NOVEMBER 16 • 2023 | 57

Details
Harmony is being staged 
at the Ethel Barrymore 
Theatre, 243 W. 47th 
St. in New York City. 
Get tickets at https://
harmonyanewmusical.com.

to Berlin, where he becomes a performer.

A ‘VERY JEWISH’ SHOW
Kornfeld said after a string of productions 
that touched on antisemitism, including 
Parade and Leopoldstadt, he is proud to be 
in another “very Jewish” show that sheds 
light on a little-known chapter of WWII.
“In the 1930s, all the films and 
recordings the Harmonists created were 
destroyed and lost to obscurity until 
now,” Kornfield said of Harmony. “The 
Harmonists made 13 films, all of them 
were destroyed. So really, our generation, 
and especially in the United States, no 
one has ever heard about them. The story 
recounts their formation and their rise to 
fame and, ultimately, what ends up hap-
pening to them.”
Kornfeld said being in a production 
has been a learning process and has given 
him a deeper appreciation of what it takes 
to bring a creative work to a Broadway 
stage. He has been working at the show 
for two years now, watching the musical 
go from a reading to workshop, to an out-
of-town trial run and finally previews at 
the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene 
in New York. 
Preparations for the part also had him 
traveling to Berlin in August to immerse 

himself in the production’s setting. Saying 
this is the most dance-intensive role 
he has ever had, Kornfeld has been in 
rehearsals six days a week in a studio that 
mimics the actual set of the show until 
the production moves into the Barrymore. 
“When our director Warren Carlyle 
gave me the call that we were actually 
moving uptown to the Barrymore theater, 
it was really hard to believe,” Kornfeld 
said.
That was back in March. Since then, 
Kornfeld said the production has 
enjoyed an exciting runway leading up to 
Harmony’s opening, including rehearsals 
with Manilow himself and performances 
at Carnegie and Radio City music halls. 

“The most surreal moment so far was 
watching the Harmony artwork go up on 
the Barrymore marquis,” Kornfeld gushed. 
“We were in the thick of rehearsals in 
September, and we knew the marquis was 
going to go up at nine o’clock a.m. So, I 
went to the theater with some other guys 
in the show, we watched them put up the 
sign Harmony and then, the workers put 
up a huge image of the six of us, and I 
remember just squealing, ‘It’s us! It’s really 
us!’ 
“
And, at that moment, I could not wait 
to call my parents and tell them that they 
helped make my dreams come true.” 

Danny proudly 
views the marquis 
displaying his 
troupe’s picture 
at the Barrymore 
Theatre in NYC.

The Comedian 
Harmonists 
from Harmony

JULIETA CERVANTES

