Bob Abelman, left, arts critic for the Cleveland Jewish News, interviews Joel Grey, an actor, writer and Cleveland native. Photo | Amanda Koehn

Grey discusses memoir, life on stage and in Cleveland

By Amanda Koehn

Actor, writer and Cleveland native Joel Grey told 460 people at the Mandel JCC’s Cleveland Jewish Book Festival on Nov. 14 about growing up Jewish in Cleveland, his initiation into theater and lessons learned from a lifetime in acting.

Grey is best known for starring in Broadway musicals such as “Cabaret” and “Chicago.” He is also a singer, dancer, television actor and photographer. This past February, his memoir, “Master of Ceremonies,” was published.

During the keynote interview with Bob Abelman, arts critic for the Cleveland Jewish News, Grey discussed growing up in University Heights in the 1930s and ’40s and being “afraid of everything except acting.” He said he was most afraid of his mother’s erratic mood swings, anti-Semitism and being outed as gay, which he came out as in 2015.

“If you read the book, you know that there was a lot of adversity to come to where I am today. There was a lot of soul searching, and looking at life as it is and trying to look at the past fairly and truthfully and make some sense of why people do things, and why I do things,” Grey said.

Abelman asked Grey about overcoming a lack of confidence early in his career, to which he said, “success helps, and psychotherapy.”

“My passion for the art form of the theater has never left me. When I go to see anybody, I have that moment when the lights go down and I think, ‘I’m going to see something I’ve never seen before, or feel something I’ve never felt before,’” Grey said.

Grey frequently deviated from the question-and-answer format to break out in song and act out impressions of his father. Keeping in sync with Grey’s unstructured demeanor, given the chance to submit questions, at least two audience members wrote notes regarding family members who either knew or dated Grey during his teen years in Cleveland.

Although Grey said he anticipates acting again, he will likely never do another musical.

“It’s definitely a been there, done that, plus the preparation to do a musical is like being a crazy athlete, you give your life away in a way,” he said. “And I did it and I loved it and I had a lot of fun.”


Originally published in the Cleveland Jewish News on Nov. 16, 2016.

Lead image: Bob Abelman, left, arts critic for the Cleveland Jewish News, interviews Joel Grey, an actor, writer and Cleveland native. Photo | Amanda Koehn

Milos, left, and Harry look over letters from Hungarian girls seeking to rediscover their community. PHOTO | Tivoli Film

Reel spotlight to shine on varied cinematic palette

By Carlo Wolff

Films spanning an inspiring sports saga, postwar chicanery, documentaries on key Jewish figures, and ones about probing and transcending the Holocaust are among the offerings coming to five Greater Cleveland venues for the 10th annual Mandel JCC Cleveland Jewish FilmFest.

The festival will feature 29 films from nine countries.

It launched informally on Aug. 24 with a showing of Roger Sherman’s film, “In Search of Israeli Cuisine,” followed by a sampling of Israeli food and wine, at the Peter B. Lewis Theatre at Cleveland Institute of Art. It unofficially starts on Sept. 8 with a showing of “Fever at Dawn” at Shaker Square Cinemas and concludes on Sept. 18 with “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” actress Natalie Portman’s directorial debut, at the Cedar Lee Theatre.

Among the documentaries: “Sabena Hijacking: My Version,” a recounting of the 1972 hijacking of Sabena flight 571 from Brussels to Tel Aviv by members of the Palestinian organization Black September; “Rabin in His Own Words,” tracking an Israeli hero from childhood through Israel Defense Forces service to two terms as prime minister to his 1995 assassination; and “On the Map,” Dani Menkin’s loving account of how the 1977 Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team toppled the world champions, sending Israel into a wonderful tizzy.

These show, respectively, at 9:15 p.m. Sept. 10, 5 p.m. Sept. 11 and 4:30 p.m. Sept. 18, all at Cedar Lee Theatre.

Among the fictional films: “Laugh Lines,” an intergenerational movie about how youth can inspire age, showing at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 15 following a young professionals happy hour presented in partnership with the Young Leadership Division of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland; “Naked Among Wolves,” a film about hiding a Jewish child from the Nazis at Buchenwald, screening at 1 p.m. Sept. 15; and “Firebirds,” a film about the value and ephemeral nature of identity. All these show at Cedar Lee.

