Light those candles–and celebrate the arts

Light those candles-and celebrate the arts

As I write this, horrific things are unfolding in the Middle East. But, of course, Chanukah is the holiday that celebrates a miracle-the reclamation of the desecrated Second Temple in Jerusalem when a small quantity of oil that was used to light the Temple’s menorah not only burned for one night but for eight. Perhaps another miracle might transpire, albeit in a different form.

Miracles do happen from time to time, and Chanukah, that irresistible holiday, pays homage to that possibility. So, let’s begin with music, an art that possesses its own miraculous qualities, before moving on to the theater.

Music for miracles

Miracle of Miracles — A Musical Celebration of Chanukah is a recent release from Cedille records, the Chicago-based label that champions classical music as well as Chicago’s top composers and musicians.

The recording features the innovative vocal ensemble known as Chicago a cappella. And as Cedille describes it, “it is designed to unveil the richer meaning of Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, by way of music that ranges from heartfelt prayers to jazzy and playful holiday favorites that showcase the creativity and vitality of American Jewish traditions.”

The album features 20 songs drawn from the more than 25 years of the ensemble’s performance history. And they are arranged to suggest the many different ways the Chanukah story can be captured — “from the celebration of the holiday itself, with the lighting of candles and the miracle of those candles’ endurance, to religious observances, to the traditional food and games that define it.”

Seven contemporary composers–Robert Applebaum, Gerald Cohen, Joshua Fishbein, Elliot Z. Levine, Jonathan Miller, Daniel Tunkel, and Mark Zuckerman–bring fresh perspective to songs drawn from different Jewish traditions and communities. And the result is a mix of liturgical and folk melodies designed “to demonstrate a keen sensitivity to both biblical and modern Hebrew, and English with Yiddish elements, along with the intertwining of American jazz and popular styles.”

The record, which was recorded earlier this year at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, was conducted by John William Trotter. And it should be noted that it was produced by James Steven Ginsburg, the founder and president of Cedille Records, who also happens to be the son of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late Supreme Court Justice.

To order the record, visit cedillerecords.org. And note: A one-night-only concert of these songs is scheduled for the first evening of Chanukah (December 7 at 7:30 p.m.) at Temple Har Zion, 1040 N. Harlem Ave. in River Forest. Call 708-366-9000 for tickets, and be advised that an optional light meal including latkes will be available as an add-on.

A legacy of lyrics and melodies

Consider this quote by Sir Nicholas Hytner, the Tony Award and Olivier Award-winning British theater director, born into a Jewish family in 1956. He served as artistic director of the Royal National Theatre from 2003-2015, and directed the London and Broadway productions of Miss Saigon . In 2017, he went on to become a co-founder of the London Theatre Company, where his revival of Guys and Dolls is set for a year-long run. It is difficult to refute his proclamation that “There would be no American musicals without Jews, and no popular music without African Americans.”

Of course, looming large among Jewish American musical theater masters is Stephen Sondheim, who died in 2021 at the age of 91, leaving a treasury of brilliant Broadway scores. To name just some of his musicals: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Passion, and Into the Woods. And, of course, he also wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy .

Perhaps his most controversial and political score was for Assassins , initially produced off Broadway, and then on Broadway in 2004, and now running through December 17 at the intimate Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre located right on the border between Chicago and Evanston. It is the first of three productions to be staged during Theo Ubique’s 2023-24 season as a tribute to Sondheim.

Assassins (with a book by John Weidman) captures a number of historical figures — fictionally gathered in a shooting gallery-and who, at various points in American history attempted (successfully and unsuccessfully), to assassinate American presidents, including Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and a number of others. It is these assassins — and their various motivations — who are the show’s primary focus.

Coming up next at Theo Ubique will be a Sondheim Tribute Revue (March 8-April 28), and a production of A Little Night Music (May 24-July 14), the story of several twisted romances among the upper class in Sweden, circa 1900. For tickets visit theo-u.com or call 773-939-4101.

Another show to consider is the Music Theater Works production of Shrek: The Musical , running Dec. 21-31 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie.

Based on the Oscar-winning 2001 DreamWorks film, this musical adaptation, that arrived on Broadway in 2008, features a score by the Jewish composer Jeanine Tesori, with lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire. (Tesori also wrote the score for the Broadway musical Caroline , or Change , with lyrics by Tony Kushner.)

Shrek tells the story of a lonely, green, swamp-dwelling ogre who embarks on a life-changing adventure with a talkative, wise-cracking Donkey, and interacts with a slew of fairytale creatures, as well as the beautiful Princess Fiona and the nasty Lord Farquaad.

For tickets visit musictheaterworks.com or call 847-673-6300.

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