Seven Shows To See This Spring

“Jerry Springer: The Opera.” The boundary-breaking Jewish talk show host (son of refugees from Nazi Germany) is the hero of this long-running, award-winning British musical by Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee, which contains not just glorious arias and tuneful ballads, but a scene of tap-dancing Ku Klux Klan members. Terence Mann stars as Springer with […]

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“Jerry Springer: The Opera.” The boundary-breaking Jewish talk show host (son of refugees from Nazi Germany) is the hero of this long-running, award-winning British musical by Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee, which contains not just glorious arias and tuneful ballads, but a scene of tap-dancing Ku Klux Klan members. Terence Mann stars as Springer with Will Swenson as Satan. Opens Feb. 22 at the Pershing Square Signature Theatre, 480 W. 42nd St., ticketcentral.com.

“Queen Esther’s Dilemma.” Samuel I. Bernstein’s new musical takes the Purim story in provocative new directions. It plays on Purim (March 1) at 2 p.m., as well as March 4 at 8 p.m., March 13 at 3 p.m. and March 18 at 6 p.m. Center for Jewish History, 15 W. 16th St. Tickets here.

“A Letter to Harvey Milk.” Now in previews for a March 6 opening night at Theatre Row’s Acorn Theatre, the musical, based on the short story by Leslea Newman, focuses on a retired kosher butcher who bonds with a young lesbian writing teacher at his senior center after he writes a letter to Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected politician in California. Acorn Theatre, 401 W. 42nd St., telecharge.com, theaterrow.org.

“Addy & Uno: A Musical Puppet Show.” The newly renamed Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan offers a free one-hour family musical, presented Avenue Q-style, about a child with a disability. Saturday, March 10 at 3:30.
Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Ave., (646) 505-5708, jccmanhattan.org.

“Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story.” Hannah Moscovitch’s klezmer-folk musical starring acclaimed singer-songwriter Ben Caplan is about early 20th-century Jewish Romanian immigrants to Canada. It begins previews March 8 for a March 22 opening. 59E59, 59 E. 59th St., 59e59.org.

“Goldstein.” Brad Rouse directs this new musical, with a score by Michael Roberts and a book by Charlie Schulman, about writer Louis Goldstein, whose tell-all best-selling memoir is contested by his family for falsely representing its immigrant Jewish history. It begins previews on March 26 for an April 5 opening. Actor’s Temple Theatre, 339 W. 47th St., telecharge.com.

“Fiddler on the Roof.” National Yiddish Theatre-Folksbiene presents the iconic musical in Yiddish translation at the Museum for Jewish Heritage in Battery Park City. It starts previews on July 4. The cast has not yet been announced, but tickets are now on sale. Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place, (866) 811-4111.

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