Never on Sunday? Really?

Broadway is a business. It runs by its own rules, and we respect that.

We must wonder, however, what was going through the minds of the producers of the new musical “Soul Doctor,” based on the early career of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. If you would like to attend a Sunday matinee performance, or a Sunday evening performance, forget it. There are no performances on Sunday.

On the other hand, you can attend this Carlebach-based musical on Friday evening, Shabbat afternoon, and (in the summer, at least) before sundown on Saturday. Previews begin the day after Tishah b’Av, so that is not an issue, and thankfully there is no performance on Yom Kippur eve, but you can attend a matinee on Yom Kippur, and if you skip the final service and the break-fast, an evening performance, as well.

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You would think that a major target audience for this musical, advertised as “featuring over 30 of Shlomo’s timeless hits,” is precisely those people who would not attend on any of those days, but who probably would flock to a Sunday showing.

Obviously, it is too much to expect that a musical honoring a rabbi who brought such great joy to Shabbat observance would also honor his Shabbat traditions. We would settle for a Sunday matinee.