by the way, I think it's noteworthy that this show premiered in 1960, several years before "Fiddler on the Roof," and in London, not New York. of course, the West End theatres of London had/?have a lot of Jewish producers, but the audiences there were not filled with as many Jewish patrons as Broadway seats might typically be.
I wonder what others on this list think of "Oliver!" [the exclamation point is part of Bart's title], and of the Fagin character in the show? I've gone back to look at the novel, and there the words Jew, dirty Jew, etc., are used more than Fagin's name on those pages, with Fagin figuring as a quite unmitigatedly sinister character, unlike what Lionel Begleiter/Bart made of him as a much more nuanced, complex, even occasionally self-reflective figure (he does at least feel the need to justify/rationalize his mode of living). People have for the most part reacted very positively to our live performance of MetroKlezmer's adaptation of the "Pick a Pocket" song (everyone comes up and calls it The Oliver Song... in our version, the melody and lyrics are unchanged, though we've taken the chords back to a more Eastern European/less showtune feel, and used a style are very much different musically, but perhaps emotionally as close to the sentiment of the original song, a driven Balkan brass feel). Still, at least one listener at a show this fall felt uncomfortable; she is a Jewish writer who told me she's always hated this song since of course it's about a Jew teaching people how to steal, and showing this Jewish criminal as the font of corruption for street children. personally though, I think Bart's socialism and irony, among other things, factor heavily into his interpretation, so I'm very taken with his transformation of the Dickens story, taking a 19th c. piece of popular culture and remaking it with a 20th c. pop culture sensibility. he wasn't afraid to acknowledge this cultural figure, or the existence of Jews among many other "types" in the London underworld of Dickens' time... but he did approach Fagin with a sense of imagination and, to my mind, without the anti-Semitic stereotyping so evident in Charles Dickens' attitude. In fact, besides Pick a Pocket or Two, the other "Oliver!" song by Fagin, 'Reviewing the Situation,' a soliloquy with a suggestion of khazones in its rubato section, seems to directly address the Dickensian depiction, and may even contain a possible allusion to Shylock's famous speech (I don't have the Shakespeare memorized, but I mean that problematic Jew's line about being a fellow human — if you prick me, do I not bleed): A man's got a heart, hasn't he? Joking apart, hasn't he? And though I'd be the first to say that I wasn't a saint, I'm finding it hard to be really as black as they paint I'm reviewing the situation, Can a fellow be a villain all his life... Finally, for any of you who know the Oliver! show, or who will get the video/dvd/cd or hear this verse on our CD from "Pick a Pocket or Two" (which, like the latter part of "Reviewing the Situation," has a sort of khosidl rhythm in the original with, again, those touches of cantorial ornamentation), please note that one verse of Fagin's at least might have resonated with Brits of all kinds, even if it was /is about illegal behavio(u)r: Why should we break our backs, Stupidly paying tax? Better get some untaxed income, Better pick a pocket or two This written about six years before the Beatles' Taxman, with a similar sentiment, in a not-so-different milieu perhaps. Finally, one thing about Fagin stands out in this show: he has a sense of humo(u)r! dark, ironic, and he's a very lonely, twisted figure too, but seems like he was the most fun for Bart to develop, along with that partner in crime, the Artful Dodger. Sure, I did once hear "Where is Love?" (a very lovely, sincere, completely un-Jewish ballad also from Oliver!) done as a jazz standard on the radio, instrumentally by the way; but everyone who's ever seen or heard this show seems to remember Pick a Pocket or Two. anyone else on this topic? - Eve drummer/bandleader Metropolitan Klezmer & Isle of Klezbos 151 First Avenue #145 NYC NY 10003 USA tel: 212-475-4544 fax: 212-677-6304 www.metropolitanklezmer.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------- [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------+ Hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network http://shamash.org A service of Hebrew College, which offers online courses and an online MA in Jewish Studies, http://hebrewcollege.edu/online/ * * FREE JEWISH LEARNING * * Shamash invites you to join MyJewishLearning.com, a comprehensive, objective, authoritative and interactive learning resource in all areas of Judaism. Free membership via http://www.myjewishlearning.com/shamash ---------------------- [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------
