Members of the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony and Choir. Photo courtesy West Coast Jewish Theatre
By Steve Simmons – posted 6:52 p.m., May 14, 2021; updated May 27, 2021; updated July 13, 2021
Howard Teichman, artistic director of the West Coast Jewish Theatre (WCJT) said, “Let’s put on a variety show.”
Seeking an alternative to all the Zoom plays he was watching (“It started to make me nuts,” says Teichman. “It’s not the best format for theatre. It’s good for a business meeting, but coordinating a play is hard.”) and a “fundraising extravaganza” for the nonprofit company, he created the Magical Musical Mystery Follies. Now, due to popular demand, the streaming run is now available on a view-on-demand basis, for any day and time through Saturday, July 31. Tickets have also been reduced to $18. (For details, see below.)
Modeled after The Ed Sullivan Show, the event has a ‘60s vibe with Teichman as the emcee and host, “Ed Solomon,” who peppers the show with jokes he delivers with aplomb.
Putting The “Variety” In Variety Show
Featuring 12 acts in a nearly two-hour show, Teichman isn’t kidding when he says “variety,” with performers ranging from a popular local comic to even a “beatnik-style poet.”
The show opens with members of the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony and the Choir, under the direction of Dr. Noreen Green, performing Aminadav Aloni’s Black into White/Havdalah, with the Havdalah melody by Debbie Freidman and a text by Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis. The selection opens with a cello soloist who is soon joined by a violist and pianist before the whole choir joins in.
The groups’ participation in the show was “serendipitous,” says Teichman. While filming other acts at the Malibu Jewish Center & Synagogue, he encountered Green who inquired about the project. “One thing led to another,” says Teichman, “and she said, ‘we want to be part of this. We want to make sure theatre stays alive in Los Angeles.’”
She chose the Havdalah, because the shows stream Saturday night and the ceremony marks the symbolic end of Shabbat and ushers in the new week.
The symphony and choir created the video that features soloist Cantor Lisa Peicott and members of the choir in their own Zoom boxes, choreographed to the music. “We do this ritual with lighting a special Havdalah candle with several wicks, blessing a cup of wine and smelling sweet spices,” says Teichman, “It’s done all over the world and the video features photos of families across the globe celebrating. We thought it was a nice way to start the video.”
Other performers taking part in the show include:
Clarinetist Bob Brandzel illustrates the ties between the Jewish people and Klezmer music, performing selections ranging from Fiddler on the Roof and Bei Mir Bistu Shein to My Yiddishe Mama (“Not all Klezmer is happy,” he says). He explains “Freylachs” (cheerful) dances popular at holidays and special events through songs like Hazenkali Mazeltov, The Dreidel Song and of course Hava Negila, and their connection to Yiddish culture. And he teaches that schmears are not just for bagels.
Sarah Spiegal, a specialist in songs of the ’30s and ’40s, singing her own song, Mama Sweet Mama (Fran’s Song).
Actor/writer Shelly Kurtz performing a touching original one-man piece he wrote especially for the show about acceptance and religious tolerance.
Vocalist Melissa Brandzel, performing “Broadway from the Bima” with Just you Wait from My Fair Lady, Life with Harold from The Full Monty, and a delightful Practically Perfect from Mary Poppins, a role she performed at the James Armstrong Theatre in Torrance.
To follow Sullivan’s tradition of showcasing magicians, the show features Magic Castle magician (and business coach) Victor Benoun performing sleight of hand with scarves and even a newspaper.
Antic, rapid-fire stand-up comedian Sunda Croonquist who makes the most of her mixed race, mixed religion background, she describes herself as a “Swedish, Black, redneck Jew.” Her stories of meeting her future in-laws for the first time at Passover and being the only Jew in a Catholic girls school are show highlights. “She’s a powerhouse in real life,” says Teichman. “She has a school in Westwood and she’s always trying to help other comics.”
Award-winning musical artist and educator, cantorial soloist Kimberly Haynes, who performs two original songs, Where You Go, her modern re-telling of the story of Ruth, commissioned by the Jewish Women’s Theatre, and My Brother’s Keeper. Her most recent single, Narrow Bridge, won the Jury Prize in World Music at the 2020 Global Peace Song Awards. She writes sacred and secular songs in multiple languages.
Actors and husband and wife Richard Epcar and Ellyn Stern shine in an excerpt from Neil Simon’s The Prisoner of Second Avenue.
