Café Named Desire 2020
A video recording of the musical as performed in its first ever run back in 2018 will be available for streaming as part of the Online Fringe Festival (OFF) for a week between the 11th-17th of May.
“Café Named Desire” (previously known as "Jew You Love Me?") is an original new musical about love, sexuality, and self discovery. It is a lighthearted musical comedy conceived by the JEWish Cabaret, and is the first musical written by Djemal & Shamai following their successful cabaret productions in previous years.
A previous iteration of "Café Named Desire" premiered in July 2018 under the title - "Jew You Love Me?" at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre and received very positive reviews. "Jew You Love Me?" subsequently toured Israel following an invitation from the International Festival of Contemporary Jewish Culture in Jerusalem in November 2018.
We have since made some rewrites to the book, music, and lyrics, with the view to produce a full run of the musical in autumn or the beginning of next year following a few table-reads and an R&D prior to a full production.
We are currently working on taking the show forward and we will soon have exciting news to share about the musical's future!
If you want to be among the first to know - you're welcome to sign up to our mailing list:
The Trailer
GOD IS LOVE
Check out the official trailer for ‘Jew You Love Me? - A New Musical’ following our sold out run at the Lion and Unicorn last month!
Our cast and crew are working hard at making the show even better, and we should be able to release even more exciting news about where we are performing next shortly.
Want to be the first to know? Sign up to our mailing list and give us a follow on social media for all the latest updates!
We dedicated the song "God is Love" to the Jerusalem Equality March, and to all the Rabbis who have forgotten their obligation to love others as themselves.
The song describes the inner turmoil of Bracha, a young Orthodox woman facing the all too known supposed contradiction between her love of God and her love of women.
From the reviews
LONDON PUB THEATRES (Sepy Baghaei) “a little musical with a big heart”
"It is clear that Djemal and Shamai understand the ingredients of a successful musical. There is tension in each of the three major threads, broken up by a number of strong comedic interludes’.
Building on the music, there was an overall sense of joy, celebration and positivity throughout which was lovely to see.
Overall, The Jewish Cabaret have pulled off something quite special. Jew You Love Me? simultaneously delves into what it can mean to look for love as a member of the British-Jewish community, while presenting narratives that can also be related to by audience members of non-Jewish backgrounds."
The full review: http://pubtheatres1.tumblr.com/post/176450530692/jew-you-love-me-lion-and-unicorn-theatre-nw5/
breaking-the-fourth-wall.com (Michael Davis)
"Jew You Love Me? has the distinction of not only being a British musical, it focuses on the seldom explored subject of being Jewish in the UK – as part of society as a whole and within their own community. Set within Golders Green in north London, the fictitious nexus of this neighbourhood is a café called ‘Desire’."
The full review: https://breaking-the-fourth-wall.com/2018/07/29/jew-you-love-me-lion-and-unicorn-theatre-review/
www.londontheatre1.com (Chris Omaweng)
"Religious traditions are brought into question in Jew You Love Me?, a musical that ultimately sends out a message that ... Love expresses itself in many different ways, and various forms of sexual orientations and consented relationships all have their place in the modern world, and should be celebrated.
Because of the convincing plotlines, the show overall leaves its audiences with a mixture of feelings. This is not a straightforward comedy. It is more of a multi-layered tale of lust, love and loss... there is still much to be taken away from a compelling and accessible production that refreshingly departs from ‘A meets B and they live happily ever after in perpetual bliss’."
The full review: https://www.londontheatre1.com/reviews/jew-you-love-me-at-the-lion-and-unicorn-theatre-review/
Life in the cheap seats - Webcowgirl's London Theatre Reviews
"And LOOK, here I was in London in 2018, and the community that I am not a part of but which lives side by side with me is doing their own theater, theater that represents THEM, and I am having this opportunity to get to learn about another culture and other values and, look at Bracha, the same conflicts and heartaches that have been going on for centuries when you want to fit in, you want to do right, but you just can’t seem to live up to what is expected of you."
The full review: https://webcowgirl.wordpress.com/2018/07/29/review-jew-you-love-me-jewish-cabaret-theatre-at-the-lion-and-unicorn/
Team:
Writer / Director / Co-producer David is an actor who has performed professionally both in Israel & the UK. David studied acting at the Stella Adler Studio in New York as well as the Royal Academy of Music in London, graduating with distinction. Recent credits: Behrouz Boochani in CITIZEN (The Space Theatre) and Benny in SCOOP (The Rose Playhouse), as well as providing voice work for notable film & TV projects including ENTEBBE, THE CROWN (Netflix), and BBC’s McMAFIA.
Writer / Director / Co-producer Shar is a Musical Theatre performer and a voice teacher. He recently completed his second MA degree in music - MA Musical Theatre, at The Guildford School of Acting (GSA). Shar came to the UK after graduating with an MA in Classical Singing at the Jerusalem Academy of Music & Dance.
