superintendent Leo Frank in 1915, noticed a neo-Nazi protest outdoors of the theater whereas it was in previews. 
Michelle dressed at Fruma Sarah, the ghost that Tevye says haunts goals in “Fiddler on the Roof.” (Julia Gergely)
Michelle (dressed as Fruma Sarah) attends the convention yearly, and stated she was within the occasion as a result of she is Jewish and have become curious about Jewish illustration on Broadway throughout a BroadwayCon panel she attended in 2020.
“There was a rabbi who was an actor. He stated that there was a time he wasn’t forged to play a rabbi as a result of he didn’t look Jewish sufficient,” she recalled. “I assumed, ‘He’s a rabbi, how will you get extra Jewish than that? It simply actually made me understand how a lot of a difficulty illustration is for us.”
Talking on the hour-long panel was Axelrod, who was named to the New York Jewish Week’s “36 Beneath 36” (now generally known as “36 to Watch”) in 2021; Talia Suskauer, who starred as Elphaba within the Broadway run and nationwide tour of “Depraved”; Shoshanna Bean, who was nominated for a Tony Award final yr for her efficiency in “Mr. Saturday Night time”; Brandon Uranowitz, who final month received the Tony Award for Greatest Featured Actor in a Play for “Leopoldstadt”; Zachary Prince, who has been in a number of Broadway exhibits and not too long ago carried out in “A Clear Musical,” based mostly on the Jewish-themed TV present, in Los Angeles; and Alexandra Silber, who performed Tzeitel in the newest Broadway revival of “Fiddler on the Roof.” Moderating the panel was Becca Suskauer, a New York-based Jewish actress.
The wide-ranging dialogue touched on Jewish illustration, id, satisfaction and pleasure throughout a interval of rising antisemitism. Panelists additionally famous that the purpose of the dialog was to speak about how Broadway actors and insiders can actively uplift Jewish tales in addition to these from different oppressed teams.
Suskauer emphasised that folks ought to “hear earlier than you converse and hear earlier than you instantly go to cross judgment on one thing,” whereas Bean inspired attendees to “be introspective” in direction of their very own internalized prejudices if they’re nervous to talk out on points affecting marginalized teams.
Axelrod — echoing Michelle’s remark — spoke of the double normal that he feels exists inside the trade — the concept Jews are typically deemed “not Jewish wanting sufficient” to play Jewish roles, however “too Jewish” to be forged in different roles. He additionally stated there was a perceived double normal in that it’s thought-about acceptable for non-Jewish performers to be forged in Jewish roles, one thing that’s frowned upon relating to different ethnic teams.
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“There’s this worry amongst the Jewish group that we may be Jewish, simply not too Jewish,” Axelrod stated. “We have now a duty to dismantle that whole internalized assimilation inside ourselves, as a result of it’s essential to point out the world who we’re. However to point out them the world we will take multitudes, we first need to consider in ourselves.”
The “Humorous Woman” casting solely got here up with 20 minutes left within the dialogue. And whereas the actors made some extent of noting that the actress chosen for the position, a Latina lady named Katerina McCrimmon, was very proficient, they stated it was nonetheless disappointing and worrisome to have a non-Jewish individual enjoying Fanny Brice, who was an actual one who usually performed on Jewish stereotypes to garner laughs from mainstream audiences.
An attendee of the panel dressed as Fanny Brice, the Jewish essential character in “Humorous Woman,” which is able to finish its Broadway run this fall. (Julia Gergely)
“I used to be so excited for the position of Fanny Brice to be performed by somebody who is ready to stay so solidly and steadfastly and their Jewishness and who can deliver that on the nationwide tour to locations that don’t have a variety of Jews,” Suskauer stated. “I bought instantly so scared after I heard that somebody not Jewish was going to be enjoying at this Jewish stereotype. She will do that analysis, she will attempt to do it as respectfully as attainable, however on the finish of the day, she’s going to be enjoying at a stereotype whereas carrying bagels on her physique.” (Suskauer was referring to “Personal Schwartz from Rockaway,” a quantity by which Fanny imagines herself as a Jewish soldier and dances with bagels strung round her physique.)
However the panel ended on a optimistic be aware. “‘To stay is an actionable resolution that we get to make on daily basis, and after we say ‘l’chaim,’ we are actually saying ‘to life,’” Axelrod stated. “I believe it’s crucial to each single individual on this room that while you clink your Manischewitz, or your Kedem grape juice, and also you say ‘l’chaim,’ imply it. Take these phrases as a name to motion and do it, actually. Go do one thing that reminds you that you simply’re a Jewish one who was residing your life.”
Rho and Maddy, teenage twins from New Jersey who declined to share their final names, stated they attended the panel for the potential to fulfill Uranowitz, considered one of their favourite actors. They had been shocked at how a lot the panel resonated with them. “It was actually nice to listen to everybody’s opinions,” Rho stated. “I’m so glad I got here.”
“Particularly as somebody who’s half-Jewish, there’s a variety of assimilation and typically being informed and believing ‘you’re probably not Jewish,’ or that doesn’t depend,” Maddy stated. “[This panel] positively confirmed me I wish to and may be an activist for my group.”
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