Carol Neulander’s family ‘saddened and dismayed’ by new musical ‘A Wicked Soul in Cherry Hill’
The three children of Carol Neulander, who was murdered by a hitman her husband, a rabbi, hired, are outraged by a planned musical theater piece about the 1994 Cherry Hill crime and its aftermath.
A statement from Carol Neulander’s family assailed a forthcoming musical theater production that draws upon events surrounding her 1994 death in a murder-for-hire scheme orchestrated by her rabbi husband in Cherry Hill.
In an email Friday, Matthew Neulander, a physician in Connecticut who is one of Carol Neulander’s three children, said the family “is saddened and dismayed to learn of the new Geffen Playhouse production … based on the story of her cruel murder 27 years ago.”
“This play cannot be excused as simply artistic interpretation. True art can produce and convey many emotions; it can enlighten and entertain and inspire, bring joy and amazement. At its most progressive, it can startle and question. It should not, however, ever injure, or be created at the expense of others. We assure you, despite the show’s description, there was zero ‘humor and chutzpah’ experienced that night, or in the years that followed, by anyone who knew and loved Carol.
“Anyone who had a role in imagining, creating, producing, or performing this play should have their motives questioned as thoughtless at minimum; cruel and wholly inappropriate might be more accurate.”
Titled A Wicked Soul in Cherry Hill, the show is being produced by the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, where it was developed beginning in 2018. In a brief text exchange, the playwright and composer Matt Schatz, who grew up in South Jersey, said he “did not expect the family to welcome this story with open arms, but obviously I would never want to hurt anybody with my work.” He referred questions to the Geffen organization, where the musical is set to begin June 26.
In a statement late Friday night, the playhouse said the play “neither sensationalizes nor laughs at the tragic murder that took place in Cherry Hill. On the contrary, it is a piece that examines how a community moves forward when something horrific and heartbreaking shakes their faith. We recognize that our description of the play failed to convey this and it has been amended accordingly. Matt Schatz, who was raised in South Jersey, has chosen to tell this story through song and we believe that the play leads with heart. It paints a thoughtful, poignant portrait of a community that has suffered an incalculable loss.”
In citing the change that was made to an earlier online description of the play, the Geffen statement was referring to the phrase “humor and chutzpah” that had been used in promotional material. It has been removed.
In another email after the statement was made public Saturday, Matt Neulander said: “The art/graphic associated with the play is far worse than the description of the play. ... It’s wildly insensitive and inappropriate, needlessly sensationalistic, and pointlessly misguided.”
The graphic includes an image of a hamantaschen, a traditional Jewish cookie, from which the red jelly center is oozing, like blood. Asked about Neulander’s criticism of the graphic, Geffen Playhouse had no further comment.
Carol Neulander was bludgeoned to death in the living room of her family home in a quiet neighborhood by a hit man her husband, a local rabbi, had hired. Fred Neulander is serving a life sentence; he had wanted his wife dead because he feared discovery of his infidelities would lead to his losing the pulpit at M’kor Shalom, the Cherry Hill synagogue he established in 1974. The two hit men, Len Jenoff and Paul Michael Daniels, were convicted and served time.
Earlier in the week M’kor’s president, Drew Molotsky, issued a statement saying the prospect of a play about the murder “is very serious to us. To make light of it or to exploit it for entertainment value is not something we will ever condone.”
Longtime members of South Jersey’s Jewish community, which was profoundly shaken by the murder and the years of legal proceedings that followed, said that while they understood a playwright might wish to explore such material, they were unconvinced of the necessity of doing so.
In earlier interviews, Schatz said the production will not have a large cast, dancing, elaborate scenery, or other conventions associated with Broadway-style musical theater. The play will be “sung-through,” with no dialogue other than in the songs, for which Schatz has written lyrics and music. No song about the act of murder itself has been written, he said.
A selection of acoustic, pop-rock song demos briefly accessible online earlier this week suggests the show will focus on the individual and collective voices of Carol Neulander, the rabbi, and others in the community, before and after the crime.
“Jews are resilient people. We’ve been through a lot,” Schatz said in the earlier interview. “The way to stay resilient isn’t to bury our tragedies and tribulations and conflicts, but to think about them and ask questions. The theater is sort of an arena for asking questions.”