Famous Jews on Broadway: How Immigrants Created the Symbol of New York

America has given the world two great cultural achievements - jazz and musicals. And the role of the Jews in the formation of Broadway is difficult to overestimate.

Broadway musicals evolved from American vaudeville and European operetta. Vaudeville as a form of variety theater existed in America from the 1880s to the 1930s and was a set of acts that had nothing to do with each other (sketch, magic tricks, acrobatics, popular songs and dances). The vaudeville actor had to be able to do all these things, that is, sing, dance, make laughs, perform tricks, juggle, do something that no one had done before, and so on.

The most famous vaudeville at the beginning of the twentieth century was created by the Irish-Jewish tandem of producer and director George Cohan and Sam Harris. Other popular forms of entertainment in the United States in the second half of the XNUMXth century and early XNUMXth century were burlesque (parodies of famous performances and popular artists), extravagans (circus and musical numbers, trained animals, pyrotechnic effects), revues in the manner of the Parisian productions of Foley Bergère.

Operetta came to the United States in the middle of the 1883th century. In XNUMX, Offenbach's Parisian Life with rhythms and cancan dances had an unprecedented success. Also very popular were operettas in the style of Franz Lehár, created by the American composer Sigmund Romberg, a Jew from Vienna, as well as the English comic operas by Gilbert and Sullivan.

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The most famous revue Ziegfeld Follies (1907-1931) was created by the impresario Florenz Siegfeld, the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany. He gathered in the corps de ballet a hundred beauties who took to the stage of his Broadway shows, sparkling with jewelry, feathers and fantastic costumes. His revue featured many Jewish vaudeville stars. Here is some of them:

• Sophie Tucker, the first lady of vaudeville, was born on the way from Russia to America. For her temperament, self-irony, fullness, sexuality and rough, close to a soldier's humor, she was called Red Hot Aidishe Mama.
• Fanny Brice, a popular comedian and singer, whose songs have become hits. She participated in the Siegfeld revue from 1910 to 1930. The story of her life is reflected in the musical and the film "Funny Girl", in which the role of Fanny Bryce was played by Barbra Streisand.
• Nora Bayes, actress, singer, composer, librettist, was extremely popular in vaudeville, Broadway revues and shows of the early twentieth century.
• Eddie Cantor, a comedian (often performing in vaudeville in the popular role of a black character, for which his face was painted with black paint - then this was not considered a manifestation of racism), dancer, singer, songwriter, was born into a family of immigrants from Russia. He performed in Siegfeld's revue since 1917 and was one of the most popular performers.

Among other stars of vaudevilles, who performed on the stages of Broadway theaters, were:

• Al Jolsonwho was born in Lithuania and became the first (in terms of performances on stage) celebrity among Jewish actors in America;
• Groucho Marx, an outstanding comedian of theater and cinema, who has performed with his four brothers. He was both a Broadway star and a Hollywood star;
• George Jessel, comedian, singer, composer, nicknamed the United States Secretary of Toast, as he was often the host of all kinds of political and entertainment ceremonies;
• Molly Picon, theater and film actress, star of Jewish vaudeville and Yiddish performances;
• Bert Lahr, one of the most celebrated comedians in the clown genre, performing in burlesque and revues.

It is believed that the first attempt at creating a musical was the production in 1924 on the Broadway stage of Rudolph Friml's musical comedy "Rose-Marie", a play about cowboys and "Rose-Marie, a flower of fragrant prairies, whose eyes are like blue sky, native heaven of a brave cowboy." Friml was born in Prague into a Jewish family, and in America he became a composer, author of a number of popular songs and operettas, including The King of Tramps, The Three Musketeers and others.

In 1927, the premiere of the play "The Floating Theater" (Show boat) took place at the then best Broadway theater in Ziegfeld. Its authors were famous Jews: composer Jerome Kern and librettist Oscar Hammerstein. Edna Farber's then popular novel about life on the Mississippi was chosen as a literary basis, with far from Broadway themes associated with racial prejudice and an unhappy marriage. This musical performance on a serious subject is considered the first true American musical.

1931 saw one of the most important events in the history of American musical theater. Gershwin's musical "I Sing About You" received the prestigious Pulitzer Prize, which meant the genre was officially recognized.

In the 1930s, Irwin Berlin, who was born in Russia and who created many songs and musicals, was called the king of musical Broadway, the most famous of which is “Just Call Me Madame”.

