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The ‘Transparent’ musical is headed to Broadway next year
(New York Jewish Week) — After a successful month-long showing in Los Angeles, “Transparent” is headed to Broadway in 2024, according to Amazon producers.
From the same duo who created the acclaimed TV series, “A Transparent Musical” is a musical adaptation of the dramatic comedy that follows a Jewish family navigating a parent’s coming out as a transgender woman in her 60s. Created by Joey Soloway, who also co-wrote the book of the musical, the Amazon series won eight Emmys along with awards from GLAAD and the NAACAP. It starred Jeffrey Tambor as Maura Pfefferman and had been considered by many to be “the most Jewish show on TV.”
The musical adaptation, with music and lyrics by Faith Soloway, recently concluded its world premiere at LA’s Mark Taper Forum. The team behind the production told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that they focused on increasing representation — especially after the original series was criticized for casting a cisgender actor in the starring role.
“I’ve never seen a show with so many trans actors,” said Adina Verson, who identifies as nonbinary and plays Ali Pfefferman, the family’s youngest sibling. “It’s an incredible room full of unique, incredible performers who honestly haven’t often been given the stage that they deserve.”
According to the Center Theater Group, which operates the LA theater where the musical ran from May 23-June 25, the show attracted the highest proportion of under-40 viewers of any recent production at the venue.
“Transparent remains an incredibly impactful series with salient representation for the LGBTQIA+ community,” said Nick Pepper, an executive at Amazon Studios, according to Deadline. “This is the ideal series and characters to bring from series to stage, and we are thrilled to partner with Tony-winning Broadway Producer Eva Price. We hope the audience walks away inspired after experiencing this poignant story.”
The set of “A Transparent Musical” recreates a fictional Jewish community center. (Jacob Gurvis)
The play is set in a suburban Jewish community center, complete with fake promotional posters for a Purim carnival, banners from youth sports championships and pre-show announcements about other Jewish community events.
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The post The ‘Transparent’ musical is headed to Broadway next year appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.