‘L’CHAIM: A TOAST TO THE JEWISH LEGACY OF BROADWAY’ MUSICAL REVIEW AT FOUR SOUTH FLORIDA VENUES FEBRUARY 18-21

  For over a century, The Great American Songbook of musical theater shows was dominated by Jewish songwriters through 2025. Four New York based singers and actors (who are also Jewish) will be recalling how the Jewish composers shined in creating memorable show tunes by singing their famed songs in “L’Chaim: A Toast to the Jewish Legacy of Broadway” to be performed on Wednesday, Feb. 19 and Thursday, Feb. 20 at Aventura Arts & Cultural Center in Aventura, Friday, Feb. 21 at the Rose and Alfred Miniaci Center in Davie and Thursday, Feb. 27 at The Hub at Temple Beth Am in Pinecrest.

   Created by actor/singer Greg Kamp and writer Gordon Greenberg, the one act 88 minute musical review covers over 25 songs, mostly solos and some duets, from the turn of the 20th century until 2025. As expected, the lion’s share of the songs will be dominated by Jewish composers Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, George and Ira Gershwin, John Kander and Fred Ebb, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, Stephen Schwartz, Stephen Sondheim and ,Julie Styne.

   Included in the more than 25 song program will be songs from “Chicago” (“All That Jazz”) “Fiddler On The Roof” (“If I Were A Rich Man”, “Matchmaker, Matchmaker” To Life”),  “Funny Girl” (“Don’t Rain On My Parade”, “People”), “South Pacific (“Some Enchanted Evening”, “You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught”),  “West Side Story” (“I Want To Be In America”, “Maria”, “Somewhere”) among other musicals.

   Although South Florida audiences have seen recent similar shows about Jewish Broadway composers both on television and on stage,  such as the televised PBS Great Performances show “Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy” first televised in 2013 and the musical review “To Life” performed for the past five years at the Willow Theater in Boca Raton, “L’Chaim” will stand out more because the show will include some contemporary composers not widely known.

   “Unlike what some audiences may think, the era of the Jewish composers is still going strong today. ‘L’Chaim” will showcase many recent composers, such as Jason Robert Brown, who wrote the lyrics and music to ‘Parade’ and ‘The Bridges of Madison County’ , William Finn, who composed the music in ‘A New Brain’ and ‘Falsettos’ and Jonathan Larsen, the composer of ‘Rent’ and ‘Tic Tic Boom’”, said Kamp, who is one of the four singers in the show.

   “L’Chaim” also differs from other salutes to Jewish Broadway composers because singer Jill Abramovitz, who also stars in the show, is a lyricist, writing the words to songs in the musical “It Shoulda Been You”. She is also married to Jewish composer Brad Alexander, who wrote “Dog Man: The Musical.”

   “Being a lyricist as well as being married to a composer, I can honestly say that composing music is about teamwork of the lyricist putting words on paper that have to mesh perfectly with the written words. For example, the words of Oscar Hammerstein worked perfectly with the music of Richard Rodgers for all the memorable songs in ‘The Sound of Music’ and so many other Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals,” said Abramovitz.

   Abramovitz is the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. Her mother Helen was born in a detention camp and migrated with her family to Morristown, New Jersey where Jill was born..

   “Needless to say, I am secure with my Jewish identity and can very much connect with ethnic Jewish characters that I portrayed on stage and television.”

  Abramovitz is known for her comic and dramatic roles on television. She has played a recurring character in “The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel” series about a Jewish housewife who becomes a comedienne as well as dramatic roles in “Blue Blood”,and “Chicago Med” among other television series. On stage, Abramovitz has played in “Fiddler On The Roof’ in multiple character roles.

  In “L’Chaim”, Abramovitz will sing several solos and duets from “The Sound of Music” among other Broadway shows. One of her favorite songs and a much anticipated highlight in “L’Chaim”  will be Abramovitz singing “Getting Married Today” from composer Stephen Sondheim’s 1970 musical “Company”. 

  “The song is sung by the character Amy with her anticipating the trappings of marriage. The song is challenging and when done well is inspiring.”

  “Getting Married Today” is considered by musical theater performers to be one of the most difficult to perform. One verse of the song has 68 words to be sung in roughly 11 seconds in which a successful performance depends on clear diction, implicit pitch accuracy and breath control alongside imperative comic timing.

  Joining Abramovitz and Kamp will be actors/singers Matthew Amira and Dana Steingold. All four singers have performed in musicals with Jewish Broadway composers. In addition to Harnick and Bock’s “Fiddler On The Roof”, Abramowitz also performed in Jule Styne’s “Funny Girl” and  Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd”. 

  Amira performed in Jewish Broadway composer Irving Berlin’s “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” and starred as Jewish lyricist Gerry Goffin in the musical “Beautiful: The Carol King Story”, the story of Jewish singer/songwriter Carole King whose music was highlighted. 

  Kamp starred in Jewish Broadway composer and famed singer/songwriter Barry Manilow’s “Harmony”, a musical set in Germany in the 1930s about the famed Jewish musical group The Comedian Harmonists.

  Steingold performed in Stephen Sondheim’s musical “Anyone Can Whistle” as well as in Jewish Broadway composer Jeff Marx’s “Avenue Q”.

  Four Jewish singers star in  “L’Chaim: A Toast to the Jewish Legacy of Broadway Musical”,  a one act musical saluting past and present Jewish Broadway composers to be performed at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 19 and Thursday, Feb. 20 at Aventura Arts & Cultural Center, 3385 NE 188 Street in Aventura, Friday, Feb. 21 at Rose and Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center, 3100 Ray Ferrero Jr. Blvd. in Davie and on Thursday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m. at The Hub at Temple Beth Am, 5500 N. Kendall Dr. in Pinecrest.

  Tickets range from $47-62, depending on the venue. For tickets at Aventura Arts & Cultural Center, go to aventuracenter.org, at Rose and Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center, go to minacipac.com and to The Hub at Temple Beth Am, go to tbam.org