By Eileen Wingard
LA JOLLA, California — “Jews on Broadway,” the next Treasures from the Music Collection of the Astor Judaica Library program, will be presented at 2 p.m. Thursday, Dec 12, at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center.
Myla Lichtman-Fields, singer, actress and playwright, will be my guest as we introduce a 14-selection playlist representing musicals on Broadway written by Jewish composers and lyricists from Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein’s 1927 Showboat to Claude-Michel Schönberg and Herbert Kretzmer’s 1985 Les Misèrables. To register for the free presentation, click here.
The program will include the original Broadway Tevya, Zero Mostel, singing, “If I Were A Rich Man,” from Fiddler On the Roof; Ethel Merman belting out, “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” from Gypsy; and Barbara Streisand’s rendition of “People,” from Funny Girl. “Ol’ Man River,” will be heard from Showboat and “I’ve Got Rhythm,” from Girl Crazy. “You’ve Got to Be Taught,” from South Pacific will represent the large body of musicals by Rogers and Hammerstein and “Anything You Can Do,” from Annie Get Your Gun, will illustrate Irving Berlin’s great talent.
“The Rain in Spain,” from My Fair Lady by Loewe and Lerner, will be heard in its Hebrew version, sung by Israeli singers, Shaike Ophir, Rivka Raz and Avraham Ben Joseph. The late Cantor Emeritus of Congregation Beth Israel, Sheldon Merel, will be heard in “Maria,” from Westside Story.
“Impossible Dream,” from Man of La Mancha, “What I did for Love,” from A Chorus Line and “Look to the Rainbow,” from Finian’s Rainbow are other offerings.
Concluding the program will be, “Dear Friend,” from the musical, She Loves Me, sung by my guest, Myla Lichtman-Fields, when she was known by her stage name, Myla Sonderling. Lichtman-Fields has had a multi-faceted career as a singer, Equity actress in New York, and playwright of more than 16 plays. One of her memorable roles was in the touring company of the musical, Laugh a Little, Cry a Little, with the great Jewish tenor, Jan Peerce.
She attended the Juilliard Drama School and received her doctorate from the University of Southern California in Communications/Drama with a minor in Film. Craig Noel, founder of the Old Globe Theater, and Norman Corwin, Hollywood writer and her USC professor, were among her mentors. She also taught Introduction to Theater and Theater and Film at USC and courses in Dramatic Writing at UCLA and UCIrvine.
Jews on Broadway will showcase the many Jewish composers, lyricists and performers who have made Broadway musicals such a beloved medium and unique American art form.
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Eileen Wingard is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.
This is fantastic! Myla is an amazing singer and we are looking forward to this event! Thank you so much