Producer – Barbara Brilliant

In pre-production

Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy is a proposed 90-minute documentary that takes an in-depth look at the breadth and depth of the Jewish role in musical theatre. As Jews arrived to American shores in large numbers at the turn of the 20th century, they found that the streets were not paved with gold and that prejudice was rife in this new land. These “outsiders” successfully created their own desired reality in an entertainment form, and found that they were fully adopted as “American” by “Americans.”

This acceptance oiled the wheels of assimilation by Jews into American life. Told through the lens of the Jewish experience, the program will feature original footage from Broadway shows and interviews from both living Broadway legends as well as descendants of original performers, lyricists, composers and producers.

Included are Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman. The medium has come to represent a huge contribution to American popular culture.