Assistant producer Anna trained in Italy as a performer at Accademia dello Spettacolo and she has a MA in Law. There she worked as a musical theatre teacher and as a performer. Credits include Nabucco, The Sound of Musical, Solo Chi Sogna and JCSS. She moved to London to do the MA in Musical Theatre at Goldsmiths. As freelance producer she worked on Under-the-Skin and Baby Love by Tik-sho-ret, she is Co-Producing Butterfly Lovers The Musical and Production Manager of Opera Co-Pro Ltd.
Co-writer Emily is a London based musical theatre writer. She is an alum of the Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program at Tisch, NYU, The CRY HAVOC Company apprenticeship program and Book, Music, Lyrics workshops in London. She is currently a participant in the Advance Mercury Musical Developments Workshop. www.songsofemilyrose.com . Composer-Lyricist credits include: The Inconvenient Miracle, Confessions of A Rabbi’s Daughter, Yet, My Mum. Composer credits include: Far From Heaven.
Musical Director:
Kieran Stallard
Cast:
Tanya trained at London School of Musical Theatre, and will be playing the roles of Hermione/Riversong in "Harry Poppers & Doctor Whosical - The Musical" at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2018. Musical Theatre credits: "The Inconvenient Miracle" at Theatre Royal Stratford East, BEAM 2018. "Rasputin Rocks!" at the Stockwell Playhouse, "You Won't Succeed on Broadway (If You Don't Have Any Jews!)" at the Garrick Theatre, and "Love Story" at The Union Theatre.
Originaly from Israel, Adi moved to the UK to follow her heart, her passion and her partner. Since coming to the UK in 2012 she appeared in several plays and musicals, including taking part in The JEWish Cabaret’s fundraiser evening in June 2017. She recently performed the double lead role of Charlotte Rosner / Bube in play Under the Skin that performed in The Old Red Lion Theatre in London this March. The play was received warmly by the audience and reviewers alike.
Martha recently graduated from the RAM, where she gained an Masters in Musical Theatre, she was awarded a DipRAM for exceptional performance in her industry showcase. Credits whilst training include Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd and Fosca in Passion both directed by Matt Ryan. Martha made her professional debut in November 2017 in the Union Theatre's Privates of Parade for which she was nominated for an OFFIE.
Born in Israel to British parents, Josh moved to London in 2006 to attend Arts Ed, from where he graduated from with a BA (Hons) in acting in 2009. Josh has since worked on stage - working with various companies including TNT & Menagerie Theatre, film (Woman in Gold) & TV (McMafia, Silent Witness). After much toil and agony, Josh finally found love when he met his wife-to-be Nomi. They are happily married for nearly two years, and parents to Mia, born March this year.
Ido Gonen moved to London, having graduated with honours from Beit-Zvi, Israel’s leading performing arts school and after completing a two-year run in the Tel-Aviv production of Mel Brooks’ The Producers. Credits in London include: Leon Czolgosz in All Star Production’s Assassins (Theatro Technis), Dino Valentino in Loving Art! (Landor). Vlad in Head – The musical (Keneth Moore). Ensemble in Me And My Girl and Crazy For You (London Palladium) and in Thoroughly Modern Millie (Adelphi).
Batel trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama as well as with 'The Bridge Theatre Company' and currently represented by MAA agency. Batel just completed a successful run of the play ‘Under the Skin’ as Ida Berman /Dr Schmidt /Cabaret host at Brighton Fringe Festival & The Old Red Lion Theatre as well as at Camden Fringe festival & 'Women and War' festival last year. Batel just finished filming a role in the upcoming Irish TV series ‘Finding Joy’.
Alex Ayliffe has just completed his training at Rose Bruford College, on the BA Acting Course. He was recently lucky enough to work with Frantic Assembly on their production of Fatherland at the Lyric Hammersmith. Originally from the North West of England, Alex is very excited to get cracking in the industry, and cannot wait to share the amazing story of Jew You Love Me?
Ashley Racov is thrilled to once again be working with The JEWish Cabaret on their second 'Purim Cabaret'. Having spent many years training abroad, she returned to the UK to further develop her skills by training at Southampton Solent University. Other than working on this incredible show, Ashley is also continuing to develop her own writing as well as working on the Fringe sell out show 'Harry Poppers and the Deathly Swallows' which is on its way back to the Edinburgh Fringe.
Jack Train The Royal Academy of Music and the National Youth Music Theatre. Credits include: Assassins (Pleasance Islington), Gate (Cockpit Theatre, Marylebone), Original Casts of Brass (Leeds City Varieties, Winner of the UK Theatre Award for Best Musical Production 2014) and Prodigy (St James Theatre), The Ragged Child (Rose Theatre, Kingston), Rites (Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh). ). Jack can also be heard on the Original Cast Recordings of Prodigy and Brass.