The Jewish shows on stage and screen not to miss this year

It’s cold and wet, we’ve consumed too many doughnuts and latkes, and now we just want to sit back and digest some shows.

Luckily, with Academy Award nominations around the corner on January 23, films released at this time of year have Oscars in mind, and there are plenty of must-watch movies featuring Jewish stars or themes. Perhaps you were among the lucky ones to catch Bob Dylan on tour in November; the new biopic of his life starring Jewish actor Timothée Chalamet is a surefire Oscar contender. Also a major Oscar contender is The Brutalist, with Adrien Brody in his best performance since The Pianist.

On the stage there are more chances to see acclaimed plays What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, directed by Patrick Marber and based on Nathan Englander’s 2011 short story, and Giant, about the antisemitism of Roald Dahl, as it makes its West End transfer.

Although, if you would prefer to stay on the sofa, we are most excited about Shtisel spin-off Kugel finally arriving this year, joining three seasons of the international hit Shtisel on streaming platform IZZY. Also not to be missed is Andy Cohen’s behemoth of a reality TV show, The Real Housewives, coming to London in 2025.

Here is our pick of culture to take us through the darkest months and beyond.

Film

Mary, out now on Netflix

Yes, it’s a film about Mary of Magdalene, but one that stars a Jewish actor as Mary for authenticity’s sake. Israeli actors Noa Cohen, who starred in “8200” opposite Shtisel’s Michael Aloni, and Ido Tako, play Mary and Joseph. Anthony Hopkins is King Herrod, and Israeli actors Keren Tzur and Ori Pfeffer also feature.

A Real Pain, on general release January 10

Jesse Eisenberg’s second feature film, following The Social Network, is a road-trip drama in which two Jewish-American cousins visit the Polish birthplace of their grandmother who fled the Holocaust. Seeking to honour the final wishes of their beloved grandmother Dora while repairing their relationship, Eisenberg’s David and Kieran Culkin’s Benji retrace their family lineage on a tour (led by Will Sharpe).

A Complete Unknown, on general release January 17

Just as Bob Dylan’s epic three-year tour has come to a close, Timothee Chalamet plays the world’s greatest songwriter in this biopic. Taking viewers from the unknown folk singer-songwriter’s arrival, in New York in the early 1960s aged 19, to changing the musical landscape, the film focuses on Dylan’s controversial decision to “go electric” at the Newport Folk Festival. Chalamet learnt guitar from scratch for the role. Directed by James Mangold (Walk the Line) and also starring Elle Fanning and Edward Norton.

The Brutalist, on general release January 24

Brady Corbet's three-and-a-half-hour postwar epic has already won awards – best film and best actor for Adrien Brody from the New York Film Critics Circle. Brody, whose father is of Jewish descent and whose mother was raised Catholic, but had a Jewish mother, plays visionary Hungarian Jewish architect László Toth who flees Europe in 1947 for America. His performance as Holocaust survivor Toth was praised as better, even, than his role in The Pianist.

September 5, on general release 24 January

A film about the Israeli athletes taken hostage and killed at the 1972 Munich Olympics, September 5 could well be a contender for a best picture Oscar. From the perspective of the broadcasting team covering the event, the film stars Jewish actor John Magaro as ABC Sports producer Geoffrey Mason. Swiss co-writer and director Tim Fehlbaum told a press conference that September 5 was already in the late stages of post-production on October 7, and that the film is “not political”.

Bonhoeffer, on general release March 7

“There has never been a time in history when we needed to be reminded of the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer more than today,” Jordan Harmon, the president of Angel Studios which made the blockbuster Sound of Freedom and is behind this movie about the courageous German theologian who fought the rise and reign of the Third Reich. Promised by Angel to be “gritty and moving”, the movie written and directed by Todd Komarnicki follows Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s role in the resistance against the National Socialists during the Second World War for theological reasons. It depicts Bonhoeffer’s realisation that he was one of the few clergy who quickly recognised the danger of Hitler’s antisemitic propaganda, discrimination, persecution, and the Nazi regime.

Marty Supreme, at cinemas date TBC

Fresh from his role as Bob Dylan, Timothée Chalamet is playing the late table tennis legend Marty Reisman in Marty Supreme, on which he is also a producer. The fictional sports drama based on the American champion table tennis player who died in 2012 is directed by Josh Safdie, who co-wrote it with Ronald Bronstein. It stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Fran Drescher. Judaism has a history of success in the sport, with many early table tennis champs being Eastern European and German Jews.

Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action, Netflix from January 7

Through first-hand testimony and revelations from insiders, this two-part series tells how The Jerry Springer Show became one of the biggest hits of Nineties TV as well as the darker picture of destruction caused by the daytime talk show. Producers and former guests raise new questions about responsibility and how far things should go in the name of entertainment.

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Kugel, IZZY, date TBC

The much-anticipated spin-off of the award-winning international hit series Shtisel, new drama series Kugel is soon launching exclusively on Israeli streaming platform IZZY (where all three seasons of Shtisel stream globally). Written and directed by co-creator of Shtisel, Yehonatan Indursky, Kugel returns to father and daughter, Nuchem (Sasson Gabai) and Libi Shtisel’s (Hadas Yaron) story in Antwerp, Belgium, years before she meets her future husband. Unlike Shtisel, Kugel is set in Antwerp’s ultra-Orthodox community, where Libi lived with her jewellery dealer father.

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White Lotus, Season 3, 17 February, Sky and streaming service NOW

The hotly anticipated third season of Emmy-winning White Lotus is set at an exclusive Thai resort and stars Jason Isaacs, who played Colonel William Tavington in The Patriot and Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter. Isaacs was recently spotted at the BAFTA awards in London wearing a yellow ribbon. The Jewish actor, whose mother and jeweller father and three brothers made aliyah in 1988 due to antisemitism, is said to have once told producers, “Look, I play all these tough guys and thugs and strong, complex characters. In real life, I am a cringing, neurotic Jewish mess….”

