Caesaria comes to Manhattan

Yaakov Shwekey’s great show a first at Beacon Theatre

By Mayer Fertig

Issue of Dec. 25, 2009 / 8 Tevet 5770

Like championship name-that-tune with a 50-piece orchestra, the audience at the Beacon Theatre's first-ever Jewish concert picked out Vehi She'amda in two notes, responding with a swelling roar of applause.

They had help, of course. The song's composer, Yonatan Razel, was seated at the piano onstage with Yaakov Shwekey, the star of the evening, at a performance billed “From Caesaria to Manhattan.” The name was a reference to Shwekey's “Live in Caesaria” concert in Israel several years ago, where the pair first performed the song as a duet that created a near-overnight sensation in Jewish music.

The song came two hours and five minutes into a two-and-a-half-hour show that featured a non-stop parade of first class performances by Shwekey and his “dear friends” — a group called Acheinu, and composers Baruch Levine, Yossi Green, Abie Rotenberg and Mr. Razel, each of whom also has a fairly lengthy resume as a performer. Yochi Briskman, whose day job is managing Shwekey's burgeoning career, conducted the orchestra. Popular radio host Nachum Segal was the master of ceremonies.

Yossi Green marched out in a vest, jokingly muttering to himself about the career accolades Shwekey enumerated to introduce him. Rotenberg made a plea for sympathy, telling the audience how his 6:00 a.m. flight from Canada and a subsequent alternate were cancelled on account of bad weather. He finally arrived at Newark Airport in a propeller plane an hour before the show, he said, and changed in a cab.

“Ready to rehearse?” he asked Shwekey. They performed a set that included three of Rotenberg's Dveikus classics including Habein Yakir Li and Na'ar Hayisi, and Mama Rochel, his modern-day classic that helped make Shwekey famous.

The show filled the historic theater at Broadway and West 74th Street on a frigid Sunday night in the aftermath of a serious winter storm. It was a fundraiser for an ad hoc group called United Tzedakah Fund, which consisted of non-profits like JEP of the Five Town's Camp Nageela, NCSY's summer programs, the Israel Solidarity Fund — which supports victims of terrorism in Israel, and raises awareness of Gilad Shalit's continuing imprisonment — day schools in Staten Island and Bergen County, and several other organizations.

The concert was conceived and executive produced by Yudi Zuller of Graphic Dimensions Press in Brooklyn, the founder of the Israel Solidarity Fund.

Questions or comments? Email mfertig@thejewishstar.com