JEWISH (Feature Film)

Literary Treatment

By Walter J. Kin

Part I – Act One: Setup and Catalyst

(Approx. 2,400 words)

Opening Image

A theater classroom in upper Manhattan hums with the chaotic energy of adolescence... The film opens in a dreamlike sequence: a teenage chorus belts out the number “Broadway,” an over-the-top fantasy about stardom...

Reality snaps back. Joseph Shapiro, late forties, a passionate, somewhat disheveled Jewish music teacher, stands in the real classroom, clapping twice. “Save it for the Tony Awards,” he says, smiling faintly. He is beloved but misunderstood: a man who believes in art as salvation, yet hides behind humor to shield a lingering grief — the recent death of his mother, Miriam, a former cantor and Holocaust scholar.

Introducing the World

The high school is a magnet academy for performing arts — a melting pot of cultures, dreams, and frustrations... The students represent modern America in all its messy brilliance. **Maya**, fiery and funny... **Eli**, brilliant but brooding... **Sara**, the quiet violin prodigy... **Oksana**, a recent Ukrainian refugee... **Tyrone**, an African-American beat producer... **Leah**, Orthodox-raised but rebellious...

The Assignment

Shapiro erases the board and writes: Final Project: “Reimagining Jewish Music for the Modern Stage.” Groans fill the room. Eli raises his hand. “With all due respect, sir, nobody listens to that stuff anymore.” Shapiro smirks. “Then you’ll be the first.” The task: reinterpret a Yiddish or Hebrew folk song in a modern idiom. Rap, pop, EDM — anything goes. Oksana quietly says, “Where I’m from, people die for singing those songs.” The room stills.

Early Conflicts

Shapiro’s project divides the class. Eli mutters, “This is nostalgia tourism.” That night, Shapiro plays softly on his piano — a haunting lullaby in Yiddish. He whispers: “I’ll keep your music alive, Mom.”

First Song – “Kumbaya” (Eli’s Solo)
Eli begins composing reluctantly. “Kumbaya,” stripped of irony, becomes a bluesy lament — his story of abandonment and anger.

Rehearsal Montage & The School’s Politics

Quick cuts show students experimenting... Tyrone programs hip-hop beats under klezmer clarinet riffs... Principal Goldman, pragmatic and nervous, warns Shapiro: “Parents want contemporary art, not cultural archaeology.”

Second Song – “Jewish or Not” (Maya and Eli Duet)
A playful number mocking identity labels... “Jewish or not, straight or not, saint or not, who’s keeping score?” The flirtation is unmistakable.

Shapiro’s Flashback

He discovers an old reel-to-reel tape labeled “Miriam 1958 – Kol Nidrei.” In his mind, she says: “Music remembers when people forget.” He writes her words on the chalkboard the next day.

Third Song – “Mama He Drives Me Crazy Nuts”
Maya bursts into this comic-pop number about her mother’s expectations and her frustration with being “too much for everyone.”

The Discovery & Fourth Song – “Tumbalalaika”

A full-class rehearsal implodes... Eli mutters: “Maybe the problem isn’t us. Maybe it’s the music.” Sara approaches Shapiro after class. “My grandmother played something like this,” she says, pulling out a worn violin notebook... Inside — **Tumbalalaika**.

Fourth Song – “Tumbalalaika” (Sara’s Violin Solo → Full Ensemble)
Sara begins alone, her violin haunting and pure. Then the beat drops. Tyrone adds percussion... The song evolves from lullaby to anthem — a fusion of klezmer and modern pop.

Shapiro’s Epiphany & Midpoint / Emotional Catalyst

Shapiro decides to enter the project into the upcoming National High School Music Championship... Oksana collapses in tears. She reveals she lost her brother in the war back home... “This is why we sing,” Shapiro says. “So people remember.”

Act One Closing Image

Shapiro writes one word on the board: **FREEDOM**. Below it, he sketches a crude treble clef turning into a dove. The next chapter — Act II — begins.

Part II – Act Two: Conflict and Transformation

(Approx. 3,200 words)

Opening Beat – The Sound of Becoming

The camera pans across the school hallways... In the music room, the students rehearse Tumbalalaika... The once fractured class now moves as one... A title fades in: **Act II – The Sound of Becoming.**

Rising Tension: The Birth of the Fusion

Shapiro gives them a listening assignment — old field recordings of Jewish laborers singing in ghettos and camps... Maya whispers, “They sound like they’re still alive.” Shapiro replies, “They are — as long as you listen.”

