Curt Schleier is a freelance writer and author who covers business and the arts for a variety of publications. Follow him on Twitter at @tvsoundoff.
Curt Schleier
By Curt Schleier
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49 Reasons Why 2016 Wasn't as Bad as You Think Falsettos
The best play I saw on Broadway this year was the revival of “Falsettos.” From its opening number, “Four Jews in a Room Bitching,” to its tear-inducing bar mitzvah denouement, it is also the most haimish. “Falsettos” tells a story of love and family in the late 20th Century and it resonates as clearly today…
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The Schmooze Josh Radnor Talks Leaving Ted Mosby Behind and Why Jews Love Theatre
(JTA) — Josh Radnor is starring these days in Richard Greenberg’s off-Broadway play “The Babylon Line.” For the 42-year-old actor, it is the latest in a long and impressive list of credits. However, the odds are that no matter what else he accomplishes in life, for most people he will always be Ted Mosby, the…
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Life Nina Tassler, Jewish-Latina Entertainment Exec and Activist, Shares Her Stories
“I’m a feminist,” Nina Tassler said. “I’m sure you can gather that from our conversation.” She’s right, of course. Figuring that out, in fact, was a no brainer. Our phone conversation, as many do recently, started with politics, and make no mistake about it: she was With Her. “I come from a long line of…
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Culture 50 Years Later, Israel’s Basketball Hero Tal Brody Remembers His Glory Days
It’s been almost 50 years, but people still stop Tal Brody on the streets of Israel and shake his hand. Or they wave and smile from a distance, all hoping to make contact with a national hero. Brody helped snap the country out of its deep funk following the 1972 Olympic Massacre and the 1973…
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Food IDF Prepares Israeli for Heat of NY Kitchens
When he was a youngster, Moshe Grundman and his father, Chaim, would begin preparations for the Sabbath on Friday morning. They’d wend their way through Jerusalem’s Mehane Yehuda market in search of fresh produce and pastries for that evening’s meal. These memories that still bring a smile to Grundman’s face. We’re sitting in his sleek…
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The Schmooze This Former Nebbish Can Help You Become Super Popular — Like Him
To give you an idea of how uncool Jon Levy was as a kid, know this: His first kiss was in first grade, when he was a student at the Abraham Joshua Heschel School on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. His second kiss? Well, that happened during his freshman year in college. Now, however, Levy has…
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Food Why PBS’s ‘Hugs and Knishes’ Left Me Cold and Hungry
Public television has a pretty good idea of which side its donations are buttered on. So when it’s fundraising time, the network rolls out Jewish-themed documentaries: “Life in the Jewish Bronx,” “Life in the Shtetl” and “Life in Jewish Brooklyn.” (As a Bronxite, I have to wonder what kind of life that possibly could have…
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Culture Adam Kirsch Read the Classics of Jewish Literature So You Don’t Have To
Here are some fun facts from Adam Kirsch’s “The People and the Books: 18 classics of Jewish Literature.” The name Esther is actually a Persian form of Istar, a Middle Eastern goddess of fertility, love and war — an unusual mix, even for a higher being. Before he decided to go with his concept of…
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