The idea of this year’s festival, as in the nine years past, is to present what it means to be Jewish in as many cinematic ways as possible. The idea, too, is to entertain, enthrall, educate and inspire. Talking to Menkin, writer-director of “On the Map,” suggests that his movie about the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team and its improbable world championship in 1977 fills all those bills.

The executive producer of this fast-paced basketball documentary is Nancy Spielberg. She also was executive producer of “Above and Beyond: Birth of the Israel Air Force,” which screened at the 2014 Mandel JCC Cleveland Jewish FilmFest.

“I’ve been making fiction and documentary films for over 20 years and started my career with sports stories,” Menkin said in an Aug. 11 telephone interview from Los Angeles. An Israeli television executive “started talking to me about there was never a film about ‘On the Map,’ the legendary story,” he recalled.

He began to discover numerous documentary archives at TV stations and in private collections about the journey that took the upstart Israeli team to the top of the European League.

Although it defeated league champions Varese, the Italian team, it was Maccabi Tel Aviv’s victory in the second round over CSKA Moscow, the Soviet Red Guards team that actually put it on the map. While the game was played near Brussels – the Soviet Union didn’t recognize Israel and wouldn’t allow the team entry – the fact that it took place at all was a political victory for Israel, a country still reeling from the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

“I always had the basic story for an Israeli audience,” Menkin said, “but that’s when I realized it was an even bigger story for the U.S. audience because everyone knew about the Miracle on Ice (U.S.A. ice hockey’s 4-3 upset of Russia in the 1980 Winter Olympics), but I was surprised how few people knew about the Maccabi Tel Aviv victory over the Russians in the European League.”

Besides finding the right archival material, Menkin’s biggest challenge was making “the film as dramatic as a fiction story, not only a documentary, so that people would be excited and fascinated, just like any sports drama. The second thing was to make the film a drama about countries, much bigger than just a sports story.

“My biggest reward is that people say this is not only a sports story, this is a story of Israel, a historical piece that a lot of people are enthusiastic about,” Menkin said.

Asked to compare the 1977 Maccabi Tel Aviv victory to the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers NBA championship, Menkin said he largely stopped following the Cleveland team after it fired coach David Blatt, the first Israeli to coach in the league.

“I became attached to the Cavaliers because of David Blatt,” he said, adding he liked Matthew Dellavedova and Kyrie Irving, and respects LeBron James, “even though there were rumors that” James was behind Blatt’s firing.

Menkin gave Blatt “credit for building the team that Tyronn Lue took over,” adding he doesn’t know “if people appreciate what he (Blatt) has done. He’s an incredible coach and another former Maccabi.”

“With all due respect, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s victory over the Russians in 1977 was bigger than LeBron James and the Cavs beating Golden State.” CV

For film reviews, additional interviews and a look at the history of the Mandel JCC Cleveland Jewish FilmFest, visit Canvas’ sister publication, the Cleveland Jewish News, at cjn.org/filmfest.


Originally published in the Cleveland Jewish News on Aug. 26, 2016.

LEAD IMAGE: Milos, left, and Harry look over letters from Hungarian girls seeking to rediscover their community. PHOTO | Tivoli Film

A scene from “In Search of Israeli Cuisine,” which will screen Aug. 24 at the Peter B. Lewis Theatre at the Cleveland Institute of Art to celebrate the Cleveland Jewish FilmFest’s 10th anniversary. PHOTO | Menemsha Films

Mandel JCC’s Cleveland Jewish FilmFest ready to celebrate 10th anniversary

By Carlo Wolff

Tickets went on sale Aug. 8 for the 10th annual Mandel JCC Cleveland Jewish FilmFest, showcasing 29 films from nine countries at five venues from Sept. 8-18.

To celebrate this milestone, the Mandel Jewish Community Center in Beachwood will screen “In Search of Israeli Cuisine” at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 24 at the Peter B. Lewis Theatre at the Cleveland Institute of Art, 11610 Euclid Ave.

Director Roger Sherman’s documentary spotlights a cuisine drawn from more than 100 cultures that make up today’s Israel. Israeli food and wine prepared by Ran Saggi of Kantina, a kosher restaurant inside the Albert and Norma Geller Hillel Student Center at Case Western Reserve University, will be available at the post-screening party. Tickets to this event are $65 to $80. The film also will show at 10 a.m. Sept. 11 at the Cedar Lee Theater, 2163 Lee Road in Cleveland Heights.

