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Rachel Bloom’s one-woman musical comedy to open off-Broadway this fall
(New York Jewish Week) — Award-winning Jewish actress, comedian and writer Rachel Bloom, star and co-creator of the CW hit “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” will bring a one-woman musical comedy to an off-Broadway theater this fall for a four-week run.
“Death, Let Me Do My Show,” written by and starring Bloom, will begin previews at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher St.) on Sept. 6, with opening night on Sept. 14.
“I don’t want to say TOO much about it but, in summation, it’s a show that is definitely NOT about the ever-present spectre of death,” Bloom wrote in an email to her fan club on Tuesday. “It’s filled with raunchy and escapist material that will in NO way explore the pandemic and all the tumultuous events that ensued in my personal life.”
The email, with the subject line “Baby’s First Off-Broadway Show!!,” also features a photo of Bloom, 35, wearing a T-shirt from legendary Upper West Side Jewish grocery Zabar’s.
Bloom is best known for “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” a musical TV series about a successful but miserable New York lawyer, Rebecca Bunch, who decides to follow her camp ex-boyfriend to suburban West Covina, California. The series, which ran for four seasons between 2015-2019, “is hilarious, zany and addresses Jewish identity in myriad ways,” a JTA article declared in 2016. Bloom won a Golden Globe for her performance in the starring role, as well as an Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics.
A Los Angeles native, Bloom, who studied drama at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, once told JTA that she always felt a kinship with New York Jews. “I’d always felt like a neurotic Jewish person growing up in California, and New York really brought out in a great way those parts of me,” she said in the 2016 interview.
Bloom, who says she was raised “pretty secular,” went to Hebrew school until around age 9. “We didn’t have Passover seders, but I know every single celebrity who’s ever said anything antisemitic,” she told JTA.
Bloom co-wrote a 2013 Hanukkah comedy album, “Suck It, Christmas,” and her 2020 memoir, “I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are,” is packed with Jewish jokes. “Jews talk about being Jewish a lot,” she said. “They’re very aware of their Jewish identity.”
“Death, Let Me Do My Show” is directed by Seth Barrish (“Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man & the Pool”) and originally played to sold-out crowds in London, Chicago, Boston and elsewhere.
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The post Rachel Bloom’s one-woman musical comedy to open off-Broadway this fall appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Trump Hosts Qatari Prime Minister After Israeli Attack in Doha
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
US President Donald Trump held dinner with the Qatari prime minister in New York on Friday, days after US ally Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha.
Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an attack in Qatar on Tuesday, a strike that risked derailing US-backed efforts to broker a truce in Gaza and end the nearly two-year-old conflict. The attack was widely condemned in the Middle East and beyond as an act that could escalate tensions in a region already on edge.
Trump expressed annoyance about the strike in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sought to assure the Qataris that such attacks would not happen again.
Trump and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani were joined by a top Trump adviser, US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
“Great dinner with POTUS. Just ended,” Qatar’s deputy chief of mission, Hamah Al-Muftah, said on X.
The White House confirmed the dinner had taken place but offered no details.
The session followed an hour-long meeting that al-Thani had at the White House on Friday with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
A source briefed on the meeting said they discussed Qatar’s future as a mediator in the region and defense cooperation in the wake of the Israeli strikes against Hamas in Doha.
Trump said he was unhappy with Israel’s strike, which he described as a unilateral action that did not advance US or Israeli interests.
Washington counts Qatar as a strong Gulf ally. Qatar has been a main mediator in long-running negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and for a post-conflict plan for the territory.
Al-Thani blamed Israel on Tuesday for trying to sabotage chances for peace but said Qatar would not be deterred from its role as mediator.
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Trump Urges NATO Countries to Halt Russian Oil Purchases
US President Donald Trump gestures during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, Aug. 26, 2025. Photo: Jonathan Ernst via Reuters Connect
i24 News – US President Donald Trump issued a letter to NATO nations on Saturday, impressing upon them to stop purchasing Russian oil and impose major sanctions on the regime of Vladimir Putin to end its war in Ukraine.
“I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA. As you know, NATO’S commitment to WIN has been far less than 100%, and the purchase of Russian Oil, by some, has been shocking! It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia,” the message read.
“Anyway, I am ready to ‘go’ when you are. Just say when? I believe that this, plus NATO, as a group, placing 50% to 100% TARIFFS ON CHINA, to be fully withdrawn after the WAR with Russia and Ukraine is ended, will also be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR. China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia, and these powerful Tariffs will break that grip.”
Trump’s post comes after the recent flight of multiple Russian drones into Poland, widely perceived an escalatory move by Russia as it was entering the airspace of a NATO ally. Poland intercepted the drones, yet Trump played down the severity of the incident and Russia’s motives by saying it “could have been a mistake.”
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Netanyahu Says Getting Rid of Hamas Chiefs in Qatar Would Remove Main Obstacle to Gaza Deal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the US Independence Day reception, known as the annual “Fourth of July” celebration, hosted by Newsmax, in Jerusalem, Aug. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that getting rid of Hamas chiefs living in Qatar would remove the main obstacle to releasing all hostages and ending the war in Gaza.
Israel on Tuesday targeted the Hamas leadership in Doha.