Sing Hallelujah returns to Verizon Hall for its third year on the Kimmel Center Cultural Campus. This year’s program will celebrate the many Jewish composers and lyricists who have written for the American stage and fundamentally shaped the modern musical as we know it today. Many congregations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey will come together as one large choir for one night only. We are excited to let music be the force that can bring the Jewish communities together for an evening of voices raised in harmony!
The program theme for our 2020 show is Jewish Voices for the Stage. The evening will feature the music of luminary songwriters such as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, Sheldon Harnick, Stephen Schwartz, and Leonard Bernstein. The concert will also give a special tribute to the glorious contributions of Stephen Sondheim in celebration of his 90th birthday.
As special guests, we are pleased to share that the performance will feature the stars from Broadway’s current revival of Fiddler on the Roof, which is performed in Yiddish. Steven Skybell, who currently portrays Tevye, and Jennifer Babiak, who plays Golde, will both be featured singing selections from the popular production with our Philadelphia choirs. Check out a video of them doing “Do You Love Me?” from the show here
Sing Hallelujah is led by music director and conductor Cantor David F. Tilman. Cantor Tilman, a graduate of Columbia College, Miller Cantorial School of the Jewish Theological Seminary, and the Juilliard School, is Cantor Emeritus of Beth Sholom Congregation and choir director of Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel of Elkins Park.
Participating choirs include:
Adult Choir of Congregation Rodeph Shalom, Cantor Erin Frankel, Conductor
Beth El Adult Choir, Cantor Alisa Pomerantz-Boro and Cantor Leon Sher, Conductors
Cantors Assembly of the Delaware Valley Ensemble, Cantor Arlyne Unger, President, Cantor David F. Tilman, Conductor
Choirs of the Old York Road Kehillah/Jewish Community, Cantor David F. Tilman, Music Director:
- Beth Sholom Congregation, Congregation Adath Jeshurun, Congregation Kol Ami, Old York Road Temple-Beth Am, Ohev Shalom of Bucks County, Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel
Keystone State Boychoir and New Jersey Boychoir, Steven M. Fisher, Founder and Music Director
Kol Shira: The M'kor Shalom Choir, Cantor/Dr. Rhoda J. Harrison, Director
Makhelat Beth Sholom, Temple Beth Sholom, Cantor Jen Cohen and Robert A.M. Ross, Conductors
Sharim V’Sharot: People of Song, Dr. Elayne Robinson, Grossman, Music Director
Special guests:
Steven Skybell
Steven Skybell most recently starred as Tevye in the acclaimed production of Joel Grey’s Fiddler on The Roof in Yiddish, for which he received the 2019 Lucille Lortel award. Broadway: 2016 Fiddler on the Roof; Pal Joey; Wicked; The Full Monty; Love! Valour!, Compassion!; Cafe Crown; Ah, Wilderness! Off-Broadway: Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish; Babette's Feast; Cymbeline; Antigone in New York (Obie Award). Other: Camelot (Helen Hayes nomination); Broken Glass, Caucasian Chalk Circle (both, Connecticut Critics Circle nomination); Henry V (Shakespeare's Globe, London). TV/Film: Blue Bloods, Elementary, Chicago PD, Cradle Will Rock, Simply Irresistible, Arthur Miller's Everybody Wins, and many others.
Jennifer Babiak
Jennifer Babiak is thrilled to be a part of Sing Hallelujah! Jennifer’s credits include: Broadway: Fiddler on the Roof Off Broadway: Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish (Golde) Tours: West Side Story (Maria), Grease (Sandy) Evita (Mistress) Favorite Regional/Other: My Fair Lady (Eliza), Jekyll and Hyde (Emma), Lincoln in Love (Mary Todd) Graduate of NYU Steinhardt. Special thanks and love to family, friends and husband Michael.