An Evening of Music and Song at Valley Beth Shalom

Originally posted at at 10:46 p.m. March 21, 2012.

By Rosalind Marmel

Cantor Herschel and Cantor Judy Fox never cease to amaze. Their recent concert at , “A Spectacular Evening of Music and Song” played to a sold-out audience, who sang along and celebrated a nostalgic night of Broadway music mingled with Yiddish and Hebrew music, comedy and musical history.

Herschel had the crowd in an uproar telling and acting out jokes in English, Hebrew and Yiddish. Judy wowed the audience with her exquisite renditions of Hebrew songs, a Broadway medley, a Judy Garland medley and more stand-up comedy.

The evening featured Elliot Finkel, a conductor and composer. Finkel has performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, the London Palladium and several times at the White House. He has co-starred on Broadway with many stars and has played and conducted for artists such as Ginger Rogers, Milton Berle, Regis Philbin, his brother Ian Finkel and Theodore Bikel. For eight years he accompanied the late Jan Peerce, Herschel’s mentor.

Finkel performed a Gershwin medley, an American pop medley and the old Yiddish folk song, “Mirele.” After each was a standing ovation.

Elliot happens to be the son of the Emmy award winning actor and one of the last remaining entertainers of original Yiddish theater, Fyvish Finkel. As a 90th birthday surprise to everyone including Fyvish, Elliot flew him to L.A, without telling him that he would also be performing. He didn’t know until he was called up to the stage.

Without batting an eyelid, using the hat he was wearing and the cane he was walking with as props he began singing and dancing. He brought the house down by singing, “I Am a Boarder in My Wife’s House”, (Ich Bin a Border by Mein Veib).

Elliot then introduced Mike Burstyn, the son of great stars of Yiddish theater, the late Pesach Burstein and Lillian Lux and twin brother of the actress Susan Burstein-Roth.

Burstyn performed medleys from “Cabaret” and from “The Rothschilds” and “Barnum” both of which he starred in on Broadway.

Both Mike and Elliott are amongst the only remaining children whose parents were of the original Jewish theater performers who themselves are in that field. Sunday was the first time that two sons of parents who were stars of Yiddish theater performed on the same stage together.

Cantors Herschel and Judy Fox were joined by their daughter, cantorial soloist Shira Fox and Beit T’Shuva Residential Treatment Center’s student cantor, Rachel Goldman Neubauer.

Shira and Rachel received one of the evening’s many standing ovations singing an original duet written about freedom and independence.

Shira in a way that is very specially Shira summed the evening up by saying, “this is an historic evening. It bridges the Jewish entertainment spectrum and unites the past and future through music.” Indeed it did.

–Rosalind Marmel