“Rothschild & Sons”: A Musical about the Great Jewish Banking Family https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/arts-culture/2015/11/rothschild-sons-a-musical-about-the-great-jewish-banking-family/

November 3, 2015 | Gabriela Geselowitz
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In 1970, Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock, who had written the songs to Fiddler on the Roof, created another musical about a Jewish family—but this time about the Rothschilds, who became one of Europe’s wealthiest families in the early 19th century. Harnick collaborated in producing an updated version of the play, entitled Rothschild & Sons, now being performed in New York. Gabriela Geselowitz writes in her review:

Rothschild & Sons focuses on the family patriarch, Mayer Rothschild, and his origins as an ambitious young merchant living in the 18th-century Frankfurt ghetto. Anxious to make something of himself in a world that openly despises Jews, he marries, has five sons, and ultimately, by use of his quick wit and perseverance, transforms his family into an international banking empire—all while still looking for a way to tear down the ghetto walls.

This new production is surprisingly endearing, and . . . is leaner [than the original] in almost every way with a modest set, shrunken cast, and shortened running time. . . . Comparisons between Rothschild & Sons and Fiddler are inevitable, and these come to a head in the respective patriarchs. After all, both musicals use the lead’s familial relationships as an exploration of Jewishness. But while Tevye sees [traditional Jewish life as a source of] stability, Mayer Rothschild champs at the bit to leave the ghetto and join the larger world.

Read more on Tablet: http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/194450/the-rothschilds-return-to-new-york