Ghost on Broadway

Last night I saw the new Broadway show Ghost, together with my wife Cari and Steve and Marlene Goldstein. We thought it was wonderful.

The female star of the show, Caissie Levy, grew up in Hamilton, Ontario and was our camper at Ramah Canada in the 1990’s. Caissie credits her leading roles in her edah plays as having given her the desire and confidence to pursue a career in theater (read more).

All four of us have spent many years as staff at Ramah Canada, and in the 1990’s, Caissie was our camper and then a madricha, always starring in her edah play.

When Cari and I saw her two years ago on Broadway starring in Hair, after the play she proudly exclaimed to us “I played this exact role (female lead – Sheila) at camp 10 years ago in Magshimim, but then it was all in Hebrew!”

Backstage at Ghost: Marlene Noveck, Caissie Levy, Mitch Cohen, Cari Cohen

Last night we went to see Caissie after the play but the stage door was well guarded with others waiting to see cast members. I told the guard that I was her camp director, and gave him a Ramah hat to give to her. He wasn’t impressed. So I told him that I was also her rabbi, and he immediately took the hat and let us back into the theater. After a few minutes Caissie greeted us and took us up to her beautiful dressing room, and we spoke for a while about her and her recent marriage, how much we enjoyed the play, and even reminisced about camp and other Ramah Canada alumni living in New York.

I asked Caissie if we could do a Ramah alumni event around one of her
performances, perhaps getting a large group to attend the show and then stay for a post-performance reception with Caissie. She agreed, so we’ll try to arrange that. Stay tuned!