Marcelo Gindlin, raised in Buenos Aires, and cantor of the Malibu Jewish Center & Synagogue, sings the Trini Lopez hit Cuando Caliente El Sol and the Mexican classic Besame Mucho.
WCJT board member Ruth Flinkman Marandy, aka Broadway singer Ruthie Little, closes out the show with All That Jazz and Cabaret.
Popping up periodically in the production is Jazzy Jim, an aging hipster who tells stories and offbeat poems, one is the story of Moses, that would have made him a regular in 1950’s coffee houses. He’s the creation of lawyer, composer and multiple gold-record producer (George Benson) James Auspitz, dressed in black and behind dark sunglasses. “He came up with the beatnik character,” says Teichman. “Some people like him and some don’t. I just wanted someone edgy and interesting.”
Putting It Together
In creating the show, Teichman reached out to entertainers, friends and board members. “Some of the acts I knew and a lot I didn’t. We just got a great response when I put the word out and people called me and said, ‘what are you doing?’ Everybody donated their time, and all wanted to be part of our fundraiser to keep the theatre alive.
“The reason we did the Follies was to make sure our theatre is front and center and has relevancy; and to actually do the work using a different format while finding a way to make it theatrical and enjoyable,” says Teichman. “I don’t expect everybody to like it; but the important thing is that we give these people the opportunity to share their talents and professionalism.”
With associate producer Bill Froggatt, handling the audio visual and editing, “we got together following CDC guidelines,” says Teichman. Production started the third week of January and finished the second week of March, after time for editing, the show debuted April 24 and has extended to May 29, “because the response has been so good,” adds Teichman.
So far, the show has been successful, spreading by word of mouth, says Teichman. “We’re trying to reach people who may be burned out by Zoom and give them the opportunity to experience WCJT.”
Moving Forward
Teichman is planning for the WCJT to “be back on the boards in the first quarter of 2022,” with a new play Three Coconuts, his latest play with writing partner Steven G. Simon. The pair also co-wrote the company’s highly acclaimed FUGU, directed and produced by Teichman about the little-known history of how Japan sheltered 6,000 Lithuanian Jewish refugees in Kobe, to protect them from the Nazis.
The new play “is a comedy,” says Teichman,” and that’s what everybody needs these days.” He describes it as the story of a mother who puts an ad in The Forward inviting men to Shabbat dinner. “She’s basically auditioning them to see if they’d be good father material,” adds Teichman. “And on this particular night she befriends a pimp living on the second floor. It’s also the same night the pimp gets busted for running an illicit whorehouse and the men in her apartment are all swept up in the raid and busted for being Johns. It’s based on a true story, and it illustrates what people who are lonely go through to find happiness.”
Teichman has been involved with the theatre for more than 20 years, becoming artistic director and producing manager in 2010. Housed at the Pico Playhouse for 10 years, the company moved to the Miles Memorial Playhouse in Santa Monica for some shows in 2018. “We’ve been renting all this time and we’re looking for a permanent home, says Teichman. “I joke that we should change our name to the Wandering Jewish Theatre.”
Over the years the company has become known for critically acclaimed, popular-with-audience shows like Mark Leiren-Young’s Bar Mitzvah Boy, Neil Simon’s Broadway Bound, Herb Gardner’s I’m Not Rappaport, Mark Harelik’s The Immigrant The Musical and David Ives’ New Jerusalem. “We need fundraisers,” says Teichman, “because people don’t realize how expensive it is to put on a show. We were fortunate to get the rights to Matthew Lopez’s The Whipping Man, and it turned out to be one our most successful shows. Live theater is absolutely necessary. People need the visceral immediate response of seeing and hearing live actors. There’s a reason theatre has been around 5,000 years.”
In putting together the Follies, Teichman was careful he says, to have a mix of the sacred and the secular. “It’s important to reach Jews and non-Jews. We live in a time of hate crimes. Theatre can help people understand we have things in common, with the same needs, wants and desires. And at WCJT we’ve always tried to select plays with universal themes.”
Magical Musical Mystery Follies airs online on-demand now through July 31. Tickets are $18. Registrants will be sent a Vimeo link. Reserve online at http://wctj.org or call 323- 821-2449. Viewers are requested to register at least 24 hours before the day and time they want to see the show.
Steve Simmons is an accomplished writer and editor who writes about a wide array of topics including entertainment. His successful experience at the Beverly Hills Courier and other publications set the stage for his blog. Contact Steve at steve.simmons0211@gmail.com or 626-788-6734.
