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Congregational Trip to Leopoldstadt Broadway Show

Sunday, January 22, 2023 29 Tevet 5783

3:00 PM - 6:00 PM

We are excited to offer an opportunity to see the new Tom Stoppard play, Leopoldstadt, on January 22 at 3 p.m.  Thanks to generous funding from a donation in memory of Harvey Belkin, our congregation is planning a group visit to see the show. The tickets are usually $169 a person but the fund will subsidize $100 per person (net cost to attendees is $69) and tickets are free for any teens who want to attend. The show's website indicates the play is appropriate for ages 10+ but because the themes are somewhat sensitive, we suggest parents read the synopsis from Wikipedia below before signing up with kids. 

We have 75 tickets available for purchase and we are offering a free bus to and from the synagogue. RSVP using the button below. Since there are a limited number of tickets available, if you reserve a ticket and your plans change, please let us know ASAP. You can choose to bill this to your account if you are logged in; otherwise you must pay with a credit card.

Play Synopsis
Leopoldstadt frames the narrative of a Jewish family in Vienna over a period of some 50 years. The main set is the drawing room of a wealthy family. There are five acts occurring in the years 1899, 1900, 1924, 1938 and 1955.

·1899: the family gathers for Christmas, discussing ideas ranging from Zionism to Jewish and Viennese arts and culture. Family members have integrated well with Viennese society, and enjoy their rights and civil liberties. Hanna asks Gretl to chaperone her on a date with a non-Jewish cavalry officer, Fritz. Hermann’s nephew, Pauli, expresses an interest in becoming a soldier.

·1900: Gretl and Fritz strike up an affair, which Gretl eventually ends. Hermann gains knowledge of this, but ultimately dismisses Gretl's infidelity. The family gather for Passover Seder, celebrating the birth of Hermann’s niece, Nellie.

·1924: Hermann and Gretl have a son, Jacob, who alongside Pauli, fought in the World War I. Pauli was killed in battle; Jacob survived but had his arm amputated. The family gather for a circumcision. This act explores the impacts of the Great War and the rise of Bolshevism. Fearing for the worst, Hermann meets with a banker to discuss transferring the family business to Jacob.

·1938: the year of Anschluss. The family are gathered, with the company of a British journalist who is engaged to one of the girls in the family. The family discuss escape plans, including visas to England. The Nazis enter the property, harassing the family and seizing their belongings. The family's home is requisitioned by the Nazis and the family must leave to be transported the following day. Hermann is forced to sign the family business away to the Nazis, but Jacob retains legal ownership. It is revealed that Jacob is the legal son of Gretl and Fritz; Hermann planned and acknowledged the affair so that Jacob would not face antisemitism since he would be legally recorded as a gentile.

·1955: the survivors of the Holocaust gather in the family home. Only three family members survived: Leo, who successfully gained a British visa and assimilated into British culture; Rosa, who moved to New York before the Holocaust; and Nathan, who survived Auschwitz. Leo has no memory of his life in Vienna as a Jew; the family painfully recollect their memories and acknowledge their murdered family members. 

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