04 Jan
Arts & Culture, Latest

A Gold Star for 'Mommy Queerest'

By Sarah Breger Going to Mommy Queerest at Theater J the other night was a bit like going to Miami—the theatre was packed with old Jews and gay people. Luckily, I love both. The one-woman show starring comedian Judy Gold relates the story of her life, her family and her quest for her own TV sitcom through jokes, songs and the occasional Mary Tyler Moore impersonation. Gay, Jewish, the mother of two children and the daughter of the stereotypical Jewish mother on steroids, she has one heck of a story to tell. Gold describes everything from growing up as a tall outcast in high school to realizing her dreams of being a comedian at Rutgers, to her first girlfriend and subsequent breakup, to her current relationship. Most of this is told through the lens of the...

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30 Dec
Culture, Latest, topics

Laughter Through Tears

By Jeremy Gillick Sholom Aleichem, the revered 19th century writer whose earnest, incredulous and good-natured humor came to define a century of Jewish jokes, is back. Not resurrected--Aleichem was never much of a believer, though he undoubtedly would have welcomed the Messiah into the world like an old friend into his home--but reincarnated in the body and voice of Theodore Bikel. At 84, the man who made Fiddler on the Roof into an American story--Bikel has played Tevye the Dairyman upwards of 2000 times--has brought back to life the man whose writings shaped his long and illustrious career. "Laughter Through Tears," which recently premiered at the DCJCC's Theater J and which, following it's strong reception, was extended to run through January 18th, is a one-man tribute to Sholom Aleichem. Written, acted and sung by Bikel himself, the...

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