46 | DECEMBER 30 • 2021

ARTS&LIFE
THEATER

G

rowing up in the Bronx, Paul Blake had never experienced
antisemitism. His classmates in high school and City
College of New York were all Jewish.
“I never thought about it,
” said Blake, who started out as an actor
and is now a prolific Broadway producer bringing Beautiful — The
Carole King Musical to the Fisher Theatre Jan. 4-9, 2022.
Like all struggling actors, he’
d go on countless auditions and look
for ways to make supplemental income.
“I was a character actor with a very heavy New York accent, so
there were lots of roles that I couldn’t play,
” he said.
As an ironic twist, the self-professed “skinny, short kid” got cast
as Santa at a local bank.
“Three days into the job, I got fired because ‘Santa Claus isn’t
Jewish,
’ the manager told me. I was shocked. I called up the human
resources person and said, ‘There’s a woman who is antisemitic
working at the bank.
’”
Blake worked as an actor for seven years until his girlfriend’s
mother encouraged him to take a directing job at the Stephen Wise
Free Synagogue, a Reform synagogue in New York City’s Upper
West Side.
“
And that was the turning point of my life when I found my real
career,
” Blake said. “My acting teacher who came to the show said
that I could be a director for a living. And the rabbi who saw the
show told me, ‘You need to go work at the Catskills and be with our
people.
’
“Working with all of those people, I became very cognizant of my
Jewish background and heritage. I picked up Yiddish and became a

showbiz Jew,
” Blake laughed.

A ‘JEWISH SUCCESS STORY’
That was more than 60 years ago. Since then, Blake was the exec-
utive producer of the St. Louis Muny for 22 seasons where he
produced and/or directed more than 150 shows. He left the Muny
in 2011 to begin development of the new musical, Beautiful, based
on the early life and career of singer/songwriter Carole King. King
changed her name from Carol Joan Klein in high school. She’s writ-
ten more than 118 pop hits on Billboard’s Hot 100.
“Carole grew up in Queens at the same time that I was growing

Beautiful — The Carole King Musical
comes to the Fisher Theatre.

Not So Far Away

JULIE SMITH YOLLES CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Actors Sara Sheperd, Sara
King, Ryan Farnsworth and
James D. Gish.

continued on page 49

JOAN MARCUS
JOAN MARCUS

The Drifters: Torrey Linder,
Edwin Bates, Isaiah Bailey
and Ben Toomer.