L’Chaim

A Toast to the Jewish Legacy of Broadway

From the stages of the lower east side to the bright lights of Broadway, L’Chaim is a musical journey that pays tribute to the Jewish legacy of musical theatre by exploring and celebrating the unique role of Jewish composers and lyricists.

Rooted in history, heritage, and tradition, four Jewish performers bring to life the most iconic songs from the stage of past and present and the historical stories that go with them.

Artists

Bálint Varga

(Music Director) originally from Budapest, Hungary, Balint is a NY-based writer, conductor, and immigration advocate. First, he graduated from Béla Bartók Conservatory, later he moved to America and studied composition and conducting at Berklee College of Music.
His work has been performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Birdland, Symphony Hall, 54 Below.

He received his US Green Card for extraordinary abilities based on his achievement in his field.

Notable writing credits: Yasuke – The Black Samurai, d’ILLUSION, Hypatia and the Heathens, Reflections, Gailley and the Tale of the Fate Keeper, Where We Rush To Disappear

He’s the recipient of the Charles Mayer Grant, a Jonathan Larson Award finalist, and a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and the Lehman Engel BMI Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop.

Balint also collaborated on Broadway workshops such as Elton John’s Tammy Faye, Jim Steinman’s Bat Out Of Hell, Mariah Carey’s Christmas show, and Forest Whitaker’s Benefit Concert. He wrote special choral arrangements for Josh Groban.  BALINTVARGA.COM

Bálint Varga

(Music Director) originally from Budapest, Hungary, Balint is a NY-based writer, conductor, and immigration advocate. First, he graduated from Béla Bartók Conservatory, later he moved to America and studied composition and conducting at Berklee College of Music.
His work has been performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Birdland, Symphony Hall, 54 Below.

He received his US Green Card for extraordinary abilities based on his achievement in his field.

Notable writing credits: Yasuke – The Black Samurai, d’ILLUSION, Hypatia and the Heathens, Reflections, Gailley and the Tale of the Fate Keeper, Where We Rush To Disappear

He’s the recipient of the Charles Mayer Grant, a Jonathan Larson Award finalist, and a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and the Lehman Engel BMI Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop.

Balint also collaborated on Broadway workshops such as Elton John’s Tammy Faye, Jim Steinman’s Bat Out Of Hell, Mariah Carey’s Christmas show, and Forest Whitaker’s Benefit Concert. He wrote special choral arrangements for Josh Groban.  BALINTVARGA.COM

Dana Steingold

Broadway/national tours: Beetlejuice, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Off-Broadway/New York: Avenue Q, The Visit, Saturday Night, Anyone Can Whistle (Encores!). Regional includes Paper Mill Playhouse, North  Shore Music Theatre, George Street, Westport  Country Playhouse, Barrington Stage, Baltimore Center Stage, KC Rep, North Carolina Theatre, Two River, Weston Playhouse. TV: Saraline on Nickelodeon’s “Welcome to the Wayne,” “Inventing Anna.” @dsteinface

Dana Steingold

Broadway/national tours: Beetlejuice, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Off-Broadway/New York: Avenue Q, The Visit, Saturday Night, Anyone Can Whistle (Encores!). Regional includes Paper Mill Playhouse, North  Shore Music Theatre, George Street, Westport  Country Playhouse, Barrington Stage, Baltimore Center Stage, KC Rep, North Carolina Theatre, Two River, Weston Playhouse. TV: Saraline on Nickelodeon’s “Welcome to the Wayne,” “Inventing Anna.” @dsteinface

Andrew Kober

Broadway: Beetlejuice, School of Rock, Sunday in the Park with George, Beautiful, She Loves Me, Les Miserables, and Hair. Off-Broadway and regional: Roundabout, MCC, NYTW, four summers at Shakespeare in the Park. TV: “Law & Order” (NBC), “FBI: Most Wanted” (CBS) “Fosse/Verdon”, “Pose” (FX), “Ray Donovan” (Showtime), “House of Cards” (Netflix), “Boardwalk Empire”, “The Plot Against America” (HBO), “Blue Bloods” (CBS).

Andrew Kober

Broadway: Beetlejuice, School of Rock, Sunday in the Park with George, Beautiful, She Loves Me, Les Miserables, and Hair. Off-Broadway and regional: Roundabout, MCC, NYTW, four summers at Shakespeare in the Park. TV: “Law & Order” (NBC), “FBI: Most Wanted” (CBS) “Fosse/Verdon”, “Pose” (FX), “Ray Donovan” (Showtime), “House of Cards” (Netflix), “Boardwalk Empire”, “The Plot Against America” (HBO), “Blue Bloods” (CBS).

