Dudu Fisher

Born David Fisher in 1951, Dudu Fisher grew up in Petah Tikva and Tivon. He sang in synagogue and yeshiva choirs, and an account of his youth describes him entertaining fellow students at his yeshiva high school with popular songs from abroad, replacing their English lyrics with words considered more suitable for a religious setting.[3][5] His early musical interests thus joined religious settings with popular repertoire, a combination that would remain characteristic of his career.

Fisher’s father, Michael, survived the Holocaust after a Christian family hid him and relatives. Fisher has described his father as a Polish Jew who was rescued with help from Alfred Kwerciak, later recognized as Righteous Among the Nations. The family story, as Fisher recounted it, includes his father finding the rescuers in the early 1980s and the family sending them food, clothing, and money.[3][4] A separate account places the hiding place in Dubno, near Lvov, and says Fisher and his father later tried to find the house but could not locate it.[3] The sources differ on how long his father was hidden, so a precise duration is not established in the available accounts.

Fisher served for three years as a soloist in the Israel Defense Forces’ Military Rabbinate Choir. After his service, he enrolled in dentistry studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, rather than initially planning to make singing his profession.[4] Another biographical account says he later studied at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music and describes his work after military service as including cantorial positions at the Great Synagogue in Ramat Gan and in Tel Aviv.[2][5]

A cantorial invitation redirected his plans. After Fisher sang the Shehecheyanu blessing at a friend’s wedding, he was offered a High Holy Days position in Winnipeg in 1973. In his recollection, synagogue president Morris Hirsch offered him $5,000 for the engagement; Fisher said he did not know how to lead the services and took an intensive course with a rabbinical teacher. He used the payment to buy his first car, and the successful engagement helped persuade him to leave dentistry behind.[3] Another account describes an offer for a cantorial position in the Australian Jewish community following the wedding. The accounts differ on the destination of the initial opportunity, but both describe a wedding performance leading to professional cantorial work.[4]

Fisher’s early professional life centered on cantorial singing, but his repertoire extended to Yiddish and Hasidic music. He performed for Jewish communities abroad, including in South Africa, and later held High Holy Days engagements in several countries.[5][7] One profile describes him as trained in the Ashkenazi Orthodox tradition and reports service with congregations in Tel Aviv, New York, and South Africa, as well as High Holy Days services in Brazil.[7] Fisher has said that he includes at least one Yiddish song in every show, following a request from his grandmother.[7]

His first album, Ma’aminav, was recorded when he was 25. A profile describes the record as notable for his Yiddish singing and says that, after its success, he began appearing as a Hasidic singer and performed alongside Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach.[4][8] Encyclopedia.com identifies his first album of Yiddish songs as Goldener Lieder – Die Beste Yiddische Lieder (Golden Songs – The Best Yiddish Songs), recorded in 1986.[5] The available sources do not fully reconcile these descriptions of his early recordings, but together they document the growth of a recording career rooted in Jewish song.

Fisher won first place at the Hasidic Song Festival, although sources give different years for the result: one account dates the win to 1979, while another gives 1980.[9][8] The latter profile also reports first-place finishes at the Jerusalem Song Festival and the Yiddish Song Festival in 1981. It says Fisher combined original melodies with verses from traditional sources.[8] Newspapers reportedly dubbed him “the Elvis Presley of the religious”; Fisher said he did not want that festival victory to remain the greatest achievement of his life.[9]

His cantorial service included a long-running High Holy Days engagement at Kutsher’s Hotel in the Catskills. Two Jerusalem Post profiles report durations of 32 and 28 years.[3][7] The Jewish Standard reported that he served there for more than 20 years.[10] The sources therefore support the significance of the engagement, but not a single definitive count of years. Fisher also became chief cantor at the Hampton Synagogue in Westhampton Beach and at the New York Synagogue in Manhattan.[10]

