Irving Berlin.
Watch the new PBS documentary “Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy,” which investigates why the Broadway musical has proven such a long-standing success for Jewish artists (Cole Porter not among them, contrary to what many people assume). The list of composers reads like an embarrassment of riches: Stephen Sondheim (“West Side Story,” “Merrily We Roll Along,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Company”), Leonard Bernstein (“On the Town,” “West Side Story,” “Candide”), Jerome Kern (“Showboat”), Irving Berlin (“White Christmas,” “Easter Parade”) and Frank Loesser (“The Most Happy Fella,” “Guys and Dolls”), to name a mere few. Keep an eye out for local professional, community or high school productions of these musicals. In the meantime, several film versions are available on Netflix or iTunes.
ADVERTISEMENT: Come explore the blessings and challenges of freedom at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. NMAJH.org
