Park Avenue Synagogue Cantor Azi Schwartz has given us a lot of incredible pop music-themed versions of the Jewish prayer Adon Olam, from this Coldplay one he sang at his son’s bar mitzvah to this rousing Hamilton edition. And if that’s not enough, there’s his Harry Styles-themed rendition of “Etz Chaim.” So, of course, he had do the musical craze currently taking the country and the world by storm — the musical “Wicked,” whose movie adaptation came out this year.
And because “Wicked,” a musical written and composed by two New York Jews, has long been about spotlighting incredible Jewish female singers, from the OG Elphaba Idina Menzel to Shoshana Bean and Caissie Levy, Schwartz’s “Wicked” version of Adon Olam is brought to us by his incredibly gifted colleague, Cantor Mira Davis, who sings a delightful parody of the Glinda song “Popular,” taking on the bright role played in the movie by Ariana Grande and telling Cantor Schwartz that now that they are colleagues, she’s going to give him a voice makeover. Schwartz, who is meant to stand in for Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba, listens to Davis singing about what she does whenever she finds someone “less talented than I/And let’s face it, who isn’t less talented than I?” while wearing a green tie, the color of the future Wicked Witch of the West, of course.
The two then start singing Adon Olam to the tune of “Popular,” and I think think it’s fair to say they did justice to the musical’s incredible Jewish creators and stars.
Watch it below:
