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Soul Doctor

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Daniel Wise

Shlomo Carlebach

Nina Simone

Emily Padgett

Screenwriter

Lisa Simone

Executive Producer

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Film version of ‘Soul Doctor,’ the Shlomo Carlebach-Nina Simone musical, to hit US theaters for 1 night

( JTA ) — A filmed version of “Soul Doctor,” the 2013 Broadway musical about the life of the influential and controversial rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, will play in 600 movie theaters nationwide for one night only, on Tuesday.

The performance was filmed at the Israel Festival in Jerusalem in 2018, as part of celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of Israel’s founding. 

“Soul Doctor,” written by Daniel Wise, earned mixed reviews during a short Broadway run. The show follows Carlebach from his childhood in Austria in the 1930s to New York, where he becomes one of the most well-known Jewish spiritual figures of the 20th century, working to fuse the modern musical sensibilities of the 1960s with religious liturgy. It also chronicles his friendship with Nina Simone, the iconic singer and civil rights activist, whom he meets at a downtown jazz club. Given his family’s experience of antisemitism, Carlebach empathizes with Simone’s struggles against racism.

Simone’s daughter, Lisa, who produced a Grammy-nominated Netflix documentary about her mother, is an executive producer on the “Soul Doctor” film. Jeremy Chess, the original Broadway show’s producer, along with Jerome Levy and Chandra McQueen, are also producers of the film.

The show does not reckon with the allegations of sexual misconduct first raised against Carlebach in 1998, which include abusing his power as a spiritual leader with, among other things, unwanted touching and kissing of several women. The allegations were scrutinized again by Jewish communities across the country in the wake of the #MeToo movement in 2017. Several rabbis and congregations have moved away from using Carlebach’s music in their houses of worship in recent years . His daughter, Neshama, herself a musician, has struggled with how to uphold her father’s musical and spiritual legacy .

Both Naomi King, the civil rights activist and sister-in-law of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Susannah Heschel, the Dartmouth Jewish studies professor and daughter of civil rights-era activist Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, watched the “Soul Doctor” film and commented on it in a recent press release.

“Any person watching this movie, it’ll shake ’em, move ’em and change ‘em to help make this a better world,” King said.

Heschel said the film “is a tribute to Nina Simone’s enormous influence. By inspiring and encouraging Shlomo Carlebach, Nina contributed to the extraordinary revival of Jewish music and spirit immortalized by Shlomo.”

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“SOUL DOCTOR: Untold Story Of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach & Nina Simone” In Theaters Feb. 2023

Set in an era rampant with racism, segregation, and post-war antisemitism, Soul Doctor illustrates a unique perspective on how Black culture, specifically gospel and soul music, helped revive the Jewish spirit in the aftermath of the Holocaust. This timely film offers an enlightening perspective on Jewish/Black synergy.

The film is a poignant, entertaining portrayal of how music and spirituality formed the basis for the unlikely friendship between Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach , the father of popular Jewish music, and Nina Simone , the legendary High Priestess of Soul. Most importantly, it shows the power of two individuals who not only impacted each other but also woke up the world.

Based on the exuberant Broadway musical, Soul Doctor was filmed live on stage at the Israel Festival and is set for an exclusive preview on the big screen beginning Thursday, December 1st at 7 PM at the AMC Times Square in New York City. In February 2023 , in celebration of Black History Month, Soul Doctor will be released at select theaters nationwide.

Soul Doctor tells the story of the beloved yet controversial Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, a modern-day troubadour who ignited the spirit of millions around the world with his soul-stirring melodies, transformative storytelling, and boundless love. Following his childhood escape from Nazi Austria, the young Rabbi formed an unlikely friendship with legendary jazz singer Nina Simone, who introduced him to Soul and Gospel.

Soul Doctor Movie Trailer 2022

“Soul Doctor is a tribute to Nina Simone’s enormous influence on so many people, including Shlomo Carlebach,” said Susannah Heschel, Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College and daughter of civil rights icon Rabbi A.J. Heschel. “By inspiring and encouraging Shlomo, Nina Simone contributed to the extraordinary revival of Jewish music and spirit immortalized by Shlomo.”

