Wedding bells (er, accordions) may be heard this weekend on "Sex and the City."
It seems the Klezmatics, perhaps America’s best-known klezmer ensemble, recently taped a few numbers for an episode of the HBO hit series that features the WASPy and svelte Charlotte York, newly converted to Judaism, apparently headed for the chupah with her latest paramour, the pudgy Jewish lawyer Harry Goldenblatt.
The installment premieres Sunday at 9 p.m.
"The producers of the show were fans of the band," the Klezmatics’ lead singer and accordionist, Lorin Sklamberg, said. "They really wanted the kind of music you would play at a simcha."
That includes wedding music, Sklamberg conceded, but when asked if the band would play in a wedding scene, he demurred.
"People who watch the show know where the plot is leading," he said.
Even those who don’t watch the show about four thirtysomething friends looking for love in the Big Apple, now in its sixth and final season, may have heard about Charlotte’s life-altering romance and its somewhat controversial beginnings. In an earlier episode, Harry informed the Smith-educated art dealer that as a Conservative Jew, he was committed to marrying within the faith. (The scene incensed some Jews since Harry made his declaration after ordering pork tenderloin.) Ultimately Charlotte, played by Kristin Davis, showed she was committed too, converting to Judaism and joining a synagogue.
The couple’s courtship has at points been accompanied by klezmer fiddle played by the Klezmatics’ violinist Lisa Gutkin. But the recent taping was the six-member band’s first scripted TV appearance.
Sklamberg volunteered that the group was on the soundstage with the actress Kim Cattrall, who plays Samantha, the most libidinous of the show’s sex-obsessed quartet. But Sklamberg suggested that there were no sparks either on or off camera.
"We just said hello and gave her a CD," he said, referring to the Klezmatics’ most recent release, "Rise Up! Shteyt Oyf!" (Rounder Records).
