By Michelle Coleman, Australian Jewish News 21 November 2008

In keeping with the age-old adage of starting as you mean to continue, the production opened with the rousing Voices of Africa composed by the show’s musical director Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph and performed admirably by lead soloist Oshy Tugendhaft and the 14-strong Celebration singers. Unfortunately the performers’ efforts were marred somewhat by a lack of microphone balance that was to remain problematic throughout the production.

The music chosen for the show — including two more African-themed items that were met with much enthusiasm by the predominantly and proudly South African audience — was a superb amalgamation of Jewish and Israeli favourites, such as L’chah Dodi and Roza Roza, blended seamlessly with Italian aria Nella Fantasia and Broadway hits, such as This is the Moment from Jekkyll and Hyde and Bring Him Home from Les Miserables. A highlight was an arrangement comprising popular songs about Jerusalem Me’al Pisgat Har Hatzofim and Yerushalayim Shel Zahav. Each of these melodies was brought to life by the considerable vocal and instrumental talent on stage.

Tugendhaft - or simply 0shy as he is affectionately known — has a beautiful tenor voice that impressed throughout the show, particularly during the latter half when he was fully warmed up and buoyed by the audience’s approbation. To complement his voice, he boasts a magnetic stage presence and rapport with the audience, and a fantastic repertoire of jokes that had the audience roaring with laughter.

The other soloists were also impressive, particularly baritone Len Kay, whose powerful voice and exuberance on stage were a real treat to witness.

But the true star of the show was 13-year-old boy soprano Troye Sivan. The audience held their breath as he hit his first pure note and the angelic quality of his voice continued to send shivers down our spines throughout the concert. Not only has Sivan been blessed with a sensational voice, he sings from his very soul, and the result is pure magic.

No review would be complete without commenting on the talent and professionalism of young conductor Adam Golding, and the instrumentalists – particularly Zaidel-Rudolph on the piano and the brass section. The saxophone solo of Dror Yikra that opened the concert’s second half was technically impressive and a lot of fun to boot.

All in all, Celebration 60 was a stunning achievement and an outstanding tribute to Jewish culture and the State of Israel. A mammoth undertaking by anyone’s standards, we can only hope that this talented South African production will not wait another 60 years before returning to our shores.

They came, they sang and they conquered

By Michelle Coleman, Australian Jewish News 21 November 2008

For an all too-brief, but memorable week, the Jewish communities of Sydney and Melbourne were gripped by Celebration 60 fever. Following sell-out performances in London, New York, Las Vegas and Toronto, the hit Jewish musical arrived on Australian shores last Thursday.

Aside from the ensemble’s three official shows – the first in Melbourne and the remaining two in Sydney – the cast performed at schools, hospitals, synagogues, restaurants and private parties.

Capacity audiences of up to 800 people attended the official performances, which were received with much acclaim. South Africans especially, were delighted to see their well-loved cantor “Oshy” performing.

“We wanted to bring the community something uplifting and joyous,” said Sydney-based producer Jodi Kofsky who, together with an organising team and a number of sponsors, had been working for three years to bring the production to Australia.

“I knew people would respond positively, but what has really been a highlight for me, was the intensity and depth of emotion that it invoked in people. It has been overwhelming,” she enthused.

The show was originally performed in Johannesburg in 1993, and Kofsky said it had been difficult initially to engage the support of the non-South African community, who were not familiar with the Celebration theme.

However, the producer said the musical’s appeal had proved to be universal and many of those who had attended the Australian shows said they loved the performances.

Celebration 60 brought together renowned cantor Oshy Tugendhaft, three soloists and a choir of 14 male voices and nine instrumentalists in a vibrant tribute to Jewish culture and the State of Israel. The program encompassed both traditional and popular tunes to the backdrop of a powerful visual presentation.

All proceeds from Celebration 60 will be donated to Jewish Care (Vic) and JewishCare (NSW). The final figures are not yet in, but Kofsky said she believed the charities would be receiving between $50,000 and $100 000.

