Arts and Culture

  WASHINGTON (JTA) – He’d rather talk to young women than answer my insistent line of questioning. He speaks in terms that make me feel like a Luddite, and when I bring up stuff he’d rather not talk about, out comes the smartphone. Omar, a Syrian refugee passing time… Read more »

  NEW YORK (JTA) — Saul Kaye never wanted to be a “Jewish blues” player. In his opinion, the Jewish music he had heard growing up in Northern California’s Bay Area ranged from “really bad to horrible.” In 2009, he was touring as a rock musician, playing hundreds of… Read more »

(The Nosher via JTA) — Brrrr, it’s cold outside. But we know exactly what you need to warm up: some spicy, hawaij hot cocoa. Hawaij is an important, if not nearly sacred, Yemenite spice blend. It’s one of the most important ingredients in Yemenite cooking, with both savory blends using coriander, turmeric… Read more »

  OSWIECIM, Poland (JTA) — Long before he moved here to become the spokesman for the Auschwitz museum and lead its social media effort, Pawel Sawicki’s life was intricately connected to this sleepy town near Krakow. A Warsaw-area radio journalist, Sawicki used to visit Oswiecim as a boy on… Read more »

Songwriter MICHAEL COOPER, a native of Nogales, Ariz., recently had musical theater productions performed in New York, London and Paris. In October, the National Alliance of Musical Theatre showcased selections from his musicals “Luna Park,” “Sunfish” and “Love Always” in its Songwriter’s Cabaret series. “Luna Park” was one of… Read more »

Yonatan Nir, an Israeli documentary filmmaker and producer, says making movies is an education unto itself. “Every film that I make is a window to a new world,” says Nir. “For me, the camera is a way to communicate, to learn more about the world and to experience it… Read more »

The Tucson Jewish Community Center will join with UA Presents to hold a free “sneak peek” mini concert by cellist Matt Haimovitz on Friday, Jan. 13 at 3 p.m., one day prior to his Jan. 14 concert at 8 p.m.  at Crowder Hall. Haimovitz will offer a musical variation… Read more »

Ryan McKittrick

Ryan McKittrick, assistant professor of theater arts at Brandeis University, will present “The American Musical from the 19th Century to ‘Hamilton’” at the Brandeis National Committee’s University on Wheels breakfast on Thursday, Jan. 12 at 9:30 a.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. McKittrick’s talk will feature scenes from… Read more »

Live Theatre Workshop will stage “Buyer & Cellar” by Jonathan Tolins, a one-man show that begins with the premise of an underemployed actor going to work as a shopkeeper in the basement of Barbra Streisand’s Malibu home, Thursdays-Sundays through Feb. 11. “This seriously funny slice of absurdist whimsy creates… Read more »

Invisible Theatre will present Renée Taylor in “My Life on a Diet” at the Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway Blvd., on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 8 at 3 p.m. Taylor, best known for her Emmy-nominated role as Fran Drescher’s Jewish mother on… Read more »

(JTA) — Josh Radnor is starring these days in Richard Greenberg’s off-Broadway play “The Babylon Line.” For the 42-year-old actor, it is the latest in a long and impressive list of credits. However, the odds are that no matter what else he accomplishes in life, for most people he… Read more »

(JTA) — While the rest of the world is busy exchanging Happy New Year wishes, Germans are greeting each other with a peculiar expression: “guten Rutsch,” which means “good slip.” Some believe the greeting, which is especially unusual in a formal society such as Germany’s, is a lighthearted reference… Read more »

(JTA) — Carrie Fisher, the actress best known for playing Princess Leia in the original “Star Wars” films, died days after suffering a heart attack on an airplane. She was 60. Fisher’s family spokesman Simon Halls confirmed to multiple publications that she passed away Tuesday morning. Fisher had been… Read more »

(JTA) — Within the Jewish musical canon are several songs that seem to have always existed — tunes we all know and pass down from one generation to the next. One example is the Hanukkah favorite “I Have a Little Dreidel” — chances are most everyone reading this can… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Ever since I moved here from Israel, every late November felt like the beginning of a month-long assault. Every store, business and doctor’s office blared Christmas songs, streets were decorated with ostentatious light shows and seemingly everything became green and red — which, as an… Read more »

(JTA) — From a new audio version of “Hanukkah Bear” — a holiday favorite by National Jewish Book Award winner Eric A. Kimmel — to a novel for young teens set during the Festival of Lights, there is a fresh crop of Hanukkah books that are sure to delight… Read more »

The 26th annual Tucson Jewish International Film Festival will present more than 20 films from around the world, Jan. 12-22. All films will be screened at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, with two exceptions: a pre-festival kickoff in SaddleBrooke and the opening night film at the Loft Cinema, 3233… Read more »

When Leonard Nimoy announced in 1949 that he wanted to be an actor, and was leaving Boston for Hollywood, his Russian-Jewish parents were stunned. “My grandfather said that he should take up the accordion,” says Adam Nimoy, Leonard’s son and the director of the new documentary “For the Love… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — The opening number in the Broadway musical “Falsettos” — currently being revived on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre — is called “Four Jews in a Room Bitching.” Featuring sample lyrics like “I’m neurotic, he’s neurotic, they’re neurotic, we’re neurotic. Bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch,” it… Read more »

Chen Shterenbach, a teacher at Tucson Hebrew Academy, recently held a Hebrew poetry contest for his students. The students had the liberty of choosing any topic. The judges were Rabbi Billy Lewkowicz and Windy Jones. Lewkowicz was the representative for THA’s Hebrew and Judaics department and Jones, THA’s middle school… Read more »