Broadway Musicals - Athena

I knew I was different, but maybe
that’s also kind of Jewish—to
know you’re an outsider but
present yourself and to have all
these words like “chutzpah.” I
guess that’s why they come from
Yiddish and that Jews just wear
their “outsiderness” proudly. I
work in show business, so it’s
hard to think of us as outsiders.
There are a lot of Jews.
Marissa Jaret Winokur as Tracy Turnblad in
Hairspray
I got to write Hairspray, which
is an ultimate version of that story. It’s never said if Tracy Turnblad
is Jewish or not, and Scott Wittman and I went to see a high school
production in New York at the School of Performing Arts, and there’s a
song called “I Can Hear the Bells” where Tracy imagines her courtship
with Link Larkin, right down to the wedding and the parents coming
down the aisle. And they made a chuppah! And it was, well of course
they’re Jewish. I had never thought about that. It was so funny. I
couldn’t believe it took 10 years and kids putting it on to make that
perfectly funny image.
Photofest
Albert M. Tapper Presents
Broadway Musicals
A Jewish Legacy
Major funding for this program was provided by The Patty and Jay Baker
Foundation, Judith B. Resnick, The Blavatnik Family Foundation, The Barbara
and Buddy Freitag Family Fund, The Laurents/Hatcher Foundation, The
National Museum of American Jewish History, the Ira and Leonore Gershwin
Philanthropic Fund, The Shubert Organization, the Leslie and Roslyn
Goldstein Foundation, and The Raymond Tye and Family Charitable Trust.
Major funding for Great Performances is provided by the Irene Diamond Fund,
The National Endowment for the Arts, the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable
Trust, Vivian Milstein, The Agnes Varis Trust, The Starr Foundation, the
Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, and PBS.
Corporate support for Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy is provided by
Stuart Weitzman and Family.
Visit Great Performances online at www.pbs.org/gperf for additional
information about this and other programs.
Production history and candid photos can be seen at
www.broadwaydocumentary.com.
Visit our website for more information on
the full line of Athena programming.
athenalearning.com
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