First - Class First Aid

Oshy Tugendhaft concert a huge success for Magen David Adom

By Eli Feldblum, Jewish World July 15 - 24, 2003

Six months earlier, before the Columbia shuttle tragedy that killed the astronaut. Ramon was set to be the guest of honour at the Choir's concert in Houston - the first stop of its North American tour.

Around the same time, some Jewish organizations were beginning to express interest in bringing Tugendhaft to Great Neck. Gary Kenzer, director of the US division of Magen David Adom, Israel's equivalent of the Red Cross was trying to figure out a way to raise money in Great Neck for the MDA.

In Houston, it all came together.

After learning of Ramon's tragic death, Tugendhaft and the choir decided to honor Rona Ramon, Ilan's wife and their son Tal, who was celebrating his bar mitzvah.

Albert Nassim, president of the Babylonian Jewish Center, one of the organizations trying to get Tugendhaft to Great Neck, was also planning a program with Rona Ramon. Upon learning of the tremendous success the Choir enjoyed in Houston, he knew he had stumbled on the means to get Tugendhaft to Long Island.

Nassim collaborated with Michael Levy, the Sydenham Choir USA co-ordinator to present videotapes of the concert and all the Choir's albums to philanthropist Stanley Silverstein, the backer of Great Neck's new Chabad day school, the Silverstein Academy. If they could secure Silverstein's participation, the Choir would be in good hands.

The next day, according to Nassim, Silverstein " knew everything, all the songs by heart " and was ready to give his full financial support to the Great Neck concert. Levy called Regina Gil, executive director of the Great Neck Arts Centre, and she offered her support as well.

"By hookery or by crookery" Nassim said, Oshy Tugendhaft and the Sydenham Choir were coming to Great Neck.

And boy, were they welcomed.

When this reporter arrived early at the Great Neck South High School Auditorium for the show, the parking lot was already packed, and valets were taking care of the line of cars that kept on streaming in.

Inside, every seat was taken by a crowd as varied and eclectric as the music they were about to hear.

There were black hats and bare heads, women with fancy suits and matching earrings and a couple of guys in T-shirts - and matching earrings.

There were Americans, South Africans who knew Tugendhaft as a celebrity, Israelis with open shirts and sunglasses, and Persian Jews. And there were teenagers and grandparents, and everything in-between.

A brand-new orange-and-white MDA ambulance - a fully equipped Mobile Intensive Care Unit - was proudly parked outside the building reminding the guests what their ticket price was going toward.

Their ticket price also went to a great show.

The performers' CD and video, captivating though they are, do not prepare you for the singers' galvanic presence on the live stage.

Tugendhaft is a born performer crisscrossing the stage in a vibrant "Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka meets Liberace meets pulpit rabbi meets stand-up comic" kind of way. The Choir singers, perfectly choreographed in matching outfits and clapped percussion, pour their hearts into every number.

Conducter Jose Stern (pronounced phonetically) is a manic presence, literally controlling the music with lithe alterations of his perpetually moving arms. And the soloists give such scene-stealing shows that it is a wonder these aren't their full time jobs.

Everything takes place to live music, provided by a jazzy groovy trio and in front of a constantly changing video screen that matches images to songs seamlessly like a Pink Floyd concert.

The opening of the concert, GENESIS, with the recorded narration of actor Anthony Fridjhon is even more mystical and mysterious on stage - with a single spotlight revealing 11-year old soprano soloist David Levin, whose father is in the choir, belting out a lilting but haunting tune that surfaces throughout the show.

When all the lights came on for EXODUS, one doesn't know where to look. During the upbeat "M'kimi", a tribute to Chagall is displayed on the screen. Sprigs of Tugendhaft's white hair bounce around hypnotically as he jumps across the stage; the choir sways and claps in time with the music (bedecked in junglelike zebra print getops); and the band lets loose on their instruments.

But when Tugendhaft really boogies on to Carlebach's "L'man Achai", all eyes are certainly on him. Would Reb Shlomo ever have imagined this take on his mellow melody?

One liturgical song leads right into the other in the admittedly cheesy, but still upbeat and quite fun, third part of the show, culminating in a jazzy "L'cha Dodi" featuring cool cat Phil Holder on the sax, bending with every note like a Jewish John Coltrane.

