Mike Burstyn Stars in Broadway-Bound SOUL DOCTOR in Miami, Now thru 1/29

En route to Broadway, Soul Doctor: Journey of a Rock-Star Rabbi is currently playing in Florida. It was previously announced that Mike Burstyn would replace Gary Morris in the production. The new musical tells the true story of the beloved and controversial father of popular Jewish music, Shlomo Carlebach.

Burstyn appeared on Broadway in Barnum, where he succeeded Jim Dale in the title role. He was nominated for Drama Desk Awards for his performance as Mayer in The Rothschilds off-Broadway in 1990 and in On Second Avenue in 2005. In 2009, he starred in the title role of the stage adaption by Joseph Bologna's Lansky.

In addition to an award-winning production and musical team - the forces behind such Broadway mega-hits as The Producers, Hairspray, The WHO's Tommy and Smokey Joe's Café - the South Florida cast includes a roster of nationally recognized award-winners and/or nominees

SOUL DOCTOR takes us on a musical odyssey through the challenges and triumphs of this cultural phenomenon: his childhood escape from Nazi Germany, becoming a rabbinical prodigy in America; discovering Gospel and Soul music during his unlikely friendship with Nina Simone; his meteoric rise as a "Rock Star-Rabbi" in the 1960s, performing with Bob Dylan, Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead; his struggle to reconcile his deep traditional roots with his desire to reach people of all backgrounds in the "free-love generation;" and his personal conflicts trying to keep his family together while traversing the globe as a "Soul Doctor," bringing joy and song to the lonely, the searching and the brokenhearted.

Soul Doctor (www.shlomomusical.com) runs today, December 25 - January 8 at the Colony Theater, 1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach. It continues January 10 - 29 at Fort Lauderdale's Parker Playhouse, 707 NE 8th Street. Individual tickets for the show can be purchased at the Colony Theatre (305.674.1040), Parker Playhouse (954.462.0222) or through Ticketmaster, www.ticketmaster.com.

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