Adam Pascal

Adam Pascal (born October 25, 1970) is an American actor, singer, and musician, known for his performance as Roger Davis in the original 1996 cast of Jonathan Larson‘s musical Rent on Broadway, the 2005 movie version of the musical, and the Broadway tour of Rent in 2009. He is also known for originating the role of Radames in Elton John and Tim Rice‘s Aida, for playing the Emcee in the 1998 revival of Cabaret, and for playing Huey Calhoun in the Broadway company of Memphis. More recently, he played William Shakespeare in the Tony Award-winning musical Something Rotten!

Adam Pascal

Adam Pascal (born October 25, 1970) is an American actor, singer, and musician, known for his performance as Roger Davis in the original 1996 cast of Jonathan Larson‘s musical Rent on Broadway, the 2005 movie version of the musical, and the Broadway tour of Rent in 2009. He is also known for originating the role of Radames in Elton John and Tim Rice‘s Aida, for playing the Emcee in the 1998 revival of Cabaret, and for playing Huey Calhoun in the Broadway company of Memphis. More recently, he played William Shakespeare in the Tony Award-winning musical Something Rotten!

Jill Abramovitz

Broadway credits include Beetlejuice, Fiddler on the Roof (Grandma Tzeitel), Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, 9 to 5, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me.

Jill Abramovitz

Broadway credits include Beetlejuice, Fiddler on the Roof (Grandma Tzeitel), Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, 9 to 5, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me.

Greg Kamp

Catch Me If You Can (National Tour), Barry Manilow’s Harmony (Alliance/Ahmanson Theatre), Saturday Night (York Theatre), Footloose, The Wedding Singer (Pittsburgh CLO), Newsies(Aurora Theatre/ Atlanta Lyric), I Am Harvey Milk (Avery Fisher Hall), Titanic (Hangar Theatre). TV: “Wronged Man” (Lifetime), “Past Life” (Fox), and “Solving Charlie” (ABC). Greg holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from CCM and is the co-creator of MT SHORTS, a platform that produces original musical short film

Greg Kamp

Catch Me If You Can (National Tour), Barry Manilow’s Harmony (Alliance/Ahmanson Theatre), Saturday Night (York Theatre), Footloose, The Wedding Singer (Pittsburgh CLO), Newsies(Aurora Theatre/ Atlanta Lyric), I Am Harvey Milk (Avery Fisher Hall), Titanic (Hangar Theatre). TV: “Wronged Man” (Lifetime), “Past Life” (Fox), and “Solving Charlie” (ABC). Greg holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from CCM and is the co-creator of MT SHORTS, a platform that produces original musical short film

Gordon Greenberg

(Director/Writer) Gordon Greenberg has directed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in London’s West End, written for television and stage, and developed, directed and produced new works for arts institutions across America.  Current Directing/Writing projects include the NBC television series Most Talkative (Co-Executive Producer/Writer, NBC, Blumhouse, Andy Cohen), a new musical about Picasso starring Antonio Banderas (directing & co-writing with Stephen Schwartz & Caridad Svich for Trafalgar Entertainment), Crime and Punishment, A Comedy for the Old Globe (co-writer Steve Rosen), The Secret of My Success for Universal Pictures Stage Productions (co-writers, Steve Rosen, Michael Mahler & Alan Schmuckler), Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors (Off-Broadway, 2023 & podcast starring John Stamos, Laura Benanti, & Annaleigh Ashford, co-writer Steve Rosen), the new comedy podcast series Rolling Calls starring Julie Halston & Richard Kind (co-writer, Steve Rosen), The Heart of Rock and Roll, the Huey Lewis Musical, which had a record breaking run at The Old Globe and is scheduled to premiere on Broadway next season, and Houdini (directing & co-writing with Frank Wildhorn.) Other directing/writing work includes: the Broadway stage adaptation of Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn at Studio 54 for Roundabout Theatre Company, Universal Pictures Stage Productions, and PBS Television’s Great Performances, the West End revival of Guys and Dolls was nominated for six Olivier Awards at the Savoy Theatre and then transferred to the Phoenix Theatre (starring Rebel Wilson), Who’s Afraid of Virgina Woolf starring Calista Flockhart and Zachary Quinto at the Geffen Theatre in Los Angeles, the North American premiere of Piaf/Dietrich for Mirvish in Toronto (Dora Award, Best Production), Barnum (Menier Chocolate Factory, London), The Secret Party: Jacques Brel 1968 (Das Vindobona, Vienna, Austria), Ebenezer Scrooge’s Big [Your Town Here] Christmas Show! in its third season at the Old Globe (co-writer Steve Rosen), the stage adaptation of Tangled (Disney), Johnny Baseball (Williamstown), Working (Drama Desk Award, adapted with Stephen Schwartz and Lin-Manuel Miranda), Jacques Brel…(Drama Desk, Drama League, Outer Critics Award noms), Terms of Endearment with Alfred Molina & Calista Flockhart (Geffen Playhouse for Greg Berlanti), Stars of David by Jeanine Tesori, Tom Kitt, Tony Kushner (Daryl Roth), Pirates! (created with Nell Benjamin, Huntington, Paper Mill, Goodspeed, MUNY), Band Geeks! (also co-writer, Goodspeed, NEA grant), The Baker’s Wife (Paper Mill, Goodspeed), 1776 (Paper Mill), Floyd Collins (Signature), Emerald City Music Hall, an original movie musical for Nickelodeon Television and Scramble Band, an original movie musical for the Disney Channel. He is also deeply involved in arts education and is Co-Director of The BROADWAY TEACHING GROUP, Broadway’s largest education program, in conjunction with Music Theatre International and Playbill.  

