Something very exciting is coming to the Jewish Center of East Hampton on Sunday, June 28, at 4pm when Gideon Evans and Jill Abramovitz present their show, Borscht Belt Serenade. They describe it as part cabaret, and part Ted Talk, with a whisper of Bar Mitzvah. The show is written by Gideon Evans (who produced for “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”) and Broadway’s Jill Abramovitz (Beetlejuice, Fiddler, and more), and performed by Abramovitz.
On top of her impressive Broadway credits, this isn’t Abramovitz’s first foray into the Borscht Belt. The actress portrayed Stevie in the Catskills resort episodes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She was also on the show Chicago Med and others.
“Borscht Belt Serenade“ was originally commissioned by the Borscht Belt Museum in Ellenville, NY. The show takes the audience on a journey through the decades, exploring how the Catskills started as a safe space for vacationers at the turn of the 20th century. Eventually, the Catskills ended up as a vibrant and influential seat of American entertainment. Well known for its comedy, the Catskills area was also fertile ground for music: some of the country’s most prominent vocalists, composers, lyricists, and songs came out of this beloved upstate New York getaway.
In a conversation with Hamptons.com, Evans and Abramovitz were forthcoming about doing this show. “It’s almost like pleasing the ancestors, in a way,” Evans says, with Abramovitz laughing in agreement. “My late mother is smiling somewhere.”
Abramovitz talked about the smattering of Yiddish in the show and why that’s personal: “My mother was born in a displaced person’s camp. She and my grandparents came to America speaking only Yiddish.“
Abramovitz and Evans felt it was important to create a show about a historical period that feels vibrant and fun. The show is imbued with warmth and humanity. “One thing I love,“ Abramovitz said, “is that we wrote it in person, in coffee shops, not just over Zoom. We tried to make each other laugh.”
Abramovitz continued, “We don’t want to assume that the audience comes in knowing anything, or to make anyone feel alienated.“ During the show, she sings renditions of popular songs from the 1920s like “My Yiddishe Mama“ and “Makin’ Whoopee, all the way through the end of the 20th century. “We want to bring them in and introduce them to this wonderful part of American history, while also acknowledging that some of them already know a lot.”
“It’s a very welcoming show,” Abramovitz continued, “First of all, for people who know the material, there’s so much emotional attachment to it.“ She explained that instantly, you can see both the response and how people connect. “They want to weigh in, sing along, and to be reminded of this magical time upstate… They come up to us after to connect about the material.”
Evans has a special long-time connection to both the Hamptons and The Jewish Center of the Hamptons. He said. “I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, but I have spent a lot of time out on the East End. My late parents bought a house in the Springs area of East Hampton about sixty years ago, before I was born. My mother was a high school teacher and my father a philosophy professor. So even though we lived in Brooklyn, they had every summer off. I basically grew up out here.”
As for the Jewish Center? He said, “I went to their day camp, which was a blast, and we would also go to High Holy Days services and some Friday nights. Bringing the show to the JCOH is a full-circle moment for me. And I can’t wait to share it out here.”
