The average shul has seen many a Purimspiel and Chanucah play rehearsed within its walls, but 24-year-old Ilai Szpiezak has upped the ante for Alyth Synagogue by inviting West End performers on to its stage to rehearse his new fringe production in nearby Highgate.
The young musical producer is bringing The Goodbye Girl to Upstairs at the Gatehouse, an intimate 120-seat theatre in Highgate Village, for the first London revival of the show in 18 years. The Argentinian-born dancer moved to London in 2011 to help manage the Israeli Dance Institute. Since then he has taught Israeli dancing in numerous synagogues and Jewish schools across the UK.
In the four years he has been here, Szpiezak has set up a dance organisation, Ilai Dance, and started his own production company. For The Goodbye Girl revival, he hired Jewish director Adam Lenson, associate director for Olivier-award winning Merrily We Roll Along, whom he met when Lenson came to speak during his time at CSSD. Their leading lady, Rebecca Bainbridge, who performed in the West-End productions of Mamma Mia and Cabaret, is also Jewish.
"I am Jewish, the director is Jewish and having Jewish names in a Jewish area in a theatre that was producing musicals made sense," he said.
Szpiezak attributes the number of West End credited people in his fringe production to the show's having been more or less "forgotten" over the past few years, leading to a keen desire to revive it. "The male lead is being played by Paul Keating, a two-time Olivier award nominee, and I was very surprised that he was in our show, which is in an off-West-End venue, but he was looking forward to working with me to bring back the musical.
"For me, it was important to get someone like him to come to the Gatehouse. He was interested because The Goodbye Girl hasn't been done in London in almost 20 years. It is an opportunity for us to bring it to new audiences and to create, not just a revival, but a new production of a beautiful show."
The musical, based on the 1977 film, tells the comedic story of an out-of-work New York dancer who ends up flat-sharing with a struggling off-Broadway actor. The original screenplay and musical score were penned by Jewish Broadway stalwarts Neil Simon and Marvin Hamlisch.
'The Goodbye Girl 'is at Upstairs at the Gatehouse, February 4-28. For details, call 020 8340 3488.