Gordon Greenberg

(Director/Writer) Gordon Greenberg has directed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in London’s West End, written for television and stage, and developed, directed and produced new works for arts institutions across America.  Current Directing/Writing projects include the NBC television series Most Talkative (Co-Executive Producer/Writer, NBC, Blumhouse, Andy Cohen), a new musical about Picasso starring Antonio Banderas (directing & co-writing with Stephen Schwartz & Caridad Svich for Trafalgar Entertainment), Crime and Punishment, A Comedy for the Old Globe (co-writer Steve Rosen), The Secret of My Success for Universal Pictures Stage Productions (co-writers, Steve Rosen, Michael Mahler & Alan Schmuckler), Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors (Off-Broadway, 2023 & podcast starring John Stamos, Laura Benanti, & Annaleigh Ashford, co-writer Steve Rosen), the new comedy podcast series Rolling Calls starring Julie Halston & Richard Kind (co-writer, Steve Rosen), The Heart of Rock and Roll, the Huey Lewis Musical, which had a record breaking run at The Old Globe and is scheduled to premiere on Broadway next season, and Houdini (directing & co-writing with Frank Wildhorn.) Other directing/writing work includes: the Broadway stage adaptation of Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn at Studio 54 for Roundabout Theatre Company, Universal Pictures Stage Productions, and PBS Television’s Great Performances, the West End revival of Guys and Dolls was nominated for six Olivier Awards at the Savoy Theatre and then transferred to the Phoenix Theatre (starring Rebel Wilson), Who’s Afraid of Virgina Woolf starring Calista Flockhart and Zachary Quinto at the Geffen Theatre in Los Angeles, the North American premiere of Piaf/Dietrich for Mirvish in Toronto (Dora Award, Best Production), Barnum (Menier Chocolate Factory, London), The Secret Party: Jacques Brel 1968 (Das Vindobona, Vienna, Austria), Ebenezer Scrooge’s Big [Your Town Here] Christmas Show! in its third season at the Old Globe (co-writer Steve Rosen), the stage adaptation of Tangled (Disney), Johnny Baseball (Williamstown), Working (Drama Desk Award, adapted with Stephen Schwartz and Lin-Manuel Miranda), Jacques Brel…(Drama Desk, Drama League, Outer Critics Award noms), Terms of Endearment with Alfred Molina & Calista Flockhart (Geffen Playhouse for Greg Berlanti), Stars of David by Jeanine Tesori, Tom Kitt, Tony Kushner (Daryl Roth), Pirates! (created with Nell Benjamin, Huntington, Paper Mill, Goodspeed, MUNY), Band Geeks! (also co-writer, Goodspeed, NEA grant), The Baker’s Wife (Paper Mill, Goodspeed), 1776 (Paper Mill), Floyd Collins (Signature), Emerald City Music Hall, an original movie musical for Nickelodeon Television and Scramble Band, an original movie musical for the Disney Channel. He is also deeply involved in arts education and is Co-Director of The BROADWAY TEACHING GROUP, Broadway’s largest education program, in conjunction with Music Theatre International and Playbill.  

Videos

L'Chaim