Jewish Stereo Types

Well, another holiday, another song or two. I was mulling over a few options, and then I had a little conversation with my mother about how on July 4th, people across the US used to gather in public spaces to hear the Declaration of Independence read aloud, and how unfortunate it is that that isn't common any more. So here is a song about the Declaration of Independence: Video posted by Illinois Policy The Schoolhouse Rock! song Fireworks was one of those written by Lynn Ahrens, a highly successful ( and Jewish! ) Broadway lyricist and libretticist. Together with her collaborator Stephen Flaherty she has written the songs for Ragtime , Seussical , Anastasia , Once on this Island and others, picking up an Emmy, 3 Grammy nominations, and a Tony (plus two more Tony nominations) along the way. And of the 37 Schoolhouse Rock! songs, Ms. Ahrens wrote 15 , including her first, and probably best known, "Preamble," which I include because why not? Video posted by T...

A whole musical! Because what could be more appropriate for a holiday that celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence than a show about the adoption of the Declaration of Independence? I give you 1776 , by Sherman Edwards (music, lyrics, and original book ) and Peter Stone (book). Well, okay, I'm not posting the whole musical here. I'm just going to bring a few excerpts: Opening ("Sit Down, John"), sung by Brent Spiner (as John Adams) and company: Video posted by aurora spiderwpman That's one way to get all the exposition out of the way. (As it happens, I was fortunate enough to see this 1998 revival, and loved it.)   I'm including this non-song bit because hey, some things never change! Video posted by Nicholas S. Castellano (In real life, that is something John Adams wrote in his diary , but yep, it was about New Yorkers.)   "But Mr. Adams", sung in 2009 at the Redlands Bowl: Video posted by Jason livesay John Ada...