Chutzpah! Festival launches 24th edition with Ukrainian klezmer stars, a 1938-set ode to censored cabaret, and more
This year’s lineup ranges from comedy by Juno Award–winner Jacob Samuel to a dance world premiere by Livona Ellis and Rebecca Margolick
Kommuna Lux. Photo by Maria Dmytrenko
THE CHUTZPAH! FESTIVAL has just announced the lineup for its 24th-annual edition, which is set to take place this fall from November 1 to 10. Spanning performances by Ukrainian klezmer sensations Kommuna Lux, Vancouver’s Ne.Sans Opera & Dance, and beyond, the event is a showcase of music, theatre, comedy, dance, film, and multimedia arts programmed through a multicultural Jewish lens.
This year’s festival will unfold at various venues, including a main hub at the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre within the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, as well as the Scotiabank Dance Centre and The Pearl.
Kommuna Lux will launch the lineup on November 2 at 7 pm at The Pearl, presented in partnership with Caravan World Rhythms. Performing its signature “Odessa Urban Folk” style with thrilling klezmer and danceable gangster folk from its members’ hometown of Odessa, Ukraine, the award-winning group delivers joyful songs and melodies with a vibrant multicultural twist.
On November 5, Israel’s Yamma Ensemble will perform music that draws on a catalogue of ancient Hebrew traditions, tribal singing, and Jewish chants. The five-member troupe has mastered everything from the duduk (a double-reed woodwind instrument traditionally made from apricot wood) and shofar (an ancient horn) to the bansuri, ney, fujara, and didgeridoo (all wind instruments), as well as the kopuz and oud (both fretless string instruments). The Yamma Ensemble will also perform a matinee show on November 4 for school and senior’s groups.
Yamma Ensemble. Photo by Ruth Luar
Oklahoma-born, Texas-raised, and now New Orleans-based multi-instrumentalist Mark Rubin will bring his one-man show Jew of Oklahoma to the stage on November 6. With a larger-than-life persona and a career that spans more than four decades strong, Rubin’s sound sits right in the pocket of American traditional music, tapping into an impressive range of genres like country, Western swing, bluegrass, Cajun, Tex-Mex, Romani, polka, and klezmer.
In partnership with The Dance Centre, Chutzpah! will present a dance double-bill of world premieres on November 8 and 9: Livona Ellis and Rebecca Margolick’s Fortress, which explores an ever-evolving relationship to femininity, and Idan Cohen of Ne.Sans Opera & Dance’s About Time, a continuation through Philip Glass’s solo piano études performed by pianist Leslie Dala with dancers Will Jessup and Benjamin DeFaria.
In the realm of comedy, Juno Award–winning Vancouver comedian Jacob Samuel will headline Big Talk, a side-splitting evening of hometown laughs hosted by Kyle Berger, on November 1. Jeremy Goldstein will offer the Canadian premiere of his multimedia storytelling show Truth to Power Café on November 3; by asking Vancouverites the question, “Who has power over you, and what do you want to say to them?”, Goldstein crafts a reflection on loss, hope, and resilience through a mix of stories, imagery, film, poetry, and music.
Gimpel the Fool Returns to Poland.
On November 9 and 10, New York Times bestselling author Michael Wex will present his theatre show The Last Night at the Cabaret Yitesh (di letste nakht baym yitesh), which takes place in 1938 Warsaw when the censor’s office decides to shut down performances of the Yiddish-language “Cabaret Yitesh”. The performers bravely deliver an extra-uproarious production that night in protest, pulling out all the stops with previously censored material and famous skits. A cast of international actors from Germany, Austria, the U.S., and Canada deliver this show.
There will also be a film screening at this year’s festival, copresented with the Vancouver Jewish Film Festival on November 4: Gimpel the Fool Returns to Poland by Howard Rypp (artistic director of Nephesh Theatre in Israel), which traces Nobel-prize laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer’s escape from the Holocaust through a stage adaptation of his short story Gimpel the Fool.
Keep an eye out for artist conversations throughout the festival, which will take place following select shows at the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre in the neighbouring Sidney & Gertrude Zack Gallery.
Individual tickets and ChutzPacks of four tickets are now on sale through the Chutzpah! Festival website. 
Related Articles