Fisher continued to issue recordings across a wide range of musical styles and languages. In September 1988, he released two albums of Hasidic and Yiddish songs.[5] In 1989, he performed Over the Rainbow, a show drawing on songs from musicals such as Porgy and Bess, The Wizard of Oz, and Cats, and later released an album based on the show.[5] He followed it with Steps to Heaven, featuring original songs and Hebrew-language versions of romantic hits associated with performers including Paul Anka and Elvis Presley. Around the same period, he recorded musical-theater songs with the London Symphony Orchestra.[5]

A National Library of Israel catalog records his 1996 album The Best of Dudu Fisher, also identified on its label as Never on Friday. The 52-minute recording was made in June and July of that year, with musical production and arrangements by David Krivoshei and production by Nahum Beitel. Its material spans Hebrew, English, Yiddish, and Italian, with selections associated with Les Misérables, Cats, and The Phantom of the Opera, alongside synagogue and popular music.[6] The title Never on Friday also became associated with Fisher’s stage work and observance of Shabbat.

The National Library catalog lists Fisher as a performer on the compilation The Chassidic, dated [2005]. The 50-minute Hebrew-language collection contains ten tracks by various performers; Fisher is credited on “Lo amar,” “Shema Yisrael,” and “Rebono shel olam.”[11] The catalog also records his performance of “Im Eshkachech Yerushalayim” on the album Jerusalem, 2013, released by HaTav HaShmini.[12] Another cataloged release, Dudu Fisher Sings Yiddish Hits in Hebrew, credits Avi Koren with the Hebrew translations, Zvika Kagan with recording production, and Roni Weiss with arrangements. The catalog dates the recording using the Hebrew notation “[תשס/ו]” and gives its duration as 47 minutes and 25 seconds.[13]

In 2008 Fisher released Zohi Yiddish, a three-disc collection of 38 songs marking 25 years of his work in Yiddish. Twenty songs were recorded specifically for the collection and 18 came from earlier recordings; the third disc included live selections from Yiddishpiel Theatre performances. He also released Hagigah Yisraelit, a two-disc set of 23 Israeli songs and medleys. Its booklet printed lyrics in Hebrew, English, and transliteration so listeners unfamiliar with Hebrew could sing along.[14] By 2002, a profile reported that he had recorded more than 20 albums.[9]

Fisher’s move into musical theater began with a visit to London in 1986, where he sang at a cantorial benefit concert for orphans. He stayed with his cousin Shirley to save the organizers hotel costs, and she introduced him to Les Misérables. Fisher recalled watching the musical and thinking, “I can do this.” He returned to Israel and pursued the role of Jean Valjean in the Hebrew-language production, despite having no theater background.[3]

In 1987 Fisher auditioned for the Cameri Theater’s Hebrew production, titled Aluvei Hahayim. The theater’s managers reportedly favored a more established name, but the director and producer chose Fisher; a profile identifies British director Stephen Pimlott as a champion of his casting.[5][3] The production ran from 1987 to 1990 and made Fisher a household name in Israel.[3] The Jerusalem Post describes it as the country’s longest-running show, a superlative reported by that source rather than independently established in the material available here.[3]

Fisher’s success as Valjean opened the way to international productions. After seeing him perform in Israel, producer Cameron Mackintosh invited him to join the London West End production and later the Broadway cast.[3][4] A Royal Command performance in England in 1988 brought Fisher to Mackintosh’s attention, according to one account; Encyclopedia.com dates Fisher’s Broadway debut in the English-language production to 1993.[3][5] He performed the role in London, on Broadway, and in Tel Aviv.[15]

Fisher insisted that his observance of Shabbat and Jewish holidays be accommodated. He did not perform Les Misérables on Friday evenings or Saturdays, and maintained his lead role under that arrangement.[5][4] One profile recounts that he initially declined a Broadway offer because the schedule conflicted with his observance, after which Mackintosh renewed the offer and publicized in Playbill that Fisher would not appear on Friday nights, Saturday matinees, or Jewish holidays.[7] A later account says the production arranged for an understudy to cover the performances he could not attend.[4]

