All-Star Team Brings Brundibar Opera to South Orange

The Sister Rose Thering Fund at Seton Hall University has organized a performance of the Holocaust-era opera, “Brundibar” at the South Orange Performing Arts Center April 12 at 8 p.m.

“Brundibar,” written as a children’s opera in 1938 Czechoslovakia, tells the story of two children who are prevented from bringing their sick mother milk by the villain Brundibar. With the help of the forest animals and villagers, they chase Brundibar away from their village and help their mother. The opera was premiered at a Jewish orphanage in Prague, and was later performed during World War II by children imprisoned at the concentration camp Theresienstadt, in what is today the Czech Republic.

“It’s a universal tale,” Jason Tramm, Artistic Director for the New Jersey State Opera and conductor of “Brundibar,” explains. “The message is simple: together we are strong. And the fact that it’s told through a children’s fairy tale, another universal theme, is beautiful.”

Tramm is conducting a cast of soloists and chorus members from the Newark Boys Chorus School and from Mount Saint Mary Academy, an all-girls Catholic school in Watchung. This production of “Brundibar” is directed by actor, writer and composer Daniel Neiden, and orchestrated by Charles Czarnecki, who conducted and arranged much of the music for the Broadway musical “Jersey Boys.”

Luna Kaufman, one-time Director of the Sister Rose Thering Fund at Seton Hall and a Holocaust survivor, is the show’s producer.

Kaufman was president of the New Jersey State Opera in 1988 when “Brundibar” was performed there. Kaufman said the performance went so well, she wanted to do it again.

“I wanted to do this new production with the Sister Rose Thering Fund,” Kaufman said. “And I asked Jason Tramm, Daniel Neiden, and Charles Czarnecki, who are three top professionals, to do it with me. They are really high-caliber people.”

Also featured as part of the night’s events, Holocaust survivor Ella Weissberger will be given Seton Hall University’s Humanitarian of the Year Award. Weissberger played the role of the Cat while imprisoned in the concentration camps.

“Ella is unbelievable,” Kaufman said. “She does a lot of promotion for ‘Brundibar.’ No matter where in the world they call her, she goes.”

Kaufman herself is used to promoting both “Brundibar” and speaking about her experiences. She released her memoirs, “Luna’s Life” in May 2009. She said that the book talks a lot about her work in strengthening the relationships between Jews and Christians.

“I always say to remember the Holocaust is not enough,” Kaufman said. “We have to act on it to really make it better.”

Her action, Kaufman said, has been to further the friendship between Jewish and Christian faiths, especially through organizations like the Sister Rose Thering Fund.

“The Fund was created to build scholarships for teachers who would teach Jewish-Christian relations” she said. “The aim has always been to prevent bullying, and to help others find that there is a unity, a friendship between the Jews and the Christians.”

Tramm also said that taking part in this production of “Brundibar” meant something more than just putting on a performance.

“I’ve built my career in New Jersey doing serious opera,” Tramm said. “This is a chance to do something fun with kids.”

Kaufman said that the benefit performance sold out.

“I wish we could have done two performances, because we would have sold out two,” Kaufman said.

She said she expected mostly adults to attend the benefit, but because “Brundibar” is a children’s opera and children are the heroes of the story, there will be a performance the following day at 11 a.m. for children from nearby schools.

“SOPAC is a very intimate space, which is good, because this is an intimate show,” Tramm said. “It’s a very beautiful pairing between space and show.”