More than 20 Broadway performers are converging on the Upper West Side this Monday for a one-night-only concert celebrating the Jewish New Year, complete with a live shofar blowing and a lineup that includes Tony winner Santino Fontana, screen and stage veteran Tovah Feldshuh, and Funny Girl star Julie Benko. Shana Tova: Stories & Songs of Hope and Renewal takes the stage at Symphony Space on September 14 at 7 pm, just days after Rosh Hashanah ushers in the Jewish calendar year 5787.
The concert is produced by Howard Tilkin, a New York City-based manager and producer whose own Broadway credits include Funny Girl and Of Mice and Men, according to amNewYork. Tilkin previously created Broadway Seder, an annual gathering that gave Jewish theater professionals a chance to observe Passover together, and that project served as an operational precursor to the Jewish Artists Gathering, per The Jewish Standard. Tilkin grew up participating in JCC theater programs in New Jersey before moving into professional producing, the outlet notes.
A Post-Rosh Hashanah Gathering With Broadway Muscle
In 2026, Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on Friday and concludes at nightfall on Sunday, meaning Monday's concert lands as an immediate post-New Year celebration in the week before Yom Kippur, according to Chabad.org. Tilkin said the event was timed to coincide with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, per amNewYork's report. The show is directed by Katie Birenboim, with music direction from Seth Rudetsky, who collaborated with Tilkin to assemble the more than 20 performers taking part, per the same account from The Jewish Standard.
The cast beyond Fontana, Feldshuh and Benko includes Adam Kantor, Alexandra Silber and Talia Suskauer, as well as Alexandra Socha, Samantha Massell, Leah LaMarr, Eitan Levine, Caroline Aaron, Etai Benson, Billy Cohen and Lorna Courtney, per amNewYork's rundown of the bill. Fontana previously starred on Broadway in Tootsie and I Can Get It For You Wholesale. Also on the program is Ari Axelrod, whose credits include A Place for Us: A Celebration of Jewish Broadway and Milk and Honey; he is set to share an original arrangement combining songs from South Pacific and Into the Woods, amNewYork reports.
Sondheim, Bernstein and a Shofar Blast
Tilkin said in August that the concert's musical selections feature works by legendary Jewish Broadway composers including Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein and Richard Rodgers, framed around themes of community and renewal. The concept was developed after Jewish Artists Gathering members met at an Israeli restaurant in Brooklyn earlier in the year, per The Jewish Standard's reporting. Beyond the score, the evening will include a shofar blowing to commemorate the Jewish New Year alongside Broadway songs, pop music and stand-up comedy, and it runs roughly two hours including an intermission, according to amNewYork.
Tilkin said he hopes non-Jews will attend the concert, framing the night as a way to bring the Jewish community, Broadway artists and New Yorkers together, per amNewYork. Proceeds benefit the Jewish Artists Gathering, an organization established to celebrate the intersection of the theater and Jewish communities by connecting and uplifting Jewish entertainment industry professionals of all backgrounds, according to BroadwayWorld. The group has shifted from private industry gatherings toward public performance benefits like this one, BroadwayWorld reports.
Rising Stars Alongside Broadway Veterans
Feldshuh, a six-time Tony and Emmy nominee who celebrated 50 years on Broadway in 2023, was featured in the documentary Tovah, according to the Jewish Journal. Her notable Jewish stage roles include Golda Meir in Golda's Balcony and the title role in Yentl. Benko, meanwhile, gained widespread acclaim in 2022 starring as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl before originating the role of Jewish activist Ruth Stern in the 2023 Broadway production of Harmony, per Club44 Records, a performance that earned her the Dorothy Loudon Award for Excellence in the Theatre.
Rudetsky, a longtime SiriusXM host, established the Jewish Broadway Alliance and launched Broadway Shabbat in late 2025 to create supportive spaces for Jewish theater artists, according to Unpacked. He created those initiatives to foster community and address rising concerns about antisemitism in the arts, the outlet reports. Together, Tilkin's and Rudetsky's grassroots efforts mark a broader shift in New York City's theater world toward public visibility for Jewish artists, rather than the closed-door networking that once defined groups like the Jewish Artists Gathering.
A Landmark Venue on Borrowed Time
Symphony Space, located at 2537 Broadway at 95th Street on the Upper West Side, is no stranger to hosting cultural programming, but its future footprint is changing. The venue announced in March that it plans a $45 million capital renovation that will temporarily close its Upper West Side facility for roughly 15 months ahead of its 2028 50th anniversary, as Hoodline previously reported. New York City's municipal government has committed more than $10 million in capital funding toward the overhaul.
Tickets for Shana Tova: Stories & Songs of Hope and Renewal range from $54 to $136 and are available at jewishartistsgathering.com, with the venue box office reachable at 212-864-5400. The one-night performance is scheduled for 7 pm Monday at Symphony Space.
