DECEMBER 10 • 2020 | 35

BROADWAY MUSIC, 
A JEWISH WOMAN 
INTELLIGENCE DIRECTOR
One Night Only: The Best 
of Broadway is a special 
NBC show, hosted by Tina 
Fey, that airs Dec. 10 at 
8 p.m. The special fea-
tures cast members from 
seven Broadway musicals 
dancing and singing on 
Manhattan streets. The 
special benefits Broadway 
Cares, a charity that helps 
people associated with the 
theater. The featured musi-
cals written by “tribesmen” 
include Chicago (John 
Kander, 93, and the late 
Fred Ebb); Jersey Boys 
(Marshall Brickman, 81, 
and Rick Ellice, 64), and 

Rent (the late Jonathan 
Larson). The performers 
include Jake Gyllenhaal, 
39 (who can really sing), 
and Camryn Manheim, 59. 
The original HBO Max 
film Let Them All Talk 
begins streaming Dec. 10. 
Meryl Streep plays Alice, 
a celebrated author who 
takes an ocean cruise 
with her old friends, Susan 
(Candice Bergen) and 
Roberta (Diane Wiest). The 
three have some rough 
history. The film was the 
subject of a CBS Sunday 
Morning feature on Nov. 
29 (on CBS news app and 
on YouYube). It includes a 
trailer, cast interviews, and 
some comments by direc-
tor Steven Soderbergh. 
Let Them was written 
by Deborah Eisenberg, 
74, known as a best-sell-
ing writer of short 
stories. Her awards 

include a MacArthur 
“Genius” Fellowship 
and a Guggenheim 
Fellowship. 
 Let Them is the first 
film she’s written. 
On Nov. 22, 
President-Elect Joe 
Biden announced 
his national security 
cabinet nominees. 
The Jewish media 
quickly and cor-
rectly identified Antony 
Blinken, 58 (Secretary 
of State) and Alejandro 
Mayorkas, 61 (Secretary 
of Homeland Security) 
as Jewish. However, no 
source identified Avril 
Haines, 41 (the Director of 
National Intelligence nom-
inee), as Jewish. Her late 
mother, painter Adrienne 
Rappaport, tragically died 
when Avril was only 15. 
Avril’s father is Thomas 
Haines, 87, a very interest-

ing (non-Jewish) guy who 
hung out with artists while 
he became a top biochem-
ist. He wrote a memoir 
in 2019. Thomas wrote 
this about a trip to Israel 
he took with Avril: “They 
[Israeli young men] could 
see she was American, 
and once they found out 
she was Jewish (Avril con-
sidered herself Jewish 
because her mom was 
Jewish), they wanted her 
to move to Israel.” 

ARTS&LIFE
CELEBRITY JEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

VIRGINIA SHERWOOD/NBC

Seeking Qualified Applicants for

Head of School

For more information:

hdsaa.org/about-us/

careers-at-hds/head-of-school/

or email searchcommittee@hdsaa.org

(photo taken pre-Covid)