After SHABBAT, Tugendhaft took a small break to speak to the crowd, revealing a sense of humor to match his sense of music.

This was the Choir's third stop on the tour, after visiting Boston and Houston, and Tugendhaft was filled with praise for the U.S.

"I love America", he said. "This is the land of George Bush, Stevie Wonder, Bob Hope and Johnny Cash. While in South Africa we have no hope, no wonder and no cash." (One imagines, however, that they have plenty of bushes in South Africa's many game reserves and national parks).

Tugendhaft marveled about having a choice between popcorn with less fat and popcorn with less calories. His solution? Buy both.

He called the former president a "shlemeil", provoking some hesitant boos until he explained himself: "He had a Jewish mistress and a goyishe lawyer".

Tugendhaft also individually introduced the members of the choir and band, who seemed to have all become close friends. His personal jokes earned laughs onstage and smiles from the audience.

The show continued with "Kvodo", a tribute to Broadway legend Andrew Lloyd Webber.

"Tov Lehodot" featured a vocal duel between Tugendhaft and young soloists Cyril Sher, Greg Hurvitz and Doron Falk. "Baruch Hagever" showed soloist Len Kay crooning and strutting like a Yiddishe Elvis.

During the intermission, Gil and Kenzer went onstage. Gil thanked Arthur Luxenburg, Nassim and Silverstein for their financial support of the event, and Jerry Lippman, publisher and editor-in-chief of this newspaper, for his assistance in publicizing the event. Kenzer recalled the hardship the MDA had been through since the beginning of the second Intifada, and thanked the crowd for its support.

Tugendhaft and the Choir returned after the intermission in shiny purple outfits for a big Vegas-like finish. The band members gave it their all. Holder followed Tugendhaft with his sax. Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph took a break from the piano to bang it out on the bongos and Jacques Fourie let loose on his violin.

The audience members were on their feet for a tribute song written for Rona Ramon and were dancing in the aisles for the encore. Silverstein danced in his chair and gave Tugendhaft a big thumbs up.

The crowd loved the show.

Ryan Hyman who came with his wife from Teaneck N.J., called the show "spectacular". And he should know. Originally from South Africa, Hyman would walk miles to hear Tugendhaft as cantor every Shabbat if he could get the chance.

Now, he keeps his ears open for any U.S. shows - including the Choir's program in Englewood, N.J. on the Shabbat before the Great Neck performance - and makes it a point to see the singers whenever he goes back to South Africa.

"It was as incredible and amazing as it always is", Hyman gushed.

Kenzer also thought the show was a tremendous success. "It was magnificent beyond expectations", he said. "It was close to a sellout. It had good chazanut, good singing."

The Great Neck event raised more than $70 000 to benefit Magen David Adom. But money wasn't the only measure of success.

"Look at all these faces", Kenzer said, gesturing to the crowd "Smiling means success. I can tell that they can't get those songs out of their heads - for all the right reasons. The concert demonstrated a true love for Israel."

The admiration was a two-way street, however.

Hedley Lewis, a young tenor in the choir had only good things to say about his experience.

"It was a phenomenal tour", he declared. "It inspired and encouraged a lot of Judaism and a love for Judaism.

"Everyone has been very hospitable; they've opened their homes to us. And there's been unbelievable food.

"They have opened their hearts to us", Lewis concluded. "And they've taken some of our music in."

Not surprisingly, Tugendhaft had the last word.

"This crowd is fantastic," he said, beaming. "I think Great Neck is fantastic. I think these people are fantastic."

Sheine Yidden, Eidele Mentshen

By Meyer Janet, Atlanta. August 2001

Even at the joyous conclusion of the wedding ceremony we pause and in solemn promise say “If I forget thee o’ Jerusalem, may my hand forget it’s cunning”. So we as a people have learned that continuity is dependent on memory, which in turn is dependent on knowledge reinforced be personal experience.

That is the long and cerebral explanation as to why my wife Carol, and I found ourselves in Chicago on a Friday afternoon in late June of this year waiting to join up with the Sydenham Highlands North Choir tour party on their Shabbaton and attend their theatre performance. The short and more prosaic answer is that I have been a chorister since the age of nine, know the choir members from way back and could not resist the opportunity of replenishing my memory bank with the magic of Jewish liturgical music.