Fisher has described seeking a blessing from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, after months passed without an answer to his insistence on not working on Shabbat. He said that, at their meeting in the late 1980s, the Rebbe encouraged him not to be ashamed of his Jewish identity or Sabbath observance. Fisher recounted that Mackintosh called about two weeks later, and that when he arrived at the theater he saw his understudy’s name and the words “Shabbes goy” beneath his own on the dressing-room door.[4] The story has been presented as Fisher’s own recollection of the negotiations and their outcome.

Fisher left the Broadway production in 1994 amid a dispute involving Actors Equity and the pay scale for his replacement. He later said he did not receive another Broadway job.[3] He continued touring in solo productions, including Never on Friday, Something Old, Something New, Dudu Fisher Coming to America, and Jerusalem.[3] In 1999 he presented the one-man off-Broadway show Never on Friday.[5]

In 2002, Fisher returned to New York with Something Old, Something New, staged off-Broadway at the Mazer Theater on the Lower East Side. The 100-minute performance mixed Jewish songs and stories with musical-theater and popular material, including a Red Hot Chili Peppers song.[9] Fisher and director Richard Jay-Alexander developed the show shortly before its opening. Fisher, anxious about his English, asked to work on one song at a time; Jay-Alexander assigned him “Kaddish,” which became the opening number.[9]

His international performances also included concerts in the Soviet Union. A profile reports that Fisher was the first Israeli artist allowed to sing there before perestroika and recounts that thousands of Jews attended his concerts, including a particularly moving performance in his father’s hometown of Dubnow in Ukraine.[10] A later report likewise describes him as the first Israeli artist to appear in Moscow before Glasnost and says that, after two performances at Tchaikovsky Hall, he gave a full a cappella performance in a synagogue on Shabbat for people unable to obtain tickets.[16] These “first” claims and details are reported in profiles but are not independently substantiated in the available material.

A survey of contemporary Jewish music notes that Fisher performed Jean Valjean in London, on Broadway, and in Tel Aviv, and describes him as performing frequently around the world in a range of musical styles.[15] His stage work also extended to screen: a 2002 profile reports that he supplied the Hebrew-dubbed singing voice for Moses in the animated film The Prince of Egypt, and that he performed before former U.S. President Bill Clinton and the Queen of England.[9]

Fisher’s work has included documentary, television, and projects for children as well as stage performances. A National Library of Israel catalog describes the 1989 VHS documentary Song of the Living with Dudu Fisher: From the Killing Fields to Jerusalem. In the film, Fisher travels to places connected with his family’s destruction, singing Yiddish and cantorial songs associated with the victims before singing Hebrew songs. Zvi Slepon is credited as director and Bidur La’am as publisher.[1]

In 2009, Fisher’s children’s-recording project had reached its 14th disc, devoted to Purim. The project began after his manager, Nahum Beitel, passed him a recording by songwriter and composer Orit Wagenfeld. Fisher said he decided to proceed after hearing two songs. Wagenfeld wrote the lyrics and music and handled marketing and distribution.[17] Fisher described the series as having an educational purpose, recalling that it was gratifying when a child learned a blessing over fruit through the recordings.[17]

In 2011, Fisher released the 16th disc in the Began Shel Dudu series. Titled Tefilat Halev, it focused on prayer rather than another collection of songs and included children’s cantorial music, a karaoke disc, and a prayer book for young children, with selections such as the Shema, Grace After Meals, and evening prayers.[18] Fisher said he hoped the project would strengthen children’s connection to synagogues and make prayer a musical and spiritual experience. He described the recordings as intended for religious and nonreligious children alike.[18]

For an older audience, Fisher worked with Yiddishpiel Theatre on Shirat Ha-Klezmer, a performance combining klezmer melodies, Yiddish material, and an ensemble of eight musicians. Continued audience demand after the first run led to another tour.[17] The same profile described his audience as spanning young children through older adults, reflecting the range of his work across generations.[17]

