Global praise for Stanmore shul’s ‘Les Miserabbis’
Stanmore and Canon Park Shul’s Purim production Les Miserabbis has received global praise, being lauded by an American blog as “without qualification, the funniest Jewish parody we have ever seen.”
A video of the production, which was performed in Stanmore’s Freeman Sussman Hall at Purim, has gained over 26,000 hits on YouTube from countries as far-flung as Azerbaijan, United Arab Emirates and South Korea.
A shul in Toronto and another in South Africa have made enquiries about putting the production on for themselves.
Written and directed by TV Director David Coleman, the play parodies the French musical Les Miserables, instead taking on the story of a boy’s disastrous bar mitzvah.
One YouTube viewer remarked, ‘Who knew that Stanmore is exactly like Hong Kong? Fabulous!’ while an American fan said, ‘Bravo!!! Glad it made its way to me in Brooklyn, USA – seems we are all the same!’
The production also pokes fun at regular goings-on in the shul, with lyrics such as ‘Stand up, sit down, that’s all we seem to do!’
David Coleman, who spent seven years working on Question Time and produced Kate and William’s royal wedding for ITV and Sky, is thrilled with the praise.
“I am amazed at the reaction here and round the world. It made us all laugh during rehearsals, and it even makes my wife laugh when I sing her bits!”
Watch the video here:
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