OyChicago articles

The cast of The Kid from Brooklyn--The Danny Kaye Musical

Long before Adam Sandler and Sasha Baron Cohen became famous for their impersonations and manic comedic styles, there was Danny Kaye, a Jew from Brooklyn who made it big in Hollywood.

Born David Daniel Kaminsky, the son of an immigrant Ukrainian tailor, Kaye got his early experience as a comedian on the Borscht circuit of summer hotels and camps in the Catskills. After changing his name, Kaye made a name for himself when he became the first man to sing a song naming 54 Russian composers in 38 seconds in “Tchaikovsky,” from the Broadway musical “Lady in the Dark.” With the help of his wife, and composer-lyricist Sylvia Fine, Kaye went from an undisciplined improvisational comic, to a star on Broadway, in film and television and on radio. With his nimble tongue, goofy expressions and imitations, Kaye was undoubtedly an entertainer ahead of his time.

And from now through August 24, Chicago audiences can relive the life and career of Danny Kaye in, The Kid From Brooklyn—The Danny Kaye Musical. The production’s writer, director and producer, Peter Loewy, and Brian Childers, who stars in the production as Danny Kaye, have not only created a nostalgic retelling of the Kaye’s story, they have brought him back to life for the next generation.

“I have been obsessed with Danny Kaye since I was a young child growing up in New Jersey,” Loewy says. “I always wanted to put together something about his life, but I needed to find the right Danny.”

Then Loewy stumbled upon Childers who was selected by a director in Washington D.C. to play Kaye in another production, Danny and Sylvia.

“I did not seek out this role,” Childers says. “I like to say it sought me out.”

Childers prepared for the role using anything and everything he could get his hands on, watching Kaye’s movies, checking out You Tube clips and speaking with people who knew Kaye. Though capturing Kaye’s personality and gestures was a “mammoth task,” he said he loves and embraces the role.

“I don’t like to call it an impersonation,” Childers says. “I’m trying to capture his very essence, to bring Danny to life.”

Deciding just how to bring Danny Kaye back to life on stage was another mammoth task, considering his expansive and incredible repertoire.

“How do you put 74 years into a two and a half hour production?” Loewy says. “We focused on classic songs and classic sketches, and at the same time developed a story around the darker side of Danny Kaye and showed how his wife, Sylvia Fine, drove him in the right direction.”

In addition to highlighting Kaye’s career, the show also sheds light on his personal life, particularly his manic behavior and depression, and makes subtle reference to his longtime affair with fellow actress Eve Arden, and even alludes to a romantic relationship with Lawrence Olivier.

Later in life, Loewy said, Kaye reconnected with his Jewish roots and also became very active with UNICEF. “In Hollywood, it became a very assimilated lifestyle for him,” he says. But After the Six Day War, he became a staunch supporter of Israel, turning down a performance with Olivier in London to stay in Israel after the war. He also won a Peabody award for his portrayal of a Holocaust survivor in the TV movie “Skokie,”

“I think that was the pinnacle for him of his career and, in the end, he really found his Jewishness,” Loewy said.

Kaye’s story is connecting with Jewish audiences all over the country, and this is why Loewy chose to bring the production to Chicago.

“I thought with the Jewish population here that it would be the perfect place to try the show again; the audience response has been better than ever,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of kids see the show here and they love it. In Chicago it’s the youngest audience we’ve seen—we’re really crossing over the (age) barrier.”

Directed by Loewy, with book by Mark Childers and Loewy and musical direction by Charlie Harrison and David Cohen, The Kid From Brooklyn stars Helen Hayes Award Winner Childers as Danny Kaye and Karin Leone as Sylvia Vine, with Christina Purcell and Adam LeBow. The show was first produced in Ft. Lauderdale and the Chicago engagement follows a sell-out run in Los Angeles. After leaving Chicago, the production will head to Palm Desert, California, and hopefully will debut in New York in the spring of 2009.

The Kid From Brooklyn is now playing at the Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport Avenue. Tickets are priced at $42.50 for Wednesday and Thursday performances and $48.50 for performances Friday through Sunday and are available by phone at (773) 325-1700 or online at  www.thekidfrombrooklynmusical.com .