Dudu Fisher In Jerusalem
Museum of Jewish Heritage
Although I am a devout Catholic, I have also always felt very at home within the Jewish community, and certainly believe that to be a good Christian, you need to be a good Jew at heart first. Last year, I began regularly attending events at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, and it has become one of my favorite places to attend events I would never have found anywhere else.
Tonight, I walked into the theater not knowing anything about Dudu Fisher, the Israeli-born singer who starred in Les Miserables as Jean Valjean in the 1980’s. I left the show thoroughly charmed and very inspired by Mr. Fisher’s story and his passion for both the stage and his homeland.
His story sounds like one right out of a movie. Cameron MacIntosh saw Mr. Fisher in the Israeli production of Les Miserables and knew he had something special that had to be taken to the New York City stage. But Mr. Fisher came with a catch—he could never perform on Friday evenings or Saturday afteroons—that was Shabbat.
Mr. Fisher performed quite an assortment of songs, including some Broadway classics, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and had the audience join in on the choruses of several songs. (Now, these are the only times I feel out of place at such shows—when I am the only one in the room who isn’t singing along in Hebrew!)
There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Mr. Fisher talked about how he reunited his father with a member of the Christian family who hid him during World War II. Video footage of the heartwarming reunion played as Mr. Fisher sang “Papa, Can You Hear Me?” from Yentl.
With a beautiful voice and a fantastic sense of humor and warm rapport with his audience, Mr. Fisher is truly one of a kind.
