"Gefilte Fish Chronicles" Documentary Becomes a Musical in New York This Week

Three years ago we reported on a documentary called "The Gefilte Fish Chronicles," a film showing how the Dubroff sisters went about preparing a Passover seder for their very large family. 

The film focuses on  shopping for the perfect fish and meat through the cooking of enormous quantities of gefilte fish, cholent, and matzo brei, and celebrating the seder. It has been shown on PBS in the Pesach season for the last few years and has gotten rave reviews whenever it's shown on TV.

Whether or not you've seen this funny piece of nostalgia, you have another opportunity to see it in a new form, a musical, that was performed last year at the White House in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month. It's coming to New York this week, and will be performed at the JCC in Manhattan on Wednesday evening, June 11, at 8 pm.

As Ted Merwin writes in the current edition of The Jewish Week,

With music and lyrics by Matty Selman, the buoyant show begins in the present and then flashes back to family seders in the 1940s and ’50s. One of the non-Jewish actors, Iris recalled, “never expected the show to pack such an emotional wallop.” Then again, she reflected, “People feel comforted by Jewish tradition; it makes them feel safe. They want to know the recipes, the music, and the stories from the past.”

Here's a preview of the show, with commentary by executive producer Iris Burnett and lyricist Matty Selman.

Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)