Jewish Hollywood will return to Hope Mill Theatre after its previous cancellation. We spoke to Producer Katy Lipton about the toe-tapping production.
Aria Entertainment has announced that Jewish Hollywood is returning to Hope Mill Theatre after being cancelled due to COVID back in 2020. Famed producer Katy Lipson, know for RAGS, The Jewish Legends, The Great Jewish American Songbook, That’s Jewish Entertainment, and Bar Mitzvah Boy, presents Jewish Hollywood, A Musical Revue with a script by Chris Burgess.
The show will allow you to live a century of Jewish cinema in one evening. The Jews of Hollywood invented the ‘American Dream’. And they lived it! They came from shtetls but ended up in Beverly Hills mansions. And they sold the world a ‘Technicolor’ fantasy version of American life.
We spoke to Producer Katy Lipson about why she put this show together: “I commissioned this show as I regularly produce a show celebrating the Jewish contribution to show business and thought this would be the next best in the series! Previous shows include The Jewish Legacy, The Jewish Legends, That’s Jewish Entertainment and The Great Jewish American Songbook.”
In her role as producer, Katy is the powerhouse behind the production, making the show happen: “The producer does everything from choosing the title, venue, financial modelling, deciding dates to assigning the creative team, finding the cast, marketing the show and most importantly selling tickets!”
Jewish Hollywood features a range of hit songs including: Hava Nagila, Don’t Rain on My Parade, My Yiddishe Momme, Tradition, Second Hand Rose, The Way We Were, Putting on the Ritz, Theme from ‘Exodus’, and many more! For Katy, there’s one song that stands out: “My Yiddeshe Momme. What’s there not to love?”
An emotional work, the revue tells stories of ambition and sacrifice. What was the price paid for assimilation? How did the Jews of Hollywood confront antisemitism? How did the Holocaust change their depiction of Jews on-screen? How badly hit were they by the notorious blacklisting of the 1950s? And what caused the rebirth of Jewish cinema in the 1960s – giving rise to stars like Barbra Streisand, Woody Allen and Bette Midler? Even with the intense emotional subject, putting the show together has been a blast: “It’s always a joyous experience visiting the incredible plethora of musical scores and hearing these wonderful stories of show business performed by an amazing troupe of performers.”
“Jewish Hollywood gives a long overdue celebration to the successes of the music- makers and masters of entertainment carrying the weight of generations of persecution on their shoulders. This rousing history of Hollywood restores pride to the original movie-makers – a fascinating evening’s entertainment that is somehow both thought-provoking and irresistibly toe-tappingly fun.” – West End Best Friend
The show will run from 3rd September to 8th September! Book tickets now to avoid disappointment.
