Saturday Night Seder: My Favorite Moments

Cynthia Erivo and Stephen Schwartz perform "When You Believe" from the Prince of Egypt (Saturday Night Seder screenshot)
Cynthia Erivo and Stephen Schwartz perform "When You Believe" from the Prince of Egypt (Saturday Night Seder screenshot)

As I spoke with my mother over the phone, she shared her plans to watch Saturday Night Seder live on YouTube this past Saturday. Curious, I asked her about it. The event was made up of an all-star cast of Hollywood celebrities, talented writers, editors and sound mixers who decided to get together and put on an entertaining Passover-themed event from their own homes to raise money for the CDC Foundation’s Coronavirus Emergency Response Fund.

That sounded pretty fabulous to me, so I cleared my schedule and got set up to live-text with my Mom about it. Although I admit the show was on mute for part of the time since I was multitasking, I enjoyed a delightful array of Jewish, Jewish-adjacent and thoroughly American treats all in the service of the Passover message of freedom and supporting those who need it very much right now. I’d like to share a non-exhaustive list of my favorite things about the show. Enjoy and catch it here.

  • Broadway’s beloved Idina Menzel singing the Four Questions. Enough said.
  • A hilarious “Queer Eye for the Sinai” skit with style expert Tan France advising a very confused Israelite (played by Beanie Feldstein) how to fashionably prepare for 40 years in the desert (“A herringbone scarf??”)
  • Live texting back and forth with my Mom while watching (Mom: Billy Porter! <3; Me: Billy!!!)
  • Pride that so many of the performers have been involved with the Oshman Family JCC in some way. Comedian Jason Alexander performed here on December 1, speechwriter and author Sarah Hurwitz graced us with her presence in September, and Stephen Schwartz’s The Prince of Egypt musical premiered at TheatreWorks in 2017 with a special performance by the OFJCC Community Choir.

Even in the midst of darkness, this program gave me a little smile on my face and, that, my friends, is a Passover miracle.

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Andrea Longini

Written by Andrea Longini

Andrea Longini calls herself the Communications Manager at the OFJCC. She also calls her family long distance in Pittsburgh and her in-laws even longer distance in Belgium. She believes part of living fully is staying in touch with people you care about. An example of how this can be done is by sending them links to meaningful blog posts. Now that's what she calls communicating!

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