Fusing his roots with his new inspiration, Shlomo created a revolutionary musical sound, composing songs that continue to be the main body of Jewish musical standards. The “Jewish Gospel/Soul” experience he introduced to synagogue worship is celebrated across all Jewish denominations today.

Soul Doctor won Best Picture at the New York Kwanzaa Film Festival and was the feature presentation at this year’s Bloody Sunday Bridge Crossing in Selma, Alabama.

As an epilogue to the film, we are treated to a montage of never-before-seen footage of Nina Simone, Shlomo Carlebach, and other historical scenes from the era.

For tickets and information, visit www.souldoctormovie.com .

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Stage and Cinema

Arts and Entertainment Reviews

Film Review: SOUL DOCTOR (Fathom Events)

by Tony Frankel on June 11, 2023

THIS SOUL NEEDS DOCTORING

Soul Doctor is a 2010 musical about Rabbi Shlomo Carlbach, a.k.a. The Singing Rabbi and The Rock and Roll Rabbi, from his childhood in Nazi-occupied Vienna to his Orthodox upbringing in Brooklyn. Moving from Off-Off- to Off- to Broadway, the  dramatizes his exploration, as a young man, of the Greenwich Village music scene and his friendship with Nina Simone; his move to San Francisco, where he is a darling with hippies; and his return to Vienna, where he gives a concert in the name of reconciliation and love.

Seeing the show live in 2014 was a mixed experience: Daniel S. Wise ’s book is superficial, obvious and corny, and David Schechter ’s on-the-nose lyrics being juxtaposed against complex subjects like the Holocaust, institutionalized racial subjugation, and the person of Nina Simone felt incongruous. Yet the charming cast, and the rousing, often moving, music of Carlebach were enthralling. Energetically much of the production felt like the dance portion of a Jewish wedding, and overall, the show, as bizarre and bewildering it was — could be at times joyful and uplifting. In other words, it was delightful in spite of itself.

On June 13, 2023 — the 10th anniversary of Soul Doctor ‘s Broadway premiere — Fathom Events will be showing on 1,000 select theaters for one night only a version of the musical filmed in 2018 at the “Israel at 70” Festival in Jerusalem (for tickets, visit Fathom Events ). Still starring the loveable Josh Nelson ( Evita ), who had been performing the show on tour ( see review ) and co-starring Nya ( Caroline, or Change ) as the music and civil rights icon Nina Simone, the advanced screener I received showed a muddled, weird, avant-garde oddity that was nearly unwatchable, given the manic direction by Wise, and the incessant editing by Or Benzrehim. Instead of highlighting the joyful goings on, the book felt even more choppy and pat. It was a huge mistake to film the stage show and try to make a cinematic experience out of it. The cast also includes Charlotte Moore, C.J. Tyson, Rebecca Kritzer, Marvin Meital, Yovel Moss, Allison Poccia, Lital Shalit, Toni Elizabeth White, Luke Wygodny, Jordan Zell, and Marc Zell and original Broadway cast members Richard Cerato and Abdur-Rahim Jackson (who also choreographs).

A special introduction to the movie was filmed exclusively for the Fathom audiences by Lisa Simone along with “Call, Clap & Sing Bootcamp” where famed percussion master Bashiri Johnson teaching audience how to Call, Step, Clap, and Sing.

The best part was a historical epilogue created by Colombian-born filmmaker Nicole Fernandez and Somondoco Films showing rare footage, bringing to life Simone, Carlebach, and other characters.

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Soul Doctor

by jewishfilmfests · August 3, 2023

• Jewish Film Festival of Dallas - 2023

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Requesting 2 copies of the DVD, Soul Doctor.

I wojld ask the director Daniel Wise .

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Soul Doctor: Shlomo Carlebach – The Movie

Jun 1, 2023 by Two Sues On the Aisle

By Sue Weston and Susan Rosenbluth –  Two Sues On The Aisle

Shlomo’s Back! Based on the Broadway musical Soul Doctor, the movie was filmed live on stage at the Israel Festival. Soul Doctor  was written and directed by Daniel Wise, with lyrics by David Schecter, and is set to the timeless melodies of Shlomo Carlebach. Based on the life of the iconic “Rock Star Rabbi,” the movie explores his dramatic journey from pre-war Vienna to the Berkeley Folk Festival.

