Tango Shalom: Screened live virtually and in-person
Saturday, February 26, 7:30 pm, Susan S. Goode Fine and Performing Arts Center at Virginia Wesleyan University
Judi Beecher is a multi-hyphenate. The actress, director, producer, singer-songwriter, model, and author is visiting Tidewater as part of the 29th Annual Virginia Festival of Jewish Film.
The Festival, presented by Alma & Howard Laderberg, the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, and the Simon Family JCC is showing the film Tango Shalom, which Beecher executive produced and starred in alongside Renée Taylor (The Nanny), Lainie Kazan (My Big Fat Greek Wedding), Joseph Bologna (Blame It on Rio), and Karina Smirnoff (Dancing With The Stars).
The film, which has won numerous awards including Best Jewish Comedy at the 2021 American Jewish Film Awards, features a Tango dancer and a rabbi developing a plan to enter a dance competition without sacrificing the rabbi’s orthodox beliefs. Beecher stars in the film as Raquel, wife of the film’s protagonist, Rabbi Moshe.
“All movies should have an actress of the capability and talent of Judi Beecher,” saya Joel Zwick, one of the film’s producers and director of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. “She brought an authentic feel and powerful performance in her role of Raquel in Tango Shalom.”
Beecher’s acting credits include performances in more than 20 films; alongside roles in numerous television series, including Law & Order and The Shield; and multiple live theatrical productions. Tony Shalhoub, Emmy Award-winning actor of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel saya of Beecher: “[She] skillfully mixes that rarest of comic cocktails… quirky, sexy, self-effacing and irresistibly dangerous!”
Off-stage and behind the camera, Beecher executive produced Tango Shalom and is currently directing the production of the feature-length documentary Run Ronya: The Kindness of Strangers.
Run Ronya tells the personal story of Beecher’s mother, Ronya, who escaped the Nazis at six years old by fleeing across the French border into Switzerland – alone. The film explores a two-year “needle-in-a-haystack quest,” as Beecher puts it, following her mother’s story from Germany, to France, to Switzerland, and finally to the United States, meeting with historians and locals to help stimulate her mother’s memories of her life over 70 years ago.
As part of the Big Saturday Night Celebration, Beecher will discuss the film after the screening. In-person tickets are $25 per person and include a champagne and dessert reception to-go. Tango Shalom and the discussion with Judi Beecher can also be viewed at home LIVE for $12 per household.
To purchase tickets or for more information about the 29th Annual Virginia Festival of Jewish Film, visit JewishVA.org/FilmFestival or email Hunter Thomas, director of Arts & Ideas at HThomas@UJFT.org.