Jews writing a Christmas story: Is that kosher?

By Eric George Tauber

SAN DIEGO —  After I submitted my review of Ebenezer Scrooge’s Big San Diego Christmas Show, now playing at the Old Globe, we noticed that the creators’ names sounded Jewish. I’ve met a few Jews who were openly hostile to the goyishe feist, calling it “Krastmik” to avoid saying that name. But American Jews making their mark, even iconic contributions, to Christmas canon is nothing new. Some favorite Christmas carols including Rudolph, Chestnuts Roasting, Let it Snow!, Santa Baby, Silver Bells and It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year were all composed by Jews.

Still, Christmas is not really our holiday. So we wanted to talk to Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen about creating this show and what influence their Jewish upbringing had on it. They’re both back in New York now working on other shows. So I spoke with them separately by phone.

EGT:  What is your personal connection to San Diego?

Greenberg: I really have just loved being there and going to the theatre. The Old Globe was the epitome of theatrical accomplishment. When I was living in LA, I used to drive down to see shows there. My former camp counselor, Mark Sax, was casting for them and he included me in auditions reading for them. And I just fell in love with the place and the “life-embracing” attitude there.

Rosen: I visited there for the first time when I was a kid. My father is a now retired pediatric dentist. He was part of a Jewish dentists’ fraternity and our families would get together every year. One year, it was in San Diego. I bought a huge poster of the Zoo, a map with illustrations. So the San Diego Zoo had a presence in my bedroom in Rochester, NY. I didn’t really get to know the city until I got cast in a show at the La Jolla Playhouse called The Farnsworth Invention that did eventually go to Broadway. I had a pretty small role, so I got to explore quite a bit and I just fell in love with the place.

EGT:  [to Greenberg] Could you elaborate on the “life-embracing” attitude?

Greenberg: New York is a “work-embracing” attitude. There’s an easygoing nature to San Diegans, a chill to them. And it sort of makes life a little smoother. There’s the beauty of the city itself that reminded me of Sydney, Australia. The crazy thing about San Diego is that for a city on the beach, it has two of the top theatres in the world, The Old Globe and the La Jolla Playhouse.

EGT:  [to Rosen] What was it about the people that appealed to you?

Rosen: I think the weather plays a big part. The people seem to have more Vitamin D in their bloodstream, which makes them more content than people in New York. I have never worked in a place where there are so many helpful people at every turn. Balboa Park is like Disney World, but it’s open to everyone every day. If you’re on the outside coming in, it feels like you’re walking into a sort of utopian environment.

EGT: What kinds of details about our city did you want to include?

Rosen: It was important for us to have a semblance of historical accuracy. It was important to find out if it had every snowed there. And we found out that in 1919, there was snow. Like in any community, there are frustrations and we wanted jokes that locals would know. So we asked, what are the things that bug everybody? And we tossed in a joke about finding parking at Trader Joe’s. It’s those little complaints that also draw us together. So finding things to poke fun of helps create community… and allows us to know that we’re more alike than we are different.

Greenberg: There were some local shout-outs that were comedic in a Dickensian story and some anachronisms, which you need because comedy is all about surprise. We were looking for haunted places. Barry (Edelstein) filled us in about the Chargers leaving and nobody was happy about that. So we included The Charger’s Fan Club. Then we have Scrooge ending in a bathing costume and a surfboard because he’s this Englishman who’s all stuffy and buttoned up; but now he’s finally embracing the culture.

[They had originally done this show in Philadelphia with some local color there. When they set the same show in San Diego, they quickly realized that they couldn’t just change a few references. They had to rewrite the show.]

EGT:  We noticed that your surname sounds Jewish. How were you raised?

Greenberg: I was raised Jewish and had a Bar Mitzvah. I’m still culturally Jewish. In terms of actual practice, not so much. But certainly in terms of culture, sensibilities and morals, it is a large part of my life and foundation, which includes a big appreciation for theatre. It was a thing that I did every Sunday with my family, going to Broadway shows and other theatre. We all loved it and believed that those sort of cultural outings were not luxuries but were essential to living a richer life.

Rosen: I was raised by wolves in the wilds of suburbia in upstate New York. I was bar mitzvahed Reform and my Torah portion was from Leviticus and was all about leprosy. Perfect for a kid who wants to be a comic. We do Shabbat with friends from the neighborhood. We do Seder, but I’m more culturally Jewish now than when I was a kid.

My father would take us as a rite of passage at thirteen to New York to different live theatre shows. We saw Catskills on Broadway and Jackie Mason. We saw Chu Chem. It was the Chinese Jewish Musical about the lost tribe that wound up in China. Not only did Chinese Jews exist, there was a musical written about them, but I don’t remember it being very good.

EGT:  How did your family handle the December Dilemma?

Greenberg: We were not allowed to have a Christmas tree. I always wanted one and that’s why I probably love Christmas. We got a present every night, escalating in value. That’s how Hanukkah was presented as superior to Christmas.

Rosen: I think we had a year-round plant that we would decorate during the holidays. Christmas, as an American holiday, you get a day off school. And we had our trips with the fraternity. So it is a day of reflection about what is being celebrated. This season is a time when we’re supposed to come together and put our differences aside. That’s what we took away the most. We ate our weight in Chinese food and we loved every minute of it.

EGT:  Do you think there was anything particularly Jewish about what you brought into the story?

Rosen: Of course there is because I co-wrote it with my friend who is also Jewish. My sense of humor is steeped in the culture of my family. The importance of family dynamics and Scrooge’s relationship with his family is indicative of our relationships with our families. In everything you write, what you believe becomes ingrained in there somewhere because it’s part of who you are.

Greenberg: A sense of humor. The sensibility. There’s literally a Mel Brooks character at the end with the begging woman. I’m a great appreciator of all that. My father still listens to The Two Thousand Year-Old Man. What we’ve done transcends any one religion. It’s a story of redemption. Any one of us has the potential to be reborn. It’s up to you. And we wanted to celebrate that theatre is a place for connection and emotional intelligence and making our lives better.

EGT:  Any parting thoughts?

Rosen: My parting thought is I love the city of San Diego. I love that guys with names like Edelstein, Greenberg and Rosen got to bring a Christmas story to San Diego. I hope that it helps make everyone’s holiday season a little brighter no matter what faith you are or what you believe.

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And that sums up my conversations with Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen, the co-creators of Ebenezer Scrooge’s Big San Diego Christmas Show, now playing at the Old Globe through Dec 29, 2019.

So when someone wishes us a friendly “Merry Christmas!” we need not correct them. As  American Jews, we’ve made our mark on their holiday. And you’d be surprised how many shopping mall Santas actually spin dreidles at home. I know because I’ve had that gig.

And that’s showbiz.

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Eric George Tauber is a freelance writer who specializes in coverage of the arts.  He may be contacted via eric. tauber@sdjewishworld.com