‘Tra la! It’s May!’

At the very moment I began putting together this column-that takes note of a number of remarkable concerts and other productions involving a wide array of Jewish artists set to arrive in Chicago in May-a wonderful song came popping into to my mind. It was from Camelot, the musical that arrived on Broadway in 1960, and was the work of two immensely gifted Jewish men-composer Frederick Loewe and lyricist/librettist Alan Jay Lerner.

One of the show’s songs, “Lusty Month of May,” superbly sung by Julie Andrews in the original Broadway production, begins like this: “Tra la! It’s May! The lusty month of May. That lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray. Tra la! It’s here! That shocking time of year, when tons of wicked little thoughts merrily appear.”

Well, maybe some lively “wicked thoughts” might arrive along with warm weather in Chicago this May. But mostly it is the talent of the brilliant creators and performers on the city’s stages that will take audiences “blissfully astray.”

Yvgeny Kissin

To begin, there will be the extraordinary musicians who perform at Symphony Center, the home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, that also serves as the stage for visiting artists, a number of whom happen to be Jewish.

For example, there is the master pianist Yvgeny Kissin, who was born in Russia in 1971, became a British citizen in 2002 and an Israeli citizen in 2013, and now makes his home with his wife in Prague.

Kissin will give a solo performance at the Symphony Center that will include a Beethoven sonata, three nocturnes and a polonaise by Chopin, plus a sonata, and three preludes and fugues by Shostakovich.

Recognized as a child prodigy at the age of six, Kissin made his European debut in Amsterdam at 16. Last year, he was declared “a foreign agent” by the Russian government in reaction to the piano trio he composed in 2022. The piece premiered in Amsterdam in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

3 p.m. on Sunday, May 11. For tickets, call 312-294-3000 or visit cso.org.

‘A Quiet Celebration’

Legendary singer-songwriter Paul Simon, one of the most enduring singer/songwriters since the 1960s returns to the stage. Now 83, Simon grew up in a Jewish family in Queens, and lived just a couple of miles away from my hometown.

After “retiring” from touring in 2018, Simon has decided to return with a new tour, “A Quiet Celebration.” He will perform songs from his 2023 release Seven Psalms , a song cycle inspired by a series of dreams.

The tour, which launched in April in New Orleans, is playing venues through August throughout the U.S. and Canada.

May 21, 23 and 24 at Chicago’s Symphony Center. For tickets, visit GoTickets.com.

More from the CSO

A couple of other concerts performed in May by the CSO:

* Led by conductor Jaap van Zweden, the orchestra will perform Gustav Mahler’s monumental “Symphony No. 6 in A Minor.” The work is scored for a very large and varied number of instruments including what has been dubbed “The Mahler Hammer”-a powerful object used in the work’s fourth and final movement.

7:30 p.m. on May 8 and at 1:30 p.m. on May 9

* Slated for a single performance is a program titled “An American Suite.” Conducted by James Gaffigan, it will feature pieces by two monumental Jewish musicians. Included will be George Gershwin’s “Summertime” and “My Man’s Gone Now” (both from Porgy and Bess), as well as “An American in Paris” (from the film of the same name). Also in the program will be the overture to Leonard Bernstein’s operetta, “Candide,” and three dance episodes from his musical On the Town.

7:30 p.m. on May 31.

Two nights of laughter

Their names are Adam and Eyal, and they are an American/Israeli comedy team who call themselves simply “Two Jews.” As the Winery describes the duo’s work: “With their bold, fearless humor, they talk about such subjects as world problems, friendships, Jewish identity, toxic masculinity, and more.” And, to this show, titled Just Saying, they also will bring “their fearless humor and catchy tunes that will have you humming inappropriate lyrics in public places.”

7:30 p.m. on May 29, at City Winery Chicago, the restaurant and wine bar. 1200 W. Randolph. Visit citywinery.com/Chicago or call 312-733-9463.

Another Israeli performer-Yohay Spander, dubbed “a leading stand-up comedian from Tel Aviv”- will be performing Spander has been described as a man with “humor, smart wit, and unapologetic attitude,” and as “the perfect antidote for even the toughest of times.”

7:30 p.m., May 25, at Park West, 322 W. Armitage. For tickets, visit jamusa.com/venues/park-west or call 773-929-1322.

Hedy Weiss, a longtime Chicago arts critic, was the Theater and Dance Critic for the Chicago Sun-Times  from 1984 to 2018 and currently writes for WTTW-TV’s website and contributes to the Chicago Tonight  program.