Saturday Night Seder

 I thought of posting this on the first night of Passover, but since it’s called Saturday Night Seder, I figured it’s best to wait until tonight.
 
This is a wonderfully entertaining “Seder” that was done four years ago, on April 11, 2020 during the very early days of the pandemic, when people couldn’t gather for their traditional Seder service.  It’s made with a seriously impressive cast – complete with a lot of humor, original songs, and traditional Seder songs – and put together with notable writers.  I should add that while much of it is very funny, it’s also (in part) serious with the inclusion of several rabbis and the telling of the Passover tale and its meaning.
 
But it’s the entertainment that stands out.  The cast, not shockingly, is mostly Jewish – it is a Passover Seder, after all… -- but not exclusively, with quite a few invited guests.  Among the many participating – and this is only a partial list -- are (in alphabetical order):
 
Pamela Adlon, Jason Alexander, Skylar Astin, Mayim Bialik, Rachel Brosnahan, Andy Cohen, Fran Drescher, Cynthia Erivo, Beanie Feldstein, Harvey Fierstein, Ilana Glazer, Whoopi Goldberg, Josh Groban, Richard Kind, Nick Kroll, Dan Levy, Judith Light, Alan Menken, Idina Menzel, Debra Messing, Bette Midler, Isaac Mizrahi, Ben Platt, Billy Porter, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Stephen Schwartz, Sarah Silverman, Shaina Taub, Henry Winkler, Finn Wolfhard, and many more.
 
Not a bad cast.
 
And not shabby, either, are those who put it all together.  The head writer of the hour-long event is Alex Edelman – who I wrote about here the other week.  He’s the star and writer of the hit one-man show on Broadway, Just for Us, that HBO recorded and is currently airing.
 
Also, some of the original songs were co-written by Benj Pasek – part of the Oscar-winning songwriting team that wrote the movies, The Greatest Showman and La La Land, as well as the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen, which won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.
 
Saturday Night Seder was also done as a fundraiser for the CDC Foundation COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund.  So far, it has raised $3.5 million.