Thursday, June 3, 2010

Dan Plonsey's Avant-Garde Multimedia Bar Mitzvah, After 38 Years


Composer and saxophonist Dan Plonsey, 51, should have become a Bar Mitzvah 38 years ago.  But he was not raised within a context of traditional ritual, and his 13th year passed without the ceremony. 

When his son began to prepare for his own Bar Mitzvah, Plonsey was inspired to join his son by preparing for his own, and to create a multimedia musical theater piece about the experience. The resulting work asks profound questions about the goals, meaning, and expectations of traditional ritual in a post-modern world.

Dan Plonsey’s Bar Mitzvah, an exploration with choreographer Eric Kupers and the Dandelion Dancetheater of the meaning of ceremony and the transition to adulthood, was commissioned by the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Music Festival.

It's scheduled to open on July 11 as part of the 25th Jewish Music Festival at the Contemporary Jewish Museum at 736 Mission Street in San Francisco.

If you're not going to be in San Francisco in July, here's a preview of the show.  It's a Bar Mitzvah like you've never seen.  Enjoy!

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