Long before Matisyahu made Orthodox Judaism hip, there was Shlomo Carlebach. This “Rock Star Rabbi,” whose accessible brand of Jewish music made him an unlikely pop star in the 1960s, is the subject of the ambitious new musical “Soul Doctor.”
Spanning 50 years (1938 to 1988), the show depicts Carlebach’s event-filled life, from his childhood in Vienna, where his family witnessed the horrors of Kristallnacht to his emergence as a countercultural icon in 1960s Berkeley, Calif.
A recurring theme throughout is his unlikely friendship with the black singer Nina Simone, the “High Priestess of Soul,” with whom he formed a deep connection via their shared love of music and their respective peoples’ history of persecution.
Unfortunately, the book by Daniel S. Wise, who also directed, tries to pack far too much into the proceedings, resulting in a choppy, episodic structure that often resembles a pageant rather than a cohesive musical. And the overlong section depicting Carlebach’s interactions with the flower-power hippies threatens to turn into a parody of “Hair.”
The show is most effective in its quieter moments, such as the wonderfully written and performed scene depicting Carlebach and Simone’s first meeting at a jazz club, where she’s performing numbers such as “I Put a Spell on You.”
Fueling the evening are the nearly three dozen songs, most of them featuring Carlebach’s infectious melodies with new lyrics by David Schechter. Their joyousness demonstrates the reasons for the performer’s success, which resulted in some 25 albums.
Eric Anderson beautifully suggests Carlebach’s soft-spoken, gentle appeal, as well as the charisma that jolted him to stardom. Besides his excellent singing, he’s especially moving in depicting the performer’s constant struggle to reconcile his progressive brand of Judaism with his traditional beliefs.
Erica Ash is equally superb as Simone, whether quietly conveying the singer’s fierce dignity or delivering stunning versions of signature classics such as “Sinnerman.”
“Soul Doctor,” which features a cast of 19 performers and highly accomplished staging, clearly has its eyes on bigger things than this limited off-Broadway run. And with some theatrical soul doctoring of its own, it may well get there.