Cantorial (Play)

Danielle Tabino and Todd Bruno (Stage Door Theatre)

Cantorial is that rare mix of theatrical genres – part comedy, part drama, part supernatural suspense fable, and part musical – in which a young man searches for his true identity, after discovering that the small synagogue-turned-condo he and his partner just bought is haunted by the ghost of its former cantorial singer – who will sing only for certain parties...

Described by Levin as “. . . probably the warmest thing I've ever written,” this serio-comic fable premiered at Connecticut's Hartman Theatre in 1984. Four years later, it had its off-Broadway premiere at The Jewish Repertory Theatre, then transferred a year later to off-Broadway's Lamb's Theatre.

Cantorial appears in Blackstone Publishing's 2025 omnibus of Levin's stage comedies.

“I got the idea many years ago. Then one night, about eight years ago, it suddenly dawned on me that if a synagogue is haunted, it should be haunted by a cantor, whose singing could be very exciting in a theater. So that made it a play instead of a book.”
—Levin (New York Times, 1989)

"It's a Compelling Ghost, And It Sings in Hebrew" (New York Times, 1989)

"A Spiritual Yearning in 'Cantorial' " (LA Times, 1991)

Introduction by Nicholas Levin – 2025 Levin stage comedies omnibus

The show's powerfully emotive cantorial singing was provided by noted cantor Paul Zim

The Jewish Repertory Theatre (as above) is where Crossing Delancey originated

1984: Hartman Theatre (Connecticut)

1988: Jewish Repertory Theatre (off-Broadway)

1989: Lamb's Theatre (off-Broadway)