What to Watch: ‘The Restaurant,’ Swedish Cuisine, with a Jewish Flavor
When The Restaurant launched in Sweden in 2017, the website Drama Quarterly said that the series “is as brave, bold and ambitious as they come. A sprawling ensemble drama that opens in the aftermath of the Second World War and runs across two decades, it is an emotion-filled family saga that charts the fortunes of the owners and staff of Djurgårdskällaren, a high-end restaurant in the heart of Stockholm.” The show’s first season won the Kristallen Award for Best Swedish TV drama.
‘The Plot Against America’ Adds New, Rich Layers to Roth’s Classic
Simon and Burns thus expand the point of view of the series, taking us outside Philip’s home and into Evelyn and Alvin’s lives. In doing so, they fill out Roth’s characters, shaping them into vibrant and complex figures driven by clear motivations and desires. They strive to tell a more complete story of the Levin family, one that showcases Alvin and Evelyn as people in their own right, more than what Phillip sees.
Book Review | ‘We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders’
In his foreword to Linda Sarsour’s memoir of political activism, Harry Belafonte remarks, “It wasn’t that long ago that we lost Martin and Malcom and Bobby.” He is comparing the vilification of Sarsour, the hijab-wearing, Brooklyn-born Palestinian-American, for her anti-Israeli politics to the murderous racist violence of the 1960s. It seems a stretch.
What to Watch: ‘A Place to Call Home’
What to Read: A Sampling of the Ways the World Ends
Something about watching civilization and its institutions collapse makes me nostalgic for the dystopian novels of my childhood.
Book Review | Unasked Questions About Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince
Ten Musicals by Jewish Composers to Watch In Times of Quarantines
Enough of medical warnings. If you want to relax and keep happy at home, watching musicals is just the thing. Here are some selections by our favorite Jewish composers and lyricists, many of which are available to stream online; the songs also might be found on Spotify, Apple Music or other music streaming services.
Poem | Afikomen
I’ve written the soup, the parting of the sea, the savage plagues and the candles
Broadway Songwriting Team Celebrate 65 Years of Creative Friendship
“In the theater you are either Jewish, Italian or gay and I chose Jewish,” says Protestant-born lyricist Richard Maltby Jr. during a conference call that includes his long time Jewish collaborator, composer David Shire. “Musical theater is so profoundly Jewish—it’s like living in a Kibbutz—you can’t help becoming Jewish. Also, my wife is Jewish, my children are Jewish and we belong to a temple.”
“Incitement” Takes Us into the Mind of Rabin’s Assassin
The filmmaker went to major lengths to use what he called distancing devices—shots at odd angles and no melody—to keep the audience from identifying with the murderer.
Book Review | When the Ivory Tower Closed Its Gates
Imagine a U.S. law that kept thousands of European Jews and others from obtaining visas to the United States in the 1930s, leaving many of them to deportation and death.