Family Therapy, ChaiFlicks, from March 19

This popular Argentinian family drama follows Jose and Susie, a married couple who are both psychoanalysts. All seems to be going well with their work and family life, with their self-sufficient eldest daughter Mara and angsty son Abel – until Susie’s father passes away.

Euphoria, date TBC

The teen drama Euphoria, about a group of 17-year-olds and their misdemeanours, was originally an Israeli show co-created by Ron Leshem. Airing in Israel for one season in 2012, the show became the hit HBO series from Sam Levinson in 2019, starring Zendaya. Euphoria was the most-tweeted-about TV show of the decade before the end of Season 2 in February 2022, and its third season is set to air this year.

Bad Boy, Netflix date TBC

Euphoria creator Ron Leshem’s new Israeli show is about a troubled teen called Dean who is being held in a cruel juvenile prison where he befriends a teenager imprisoned for murder. Twenty years later Dean has become a successful comedian with a concealed past. Co-created and directed by Hagar Ben-Asher, Bad Boy is inspired by the life of comedian Daniel Chen.

Israeli drama series Bad Boy is from Euphoria creator Ron Leshem and Hagar Ben-Asher[Missing Credit]

The Real Housewives of London, date tbc

Andy Cohen’s reality TV show is finally coming to London after an 18-year globe-trotting journey. Where in the capital the London version will be filmed is anyone’s guess, but we are hoping for an affluent Jewish neighbourhood like Hampstead or St Johns Wood. The brainchild of St Louis, Missouri-born Cohen, the docu-soap franchise that began in Orange County in 2006 shows the personal and professional lives of wealthy women in various cities, with The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills being the 43rd most watched reality TV show on Netflix this year by hours.

Theatre

Goldie Frocks and the Bear Mitzvah, JW3, until January 5

The first Jewish panto was a hit last year, so JW3 came up with the goods once again with a Jewish spin on the classic fairytale and traditional festive panto. There are just a few tickets left for Goldie Frocks and the Bear Mitzvah, which promises circus cheer, mitzvah magic, live music and much silliness. Debbie Chazen returns as the Dame, this time as a Jewish Mama Bear, while performance artist Frankie Thompson (2024 BBC New Comedy Awards) plays 13-year-old Baby Bear preparing for his bar mitzvah.

Goldiefrocks and the Bearmitzvah at JW3 (Photo: Eamonn B Shanahan)[Missing Credit]

The Invention of Love, Hampstead Theatre, until January 25

Tom Stoppard’s most recent play – the powerful Leopoldstadt, set in the Jewish community of early 20th-century Vienna – sold out every seat across its run at the Wyndham Theatre from 2020 to 2021. You’ll have to move fast to book remaining tickets for the revival of his 1997 play about the life and loves of poet A. E. Housman, starring Simon Russell Beale and directed by Blanche McIntyre. It’s a return to Hampstead both for the playwright – after the revivals of Hapgood and Rock ‘n’ Roll – and also for BAFTA, Olivier and Tony Award-winner Beale following the 2015 sell-out hit Mr Foote's Other Leg.

The Producers, Menier Chocolate Factory, until March 1

Andy Nyman (Hello, Dolly!, Hangmen, Ghost Stories) plays the producer Max Bialystock in the first major London revival of Mel Brooks’ and Thomas Meehan’s musical adaptation of The Producers. Based on the classic cult film of 1967 in which a producer and his accountant as scheme to produce a show designed to fail, the original Broadway production won a record 12 Tony Awards in 2001. It then opened at Theatre Royal Drury Lane in the West End in 2004 and closed after 920 performances. This revival is directed by Tony Award-winning Patrick Marber (Leopoldstadt) and Broadway choreographer Lorin Latarro and stars Marc Antolin (The Band’s Visit) as Leo Bloom.

Oliver!, Gielgud Theatre, until September 28

After a stint at Chichester Festival this summer, Lionel Bart's iconic musical of Charles Dickens’ novel hits the West End. The new production from Cameron Mackintosh is directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne, with Jean-Pierre van der Spuy as co-director. We can’t forget that back in 1948 Alec McGuinness famously wore an offensive prosthetic nose to play Fagin… and the main draw in this production is Simon Lipkin in that role. Listen out for the “oy!” in Lipkin’s rendition of You’ve Got to Pick-a-Pocket or Two which features Yiddish-flavoured choreography and klezmer violin.

What We Talk about When We Talk About Anne Frank, Marylebone Theatre, January 20 to February 15

Nathan Englander new “serious comedy” based on his 2011 Pulitzer-finalist short story in the New Yorker has been extended for four weeks. Directed by Patrick Marber, and starring Joshua Malina (The West Wing), the show features a get-together with two sets of Jewish American couples – one Orthodox, the other secular.

Giant, Harold Pinter Theatre, April 26 to August 2

Writer-director Mark Rosenblatt’s debut play, about Roald Dahl’s antisemitism, was such a hit on its sold-out run at the Royal Court theatre that it is now transferring to the West End for a limited 14-week run. Set in 1983, on the eve of the publication of Dahl’s novel The Witches, when the author is facing outcry over the antisemitic views he’s aired, Giant takes place across a single afternoon at his home when his family and Jewish publisher Tom Maschler, played by Olivier Award-winning Elliot Levey, gather to navigate the scandal. Giant also stars John Lithgow, Rachael Stirling and Romola Garai, and is directed by Nicholas Hytner.