An important role in the formation of the genre was played by the musical Oklahoma of 1943 by composer Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein, in which musical numbers for the first time were not plug-in elements, but determined the plot, revealed the characters of the play's heroes - two cowboys, one of whom ends tragically.

Pre-war and post-war Broadway (the golden era of the musical) gave the world a whole scattering of outstanding composers, among whom were many Jews. Jews make up 69% of those who won Tony awards for musicals from 1950 to 2010. Here are just a few of them (Tony-winning musicals in parentheses): Richard Rogers (South Pacific, The Sound of Music, The King and I), Leonard Bernstein (Beautiful City), Frederic Lowe (“My Fair Lady”), Jerry Bock (“Fiddler on the Roof”, “Fiorello!”), Richard Adler, Jerry Ross (Damn Yankees, The Pajama Game), Frank Loesser (“Guys and Dolls”, “How to Succeed in business without even trying”), John Kander (“Cabaret”), Stephen Sondheim (“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”, “Company”, “Little Night Music”, “Sweeney Todd”, “Passion”), Jerry Herman (“Hello Dolly”), Cy Coleman (“City of Angels”, The Will Rogers Follies), Mel Brooks (“The Producers”).

No less famous are the composers who created popular musicals even before the Tony was awarded (the prize appeared in 1950). Among them are Jerome Kern (“Floating Theater”, “Roberta”, a total of 18 musicals and shows on Broadway), Kurt Weil who emigrated from Nazi Germany (Lady In the Dark and 10 musicals) and others.

Among the lyricists and librettists who created the literary basis for musicals and received the Tony Prize, Jews accounted for 70% and 56%, respectively. Here are some famous names in America: Oscar Hammerstein, Alan Lerner, Dorothy and Herbert Fields, Adolph Green, Ira Gershwin, Betty Comden, Lorenz Hart and others.

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Interestingly, the famous Richard Rogers, who created 40 Broadway musicals with Hart and Hammerstein, became one of only two people in America to ever win an Oscar, Grammy, Tony, Emmy and Pulitzer Prize.

Many Jewish vaudeville stars have become musical stars. Among them are Al Johnson, Bert Lar, Eddie Cantor, Fanny Bryce. One of the most famous Broadway stars of the 1930-1950s, Ethel Merman starred in many musicals and won 4 Tony Awards.

Other stars from different years:

• Harvey Fierstein, one of the first actors in America to admit that he is gay. He has won 2 Tony Awards for Writer and Lead in the musical Sentimental Song.
• Mandy Patinkin, winner of "Tony" for his roles in the musical "Evita" and "Sunday in the Park with George." His beautiful voice has been featured in over 10 Broadway performances.
• Jerry Orbach made his Broadway debut in Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, was nominated for Tony three times and won her for his role in the musical Promises, Promises.
• irresistible Barbra Streisand starred in the musicals Funny Girl and People.
• А Matthew Broderick for his performances in the musical "Producers" received $ 100 a week.

The musical is one of the most complex stage genres, in which dramatic, musical, vocal, choreographic and plastic arts merge in an inextricable unity. Therefore, outstanding directors, producers, choreographers and stage designers have always worked on the creation of musicals.

Among them are such Jewish celebrities as one of the best choreographers of the 1920th century, Jerome Robbins (his most famous work is the musical “West Side Story”); director, producer, librettist George S. Kaufman (Tony and Pulitzer awards); one of the best theatrical artists in the United States, Boris Aronson, who left Russia in the early XNUMXs (among his works are the musicals Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, and others).

Separately, it should be said about the brothers Schubert Lee - Sam and Jacob, who emigrated with their parents in 1882 from Poland. They created several theaters on Broadway and made it the center of New York theatrical life by producing many musicals and revues, to which they invited the best American actors and directors. In 1924, the brothers owned 86 theaters in the United States and produced 25% of all theater productions in the country; and in 2009 the owners of the Schubert Theater Association had 17 theaters on Broadway.

Many musicals on Broadway "live" for several years and withstand many performances. The first and second places here are occupied by Phantom of the Opera and Cats by Andrew Lloyd Weber (9 and 323 performances). Next come musicals by Jewish composers: Les Misérables by Claude-Michel Schonberg is third with 7 performances from 485 to 6; Chicago by Jack Condor is sixth with 680 performances since 1987; and Beautiful and Terrible is seventh. ” Alan Menken, 2003 performances from 5 to 652.

Many Broadway musicals were filmed in Hollywood and thus acquired an even longer (if not eternal) life.