Cantor Perry Fine
Cantor Perry Fine of Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston presented a fascinating three-part series exploring the unique relationship between Jews, Judaism, and the development of the Broadway musical. The series, under the auspices of Our Jewish World headed by Ilene Dorf Manahan and Melanie Levitan, was held via Zoom at 1 p.m. on Thursdays, Nov. 4, 11, and 18. The series was free and open to the public.
Part I, on Nov. 4, examined how Jewish identity and ethical values helped to define the emerging Broadway musical.
Part II, on Nov. 11, probed the unique role of Fiddler on the Roof in the “arrival” of Jewish ethnicity and content on Broadway.
Part III, on Nov. 18, focused on the Holocaust through the lens of three iconic musicals of the 1960s–The Sound of Music, Cabaret, and The Producers—and the creative responses associated with each one.
Cantor Fine has been singing Jewish music ever since his days as a boy soprano soloist with Hazzan Hillel Lipsicas’s High Holiday choir in his hometown of Baltimore. His recordings include settings of the Yom Kippur Service for the Milken Archive Series of Jewish Music and music for the Friday Night Live Service.