DAN HOTELS AND RESORTS
New York Theater, 3,.,!6'
Has Jewish Themes
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ARNOLD AGES SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
supplement for
single room $31
Dan Panorama Tel Aviv - Dan Panorama Haifa
Dan Pearl Jerusalem - Dan Caesarea*
Choose two or more of the above mentioned DAN HOTELS in regular grade rooms for any
combination of minimum seven nights
Above rates valid: November 13, 1994 - February 28, 1995
supplement for
single room $60
Combine the famous KING DAVID Jerusalem with two additional of the following
DAN HOTELS in superior grade rooms for minimum seven nights
Dan Tel Aviv - Dan Carmel Haifa - Dan Accadia Herzliya
Above rates valid: Nov. 13-Dec. 21, 1994 and Jan. 06-Feb. 28, 1995
All rates are in US$, per person, per night in double room,
including Israeli breakfast & subject to 15% service charge.
*Dan Caesarea – not applicable on Thursday-Friday nights.
The above packages must be pre-booked and pre-paid.
For information and reservations, please contact:
Tel: (212) 752-6120, Toll Free: 800-223-7773/4, Fax: (212) 759-7495.
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AFFORDABLE TRAVEL
Simsbury Plaza • 33214 West 14 Mile
at Farmington Rd. • West Bloomfield
(810) 855-1880
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14 Mile Rd.
he late French minister of
culture under Charles de
Gaulle was once asked
what had replaced the
great tradition of French classi-
cal tragedy in France's intellec-
tual life. He replied: "Politics."
A survey of New York City's
current theater scene suggests
that there is a universal truth in
that reply but it requires some
fine-tuning. Politics dominates
Broadway theatrical productions
such as Angels in America this
year; but the tragedies, for the
most part, have been replaced by
comedies and musicals such as
Show Boat.
Among the 60-odd offerings
along the Great White Way this
coming fall season there is, more-
over, a cluster of comedies that
revel in politics and, for want of
a better word, Jewish folklore.
Jackie Mason, ever unrepen-
tant, is now featured in a pro-
duction called Politically
Incorrect, a two-hour monologue
in which this former rabbi and
Catskills comedian, delivers acer-
bic taunts against a variety of
ethnic groups.
Mr. Mason's approach is to re-
tail stereotypical views of the lat-
ter and to defend his caricatures
by alluding constantly to the hal-
lowed doctrine of free speech. Mr.
Mason's machine-gun delivery
and the sharpness of his obser-
vations are striking responsive
chords among theater-goers who
are packing his performances.
Mort Sahl's humor is light
years away from Mason's but it
shares a common matrix, that of
the Jewish intellectual reflecting
on society. In his Mort Sahl's
America, the man who, 30 years
ago, was the darling of the cam-
pus scene and college lecture cir-
cuit, shows that he can still strut
his stuff with a polished profes-
sionalism.
Mr. Sahl has the unusual dis-
tinction of being the classical out-
sider who was also an insider.
Known as the quintessential lib-
eral in the 1950s and '60s when
he made his mark at San Fran-
cisco's The Hungry i, Mr. Sahl
has had the unusual fate of be-
coming a kind of mascot of the
conservative side in American
politics, all the while retaining
his liberal sympathies.
Assimilation is the provocative
theme in Wendy Wasserstein's
The Sisters Rosensweig, Jews
who try to forget, bury or hide
Arnold Ages is the director of the
Journalism Option at the
University of Waterloo,
Waterloo, Ontario.
their past seems to be a mini leit-
motif on Broadway.
The main character in The Sis-
ters Rosensweig tries to rise above
her Jewish origins by aping up-
per class English habits in her
London home where, as an in-
ternational banker, she is raising
a rebellious teen-age daughter.
This plot gives playwright
Wasserstein the delicious oppor-
tunity to offer some wonderfully
comic observations about the
Jewish condition in this last
decade of the 20th century.
Neil Simon is no Chekhov, but
his vast talents as a playwright
and comedy writer have made
him the dean of the Broadway
theater. Many of his plays deal
tangentially with Jewish themes
There is a cluster of
comedies that revel
in politics and
Jewish folklore.
but they are there as context
rather than as central focus. This
may also be said for his current
work Laughter on the 23rd Floor,
a scenario in which Mr. Simon
has reconstructed the ambiance
of the comedy writers of his youth
who are gathered in a small room
and show preparing gags for a
Jewish comedian who is having
some problems with his network
television sponsor.
The play, set in the 1950s has
the spectre of Senator Joe Mc-
Carthy and his anti-communist
witch hung pervading the at-
mosphere as these comedy writ-
ers exchange, during the course
of this play, more than 200 jokes,
puns, barbs and witticisms — all
delivered with missile-like speeds
and often with the same explo-
sive power.
When cultural historians of the
future look back as the Broadway
scene in 1994, they will un-
doubtedly be astonished by the
pervasive Jewish input that is so
dominant in the theater. ❑
I New Faces
Know a teen who is doing
something interesting? Send
a brief written description of
what he or she has done,
plus his or her after-school
telephone number, to Alan
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27676 Franklin Rd., South-
field 48034.