For the past six years my family and I have lived in Atlanta, USA. A wonderful city, if you are a tree; for it has more trees than any other city in the USA. But as a South African Jew of Lithuanian descent ….. a liturgical desert. I had arrived with some enthusiasm, as reportedly there are 20 000 plus South Africans in Atlanta, but found that most Jews were, as they say in America, “acclimating” very rapidly to the American way. The American way being no choirs and very few chazonim in Orthodox Shuls. The Shuls are based on the Shtibl model where the balabatim daven with varying levels of competency. And in fact, chazanut is seen to be representative of the less serious strains of Judaism.

You can perhaps now understand why my wife and I were so eager to make the trip from Atlanta to Chicago to meet and listen to the choir and restore our sanity.

Well, where shall I start? Shall I say that they were good? No, even excellent? Shall I say that the Shul services, the Zmirot at the table and the theatre performance were all of what I remembered and so much more? No, I don’t think that I need to highlight these aspects because if you will pardon the pun, that would be like preaching to the choir. What I would rather wish to dwell upon is the special magic that each and every individual of this group has. They are, as my parents taught me to appreciate “sheine yidden” and “eidele mentshen”, descriptions that defy translation into non-Jewish terminology, but that manifest themselves in the aura of spiritual connectedness that surrounds them and their singing.

I keep telling people that choosing a Shul is like choosing your cell phone company – if you don’t make the connection then change your service provider. Well, one thing I know for sure, all who had the privilege of listening to Oshy and the choir made that connection and were elevated to a place that some had never been before.

Of course it does not hurt that these guys just love what they are doing and can sing all day and all night. Their passion is infectious, their presence and energy are addictive and their leaving has left a cavernous void. Chicago will never be the same again.

As for my wife and myself, we have returned to Atlanta and the trees. The trees that I now sing to, recalling the moments and the melodies that I will treasure in my heart and mind until their next visit.

South African Choir - A Rare Treat

By Martin R Shandling, Los Angeles. August 2001

Under the direction of Chazan Oshy Tugendhaft, a top Johannesburg lawyer, and Jose Stern, the choirmaster, the 18-men choir achieved something that is rarely found in Beth Jacob services – complete silence! When Jose Stern’s 13-year old son Matthew sang the Ein Kelokeinu with the choir humming background harmonies, it was if a heavenly choir had decended into our midst. Matthew has the voice of an angel. The audience in the Shappel Sanctuary sat in rapture as this wonderful music washed over their souls.

And when he ended, something electrifying happened during the service. The congregation, many with tears in their eyes, broke out into spontaneous applause and cheering. There was no other way to express their feelings. Even the choir was moved by this unexpected reaction, so much more than the usual Yasher Koach they receive in their own Shul! And after the cheering died down, and the Aleinu was sung, the Choir ended with a rousing Adon Olam.

None who were there that Shabbat will ever forget how 18 men and a 13 year old boy brought the presence of Hashem into our sanctuary and into our prayers.

Comments

....I have seen 16 Celebration performances since the year 2000 - and I must say that this show - Celebration 3 - is thee best yet! There seriously was something very different from all the rest!? The show flowed beautifully - not that they didn't in the past - but this time there was something more; very polished and intense. Judy Giordano, Chicago, April 2005

.....One of my partners in a radiology practice and his wife are from South Africa and they visit family there. He has let me listen to Hallel and Celebration and I listen to them once or twice a week as I drive 45 minutes to a small hospital to work. I got your information from the CD case, and now I will order everything you have made. My partner's wife Patty and I sing in the Jewish Choral Society of Charleston.

I am very interested in the Prayers and music of the Services, and in fact have just put online a web site with literal word by word translation of quite a bit of material, which I have been working on for 7 years. The prayers, psalms, & songs may be printed from your computer (with Acrobat Reader) at no cost; most of them were reviewed by either my Hebrew teacher and/or my Orthodox rabbi. The site is called httpp://www.kakatuv.com (named ka-katuv = as it is written, because it is literally translated & helps one understand how Hebrew works at the same time as you are saying the words)