Song 6 – “Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah” (Oksana’s Arrangement)
Oksana suggests performing a Jewish-Ukrainian swing fusion. The performance scene bursts with energy.

Administrative Pressure & Collapse

Principal Goldman calls him in: “Joseph, this can’t go public. We can’t risk controversy...” The first showcase before the student body is a disaster. The video of the fiasco goes viral... Goldman suspends Shapiro’s project.

Shapiro’s Breakdown & Turning Point

Late that night, Shapiro walks through Times Square... He ducks into a quiet synagogue. An old cantor hums Kol Nidrei. Shapiro kneels, realizing that his mother’s legacy isn’t to preserve the past, but to bridge it. He returns to school... “You think we failed? We just rehearsed our resurrection.”

Song 7 – “Hava Nagila (Reimagined)”
They reinvent the ancient melody as a slow, cinematic build... The lyrics shift from “let us rejoice” to “we remember joy.”

External Threat – Exploitation

The video of the performance leaks online and blows up... A slick music producer messages Eli: “Let’s make it big. Ditch the school — come solo.” Eli signs a preliminary deal. When Maya finds out, she’s devastated. Their romance fractures.

Emotional Climax – “Mommy” Sequence

Shapiro slams the piano. He plays the Kol Nidrei melody... “This isn’t about who’s right. It’s about who remembers.”

Song 8 – “Mommy”
A power ballad that fuses lament with pop radiance. It’s about the human need for belonging. Each student sings their verses through tears.

The National Competition & Scandal

The team travels to Washington, D.C... Shapiro says softly, “You’re not performing music. You’re performing memory.”

Song 9 – “Forever (Mezinka)”
A thunderous fusion number — klezmer wedding horns over trap drums.

Scandal. A rival school accuses them of plagiarizing a “public domain folk tune.” Shapiro refuses to fight legally — instead, he uploads the performance to YouTube with the caption: “For everyone who believes that joy can be inherited.”

The Call & Final Movement

Shapiro receives a mysterious voicemail: “...Broadway Foundation. We saw your performance. We’d like to discuss a full stage adaptation.”

Final Movement – “America My Love”
The stage fills with students of every background... Eli opens with spoken word: “My father left. My teacher stayed. My friends became my voice.” Chorus: “America my love / You’re the question and the answer...” They win.

End of Act II Image

Shapiro looks at the sky, whispers: “We did it, Mom.” Slow motion: the class laughing, crying, hugging... Freeze frame on their faces. Super: TO BE CONTINUED — “JEWISH 2: THE BROADWAY SEASON.”

Part III – Act III: Climax, Resolution & Epilogue

(≈ 3 000 words)

Opening Image – Echo of Victory

The scene opens on the National Championship Stage... Tears, screams, laughter. The impossible has happened. Cut to black. Title: **Act III – The Rebirth of Sound.**

Temptations of Success & The Speech

The kids cheer, but a strange tension lingers. Agents offer contracts... Shapiro calls a meeting... “If you can sing for the dead, you will teach the living to listen.”

Rehearsal for Broadway

A new email arrives from the philanthropist — Daniel Roth... They enter a professional studio for the first time.

Song 10 – “Rebuild the Light”
Each character sings a verse about loss and renewal. Final line: “We rebuild the light from the sound of our tears.”

The Crisis & The Funeral of Hope

A copyright claim arrives... Funding is frozen. The dream flickers. Shapiro brings a box of his mother’s journals. He opens the piano and begins to play a new melody based on her scribbles.

Song 11 – “Shema Yisrael”
The first lines are whispered: “Hear O Israel, we are still alive.” The arrangement builds into a slow melodic EDM fusion with hip-hop and R&B undertones.

Public Vindication & The Workshop Premiere

The pro-bono law team wins. The corporate claim is dismissed... Daniel Roth restores funding. He books the Kaye Playhouse for their first public workshop performance.

Final Performance – “Freedom Tango / America My Love (Reprise)”
A fusion suite combining everything they’ve learned. Klezmer clarinet duels with Latin guitar. The crowd rises mid-song.

Resolution & Epilogue Montage

Eli is asked if he’ll go solo. He smiles: “We go together.” Shapiro signs the Off-Broadway Residency contract. Six months later... Epilogue Montage: Oksana runs a refugee choir... Tyrone launches a YouTube channel...

Final Scene – Mother and Son

Shapiro sits at the piano, alone. He plays the opening bars of “Shema Yisrael.” In the reflection of the window, he sees his mother smiling. Her voice joins his as an echo: “Hear O Israel, the music is alive.” He nods, whispers, “Always.” The camera pulls back through the window, out into the city...