As the character Sir Robin sings in Monty Python’s Spamalot, “In any great adventure, if you don’t want to lose…you won’t succeed on Broadway if you don’t have any Jews.” While this cheeky lyric always gets a big laugh, Jewish Americans include some of America’s pre-eminent creators of theatre. We are proud to have experienced the creative expressions that reflect the rich artistic history of Jewish culture in America. We thank the Jewish artists, storytellers, and visionaries whose work is illustrated in our shared American history and inspires us to embrace and expand diversity and unity in theater.

May 1st marks the beginning of Jewish American Heritage month. Silhouette Stages is proud to highlight a few Jews that changed the course and history of American theatre.

Neil Simon- Playwright & Screenwriter

Neil Simon wrote nearly 30 plays and 26 movie screenplays. His work ranged from comedies like Rumors and The Odd Couple to more dramatic works like Brighton Beach Memoirs and Lost in Yonkers. He received three Golden Globe Awards and Tony Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and four Academy Award nominations. He was awarded a Special Tony Award in 1975, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1991, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995 and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2006.

During 1966, Simon had four shows playing simultaneously at Broadway theatres: Sweet Charity, The Star-Spangled Girl, The Odd Couple, and Barefoot in the Park. These earned him royalties of $1 million a year, which is almost $9 million today.

Stephen Sondheim- Composer & Lyricist

Stephen Sondheim is credited with 'reinventing the American musical', and is regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater. His paternal grandparents were German Jews, and his maternal grandparents, were Lithuanian Jews from Vilnius. He found early success writing the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy. The first Broadway production Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics for was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which opened in 1962 and ran for 964 performances.

Sondheim received an Academy Award, eight Tony Awards, and eight Grammy Awards throughout his career. He also received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Sunday in the Park with George (1985, shared with James Lapine) and was honored with the Kennedy Center Honors, Lifetime Achievement (1993) He went on to write some of the most well-known musicals of the 20th century, including Into the Woods, Company, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Stephen Sondheim passed away on November 26, 2021. The Stephen J. Sondheim Revocable Trust was drawn up after his death to include beneficiaries such as the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of New York City, the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the Dramatists Guild Fund, and The Irish Repertory Theater Company.

Ethel Merman- Singer & Actress

Actress Ethel Merman is fondly referred to as the “First Lady of Musical Comedy.” Known for her powerful voice, Merman captivated her audiences for decades. Merman is most remembered for her performances in Anything Goes (1936), Annie Get Your Gun (1946), Gypsy (1959), and Hello, Dolly! (1964).

One fun fact about Ethel Merman is that she began her acting career before microphones were widely used on stage. Most musical theater actors had to get voice lessons to learn how to project for the audience. However, Ethel’s voice could always be heard loud and clear, despite never receiving lessons.

Theatre critic Brooks Atkinson said of Ethel that “she makes a song seem like a spontaneous expression of her personality, which may be regarded as the ultimate skill in the art of singing songs.”

Among many awards and accolades, Merman received:
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical - Call Me Madam
Grammy Award -Gypsy
Drama Desk Award - Hello, Dolly!

Barbara Streisand- Singer & Actress

Barbara Streisand's career began as a night club singer in the 1960's. Before coming to Broadway she released two recording albums, including The Barbara Streisand Album which won a Grammy for Album of the Year. Streisand's first role on Broadway was in the musical Another Evening with Harry Stoones, a satirical comedy play in which she sang two solos. After receiving terrible reviews, the show closed the next day. She went on to star as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl in 1964 which featured her career- defining signature number "Don't Rain on my Parade". Funny Girl was reimagined for the screen in 1968, leading to her to win the Academy Award that year for Best Actress.

Barbara Streisand is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time, with sales exceeding 150 million worldwide. Billboard has officially ranked Streisand as the greatest solo artist on the Billboard 200 chart and the top Adult Contemporary female artist of all time. In 1983 Streisand became the first woman to write, produce, direct, and star in a major studio film. The film, Yentl, won an Oscar for Best Original Score and a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Musical. Streisand also received the Golden Globe Award for Best Director, becoming the first and only woman to have won the award; a title that she held for 37 years.

Irving Berlin- Composer & Songwriter

Irving Berlin wrote an estimated 1,500 songs over his 60 year career, many of them becoming major hits. This included the scores of 15 Hollywood Films shows (including Puttin' on the Ritz, White Christmas, and There's No Business Like Show Business) and 20 Broadway Shows (including Annie Get Your Gun, Louisiana Purchase, and Face the Music). His musical Holiday Inn featured the song "White Christmas" which became one of the most popular songs of it's time.

Many songs became musical theatre anthems, including "Alexander's Ragtime Band", "Blue Skies", "Easter Parade", "Puttin' on the Ritz", "Cheek to Cheek", "Happy Holiday", "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)", and "There's No Business Like Show Business".

Bette Midler- Actress, Singer & Comedian

Bette Midler was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, where her family was one of the few Jewish families in her neighborhood. Her first appearance on Broadway was Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof in 1967, and her most recent appearance as Dolly in Hello, Dolly! earned her the Tony for Best Actress in 2018.

Midler's career spans across five decades. She has released 14 studio albums, performed in 16 main concert tours, including a Vegas residency in 1997 and two world tours. She has received four Golden Globe Awards, three Grammy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and a Kennedy Center Honor, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and a British Academy Film Award. She needs only an Oscar to achieve the coveted EGOT status. She has been nominated for an Oscar twice for her work in The Rose (1979) and For the Boys (1991).

Stella Adler- Actress & Acting Teacher

Stella Adler was best known as the founder of the renowned Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City. Throughout the 30s and 40s, Adler acted on Broadway, studied under Konstantin Stanislavski, and worked alongside Sanford Meisner, Elia Kazan, and others with The Group Theatre.

In 1949, Adler founded Stella Adler Studio of Acting, and went on to teach some of the greatest actors of all time, including Marlon Brando, Steve McQueen, Dolores del Río, Robert De Niro, Elaine Stritch, Martin Sheen, Manu Tupou, Harvey Keitel, Melanie Griffith, Peter Bogdanovich, Warren Beatty and more.

Rodgers & Hammerstein- Composer & Lyricist

With Richard Rodgers writing the music and Oscar Hammerstein writing the lyrics, these two men initiated what is recognized as the "golden age" of musical theatre and are referred to one of the greatest theatrical partnerships of the 20th century. Their most notable productions include Oklahoma, South Pacific, Carousel, The King & I, Flower Drum Song, The Sound of Music, and Cinderella.

Their music was famous for its cheerful and uplifting nature, but it is also important to note that they used their stories to address serious social and political issues. South Pacific addressed racism and Oklahoma addressed classism. Their 1945 production of Carousel won all 8 Tonys it was nominated for while shedding light on domestic violence. And one of their most famous works, The Sound of Music, shows the takeover of Austria by Nazi, Germany which was based on the true story of the Von Trapp family. By giving voices to these stories, Rodgers and Hammerstein created some of the most notable musicals in American theatre while exploring some of the most important social issues that are still relevant today.