Creating a Change

Soul Doctor begins with Carlebach’s childhood escape from Nazi Germany. The family migrates to the United States, where Shlomo becomes a rabbinical prodigy. He senses that traditional, old-world melodies are preventing his father’s small Orthodox congregation from growing. When his attempts to modernize the melodies were rejected, Carlebach finds a way to raise excitement and engagement by innovating and developing contemporary Jewish music, becoming a 20th-century spiritual guru. His tunes are currently embraced globally by all denominations of Judaism as part of the Shabbos service.

Carlebach befriended legendary jazz singer Nina Simone the “High Priestess of Soul”. Together they influenced each other’s work and woke up the world. He discovered gospel and soul music, while Simone broke tradition by recording and performing several Carlebach songs in Hebrew (the end of the film includes an epilogue to the film, contains a montage including never-before-seen footage of Nina Simone, and other historical scenes).

Shlomo Carlebach became a counter-culture figure in the hippie era, performing with ’60s icons like Bob Dylan, Jefferson Airplane, and the Grateful Dead. Carlebach created a joyous new sound with melodies that fused his spiritual roots with American popular music, including “Am Yisrael Chai” which he wrote for the Student Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry. He established the first Jewish commune, the House of Love and Prayer in San Francisco and traveled back to Europe to teach peace and forgiveness.

An Inspiring Production

Carlebach’s vision for unity can be tied to an earlier memory, from Vienna, of a Nazi who shot a Hasid who is dancing, singing wishing all a good Shabbos. Carlebach chooses forgiveness and unity over hate saying “If I had two hearts, I could use one to love and one to hate. But I only have one heart … so I use it to love!” It was the 60s, a time of peace, love, and understanding.

Sole Doctor stars Tony nominee Josh Young as Shlomo, and Nya as Nina, supported by a cast of veteran Broadway performers. The film is produced by the original Broadway producers, Jeremy Chess, MD, and Dr. Jerome Levy. This is a movie worth sharing!

Spread the Love

Soul Doctor pushes the dialogue of unity, connecting the black and Jewish communities around common struggles during a period of racism, segregation, and post-war antisemitism in the United States. Carlebach’s message is still relevant today.

The special nationwide screenings of Soul Doctor will take place in more than 600 select theaters for one night only on June 13, 2023 .  For tickets and information, please visit Fathom Events .

Two Sues on the Aisle bases its ratings on how many challahs (1-5) it pays to buy (rather than make) in order to see the play, show, film, or exhibit being reviewed.  

Soul Doctor   received five challahs

Five Challah Rating

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Award-winning executive producer Lisa Simone previews the movie "Soul Doctor" about her mom Nina Simone and Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach

Soul Doctor , the musical film about the controversial Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach , and his relationship with legendary jazz singer and civil rights icon Nina Simone , will be screened in cinemas June 13 , in honor of the 10th anniversary since the production premiered on Broadway.

Nina Simone's daughter and executive producer of Soul Doctor, Lisa Simone spoke with WBGO's Doug Doyle about the film and the legacy of her mom.

Lisa Simone says she first learned about the unique relationship and collaboration between her mother and the rabbi was once she went to the Broadway production of Soul Doctor on Broadway.

"I didn't know what to expect but I was humbled and open wide when I watched it. I was touched. Here I am today and so overjoyed to be a part of the production that concentrates on a period in her life that we don't really talk much about, where there is still a little innocence."

Conceived by Jeremy Chess , created by David Schechter and Daniel S. Wise, with direction by Wise, Soul Doctor has a book by Wise, lyrics by Schechter and music by Shlomo Carlebach .

Simone says the film focuses on a time when her mother, born Eunice Waymon, had not taken on the name Nina Simone for very long.

"It was a time of youth. Discovery and innocence are the two words constantly pop out at me, two words that when you think of Nina Simone don't usually come to mind."

