In the Press

For Immediate Release
Contact: Peter Gorin
(914) 674-9420
angorapro@aol.com

A Tasty Nosh For Your Ears: "Goys and Dolls"

Here's a new recipe to try: take "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," dip it in schmaltz, wrap it in the glorious Frank Loesser score of "Guys and Dolls," and serve it in a CD for Hanukkah, Purim or family circle meetings -- with maybe a little gefilte fish on the side.

Part Purimspiel parody, part social commentary and all heart (plus a touch of heartburn), "Goys and Dolls: A Parable for Our Times" is the brainchild of noted television and film director Michael Lange. Perhaps best known for his work on the small screen, directing award-winning episodes of "Northern Exposure" and "Life Goes On," and many other shows, running the gamut from A to X ("Ally McBeal" to "The X-Files"), with this project Lange was able to indulge his lifelong love of song parodies.

"Goys and Dolls" is a professionally produced and performed, fully orchestrated rendition of nearly the entire score of "Guys and Dolls," furnished with new lyrics that tell the touching story of Jerome Schwartzberg, a nice Jewish boy who strays, thinking he'd be happier as a "goy" (gentile), dating a "shiksa" (gentile woman). With the help of his loving if slightly overbearing family and a hyperactive "shadchen" (matchmaker), he finds his way back to the fold.

In "Goys and Dolls," "Nathan Detroit" turns into "Good Old Reliable Mitchell," Jerome's better-behaving brother, who "read his whole Haftorah portion -- and you did not!" To the lilting tune of "(I Love You) A Bushel and a Peck," Jerome's Uncle Lou, who is in the fruit business, admonishes him, "Don’t confuse a bushel mit a peck!" Other lyrics feature rhymes that would make Allen Sherman proud: for example, "will kiss" is paired with "shpilkes" (nervousness).

"Goys and Dolls" is a true labor of love, in which Lange was able to bring together longtime friends, who also happen to be talented musicians and artists. "I wanted to work on something I could do from home -- not on location -- that was fulfilling creatively, and with people I care about," he says. Staying close to home was particularly important. Lange has three children, ages 7 through 12, and a major reason he chose to do this project was for them: "I wanted to set a good example for my kids -- to let them see their dad take a wacky idea, something he really wanted to do for the joy of it, and make it happen."

The CD is available for individual and wholesale purchase through the production's web site, www.sillymusic.com, which also features MP3 samples of the music, an abbreviated Yiddish dictionary featuring words used in the lyrics, and a plot summary, as well as a "joke of the week." Special arrangements can be made to use the CD as a fund-raiser.

Lange vows that there are more to come. In the works are "Macaroon" (Brigadoon), "Oy Rita" (Evita), "Oyklahoma" (Oklahoma) and "Annie Get The Goyim" (Annie Get Your Gun) -- not to mention "My Fair Sadie."

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