Fisher has also acted in television. In the series Rough Diamonds, he portrays Ezra Wolfson, the father and patriarch of a wealthy Hasidic family running a prominent but struggling diamond business.[19] A review praised Fisher’s performance, writing that the show “really comes alive when he appears.” It described his Yiddish as especially convincing because he speaks the language, and highlighted the emotional force of Ezra’s rebuke of his son Noah for leaving his community and God “all for gornisht—nothing.”[19] The review says Fisher speaks little in his first scenes, sings briefly in the second episode, and then exits the story.[19]

Fisher’s career has brought cantorial and Jewish musical traditions into conversation with popular song and musical theater. His recorded repertoire encompasses Hasidic, Yiddish, cantorial, Hebrew, English, and other material.[5][6] His stage performances have ranged from Jean Valjean to solo programs built around Jewish songs and stories.[9][15] A 2001 survey of contemporary Jewish music emphasizes both his appearances in Les Misérables in three cities and his frequent international performances across musical styles.[15]

His approach to performance has been closely connected to Jewish observance. Fisher retained the lead role in Les Misérables while declining to perform on Shabbat, and subsequently made that principle visible in the title of his solo show Never on Friday.[5][4] He has described the Broadway role as life-changing, saying that without seeing the musical he might have remained a cantor singing cantorial and Yiddish music.[7] His story has consequently been associated with a professional path in which Sabbath observance was maintained rather than set aside for a major theatrical role.

Fisher’s work has also sought to make Jewish music accessible to different audiences. The Hagigah Yisraelit booklet’s Hebrew, English, and transliterated lyrics invited listeners without Hebrew to sing along.[14] His children’s albums used music and educational material to introduce blessings and prayers.[17][18] In performances such as Shirat Ha-Klezmer, he brought Yiddish song and klezmer music to audiences ranging from children to older adults.[17]

His relationship to cantorial singing has changed alongside his career. Fisher once described himself as a cantor who sang only Yiddish and cantorial music on stage; later, he characterized cantorial work as his “side job.”[10] Even as musical theater and other popular forms became prominent, he continued to perform Jewish repertoire and, by his account, to include a Yiddish song in every show.[7]

In 2024, Fisher marked 50 years in music with gala performances scheduled in 14 Israeli cities from August 27 to November 28. The tour featured the Ra’anana Symphonette Orchestra under conductor Moshe Danino, and included songs from Les Misérables, Fiddler on the Roof, and The Phantom of the Opera, alongside Leonard Cohen songs, prayers, and stories.[16] Fisher said he had canceled anniversary performances after October 7 and spoke of music as a source of hope through “personal stories mixed with songs of faith and prayer.”[16]

Fisher has also used performance in response to events beyond the stage. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he traveled to the Ukrainian border to record “Colors,” a song written and composed by Cecilia Margulis about the terror experienced by people displaced by the war.[4] The project connected his musical work with the history of his own family, whose survival and rescue he has discussed in connection with the Holocaust.[3][4]

The available profiles differ on several biographical details, without undermining the broader outline of Fisher’s career. Two Jerusalem Post accounts report his High Holy Days service at Kutsher’s as lasting 32 or 28 years.[3][7] The Jewish Standard describes a tenure of more than 20 years.[10] Sources also give different years for his first-place win at the Hasidic Song Festival: 1979 in one account and 1980 in another.[9][8]

Fisher’s father’s Holocaust survival story is conveyed through family recollection, and sources differ on how long he was hidden.[3] Similarly, claims that Fisher was the first Israeli artist to perform in Moscow or the Soviet Union before Glasnost or perestroika are reported by profiles but are not independently substantiated in the reviewed material.[10][16] The claim that the Hebrew Les Misérables was Israel’s longest-running show is likewise a source-attributed superlative.[3]