Opening night of the festival will feature “Fever at Dawn,” a film about a love affair between Hungarian Holocaust survivors recuperating in Sweden in 1945. It shows at 7 p.m. Sept. 8 at Shaker Square Cinemas, 13116 Shaker Square in Cleveland. Tickets to the film and a dessert reception cost $18.

Closing night spotlights “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” the writing and directorial debut of actress Natalie Portman. It’s an adaptation of a memoir of the time Amos Oz spent with his mother Fania (Portman) at the end of the British Mandate for Israel and during the early years of the state of Israel. It shows at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 18 at the Cedar Lee Theatre.

Other than the Aug. 24 and Sept. 8 dates, tickets to FilmFest screenings cost $11 for evening films and $9 for matinees. Tickets are available through mandeljcc.org/filmfest and, save for Saturdays, at the membership desk of the Mandel JCC, 26001 S. Woodland Road in Beachwood.

For FilmFest passes, contact Jan Rutsky at 216-831-0700, ext. 1348. CV

On screen

WHAT: 10th annual Mandel JCC Cleveland Jewish FilmFest

WHEN: Sept. 8-18

WHERE: Cedar Lee Theatre; Peter B. Lewis Theater at the Cleveland Institute of Art; Mandel Jewish Community Center; Parma Library Snow Branch; Shaker Square Cinemas

TICKETS & INFO: $65-$80 for special event Aug. 24; $18 for opening night/reception, $11 evening films, $9 matinees. Call 216-831-0700, ext. 0 or email filmfest@mandeljcc.org. To buy passes, email mandeljcc.org/filmfest.

TICKET GIVEAWAY: Enter to win one of five pairs of tickets to the Mandel JCC Cleveland Jewish FilmFest at cjn.org/contest by Aug. 17. The names of winners will be announced Aug. 19.


Originally published in the Cleveland Jewish News on Aug. 4, 2016.

Lead image: A scene from “In Search of Israeli Cuisine,” which will screen Aug. 24 at the Peter B. Lewis Theatre at the Cleveland Institute of Art to celebrate the Cleveland Jewish FilmFest’s 10th anniversary. PHOTO | Menemsha Films

Cleveland Jewish Arts and Culture Lab’s ‘Homeland and Promised Land’ spotlights artwork from Cleveland, Israel and Russia

By Carlo Wolff

The work of 12 Greater Clevelanders, four Israelis from Beit Shean and five Russians from St. Petersburg will be on display starting May 9 at the Mandel Jewish Community Center in Beachwood. These artistic endeavors are the fruit of the Cleveland Jewish Arts and Culture Lab, a Mandel JCC program launched four years ago to broaden the notion of Jewish sensibility through art.

This year’s theme, “Homeland and Promised Land: The Importance of Cultural Zionism,” takes on a new dimension in light of the 20-year bond between sister cities Beit Shean and Cleveland, said Sara Hurand, who runs the program with Rabbi Zachary Truboff of Oheb Zedek-Cedar Sinai Synagogue in Lyndhurst.

Work by all the artists, who are fellows awarded cash stipends of $400 to $750, will be on display at the Mandel JCC. The artists from Israel and Russia won’t attend the opening, however, Hurand said.

“We have paintings, very short films, poems, a novel, mixed-media installations, batik — over 180 individual pieces of work,” she said. “We work with these Fellows for six months; Rabbi Truboff will touch on a current or biblical issue — modern politics, theology, philosophy.”

The program is open to “Jewishly identified people,” Hurand said, adding, “We look to have a group that represents a cross-section of our community,” from the ultra-Orthodox to Modern Reform.

Tamarah Long, a CJAC Fellow from Cleveland, created the installation, “She Dreams of Flowers.” Here’s part of her artistic statement:

“The world is complex but I hope these drawings and paintings give people the thought that perhaps gratitude is in order for this incredible homeland that lives not only in our minds, but for most of us that are at this show today, it is also our reality to be able to dream in color.

“As I continue to work on this project, I would like to work on a series of sepia-toned works that portray the journey and horror that exists for some refugees. This was very much on my mind, as I created this installation and as I studied the beautiful images in the Torah.” CV


Originally published in the Cleveland Jewish News on May 4, 2016.

Lead image: Tamarah Long at work on her “She Dreams of Flowers” installation. PHOTO | Ashley Hartman