The Weekly Schmooze: A very Broadway Pessah

Jewish culture news worldwide: "Wicked", "Les Misraebles;" DIY gangsta haggada; Obama's fake-mustache options.

MARCH 21, 2013 15:06

weekly schmooze 311 (photo credit: Courtesy) — weekly schmooze 311

(photo credit: Courtesy)

Pessah is coming up, and you know what that means – lots of funny YouTube videos!

First, we have two treats treat for all the Jewish show-tune fans out there.

A holiday parody video collection wouldn't be complete without a contribution from the Maccabeats, and this year, they decided not to change the words to their beautiful a capella medley of songs from Les Misrables. Instead, the Yeshiva University glee club highlighted the parallels between Jean Valjean's tribulations with Moses' in the Exodus story.

Of course, The Maccabeats weren't the first to connect Les Misrables to Pessah. The Schmooze featured a Shalom Sesame spoof on the hit musical two years ago:

Wicked meets Pessah in this ode to pre-holiday cleaning, set to the tune of "Popular."

Six13 took a different path to holiday musical parody: Pop music. The group combined "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore, "Bye, Bye, Bye" by *NSYNC and The O'Jays' "Love Train" for a Pessah song hat trick.

It wouldn't be a Jewish holiday with Jaquann and Luis, otherwise known as the gangsta Jews of Bubala Please, with a cameo appearance by US President Barack Obama. The two prepare some "Passover munchies," and get to eat corn in their unique, foul-mouthed way.

If you want to custom-make your own haggada, the Bubala Please crew, joined by Israeli comedian Iris Bahr as her Russian prostitute character Svetlana, have your back. Whether you're Orthodox, Conservative, Reform or a "pragmatic nihilist," from Japan, Sweden or India, Jaquann and Luis have options for you.

Pessah isn't here yet, and in the meanwhile, Israel is focused on Obama's visit to Israel. Last week, he told Channel 2 News' Yonit Levi that he would love to put on a fake mustache so he can hang out in a Tel Aviv café. Well, Esquire magazine has him covered. If you see a man looking like any of these pictures in Tel Aviv, it's POTUS.