The filmed production stars Tony nominee Josh Young as Shlomo, Nya as Nina Simone, and Emily Padgett as Ruth.

Lisa admits she stands on her mother's shoulders but that she had to find her own way in life.

"I had to learn and appreciate and to understand a little bit more what she was doing, why she was doing it, what her intentions were and that she was doing the absolute best she could."

You can SEE the entire interview with Lisa Simone here .

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Theater Review

Rabbi With a Beat and Tie-Dyed Prayers

By Charles Isherwood

• Aug. 15, 2013

The Broadway season has barely begun to shake off its summer slumber, but I think I can guarantee that the months to come will bring no odder musical than “Soul Doctor,” the true-life tale of the folk-singing Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach , which opened on Thursday night at the Circle in the Square.

Played with self-effacing gentleness by Eric Anderson, Shlomo certainly makes an arresting figure. With a bushy beard and yarmulke always in place, he’s often found strumming a guitar and singing songs of peace, love and harmony to dreamy-eyed members of the flower-power generation.

Scenes from Shlomo’s earlier days feature a strikingly different chorus — leaping, dancing Yeshiva students with an unusually energetic approach to studying the Talmud. (The choreography, by Benoit-Swan Pouffer, is a little bit “Fiddler on the Roof,” a little bit “Hair.”) Then there’s the unlikely female lead: the great African-American performer Nina Simone , played by the suave, rich-voiced Amber Iman. In glamorous gowns and shining turbans, Nina swans in and out of the proceedings with some regularity, the friendship between her and Shlomo a touchstone in both their lives.

Also featured: a Nazi who shoots dead a dancing, singing Jew in the show’s early scenes.

Given this unusual blend of elements, it should be no surprise that “Soul Doctor” is a bizarre and at times bewildering musical. Carlebach’s life certainly makes for a fascinating story, spanning as it does the divergent worlds of Nazi-occupied Austria and the free-loving Haight-Ashbury of the 1960s. But “Soul Doctor,” which features Carlebach’s original music, with lyrics by David Schechter and a book by the show’s director, Daniel S. Wise, lays out Carlebach’s journey in mostly blunt, often hoary strokes.

As is often the case with bio-musicals, we learn the notable turns of the man’s life — or at least those that fit comfortably into an unabashedly celebratory show — without really exploring his depths. Beyond the vague aim of “lifting up his brokenhearted brothers one by one,” the workings of Shlomo’s heart remain opaque. He’s a rabbi with a cause, yes, but the cause never comes into clear focus.

The story begins in Vienna, where Shlomo is giving a concert, having returned to the city for the first time in decades. Those adoring hippies swirl around him, and Nina is on hand too. But the homecoming is interrupted by a “holy heckler.” This is Reb Pinchas (Ron Orbach), once Shlomo’s mentor, now his constant scourge, dismayed at how his prize student has turned into the “rock ’n’ roll rabbi.”

“A Jew must never forgive the crimes by these ‘cultured citizens of Vienna,’ ” Reb Pinchas angrily declaims.

Greeting this salvo with the verbal equivalent of a daisy dropped down a gun barrel, Shlomo replies, “My dear Reb Pinchas, if I had two hearts, I could use one to love and one to hate. But I only have one heart ... so I use it to love!” If I may borrow a Yiddishism Shlomo favors throughout “Soul Doctor”: gevalt.

How Shlomo moved from the stern rectitude demanded by his rabbinical training to embrace a more liberal philosophy is the story the musical laboriously unfolds. Back in 1938, young Shlomo (Teddy Walsh at the reviewed performance) and his brother Eli Chaim (Ethan Khusidman, ditto) are studying the Talmud with Reb Pinchas, as well as learning to smoothly deliver a good joke. When Shlomo asks how they can have some fun on Shabbos, Reb Pinchas shoots back: “Being a Jew is about pain and suffering! Joy is for the gentiles!” Sure enough, suffering arrives with a sudden knock on the door.

Also possessing a knack for dark humor is Shlomo’s mother, played by Jacqueline Antaramian. At the news there is a Nazi on her stoop she cracks, “What does he want, my recipe for kugel?” (Mr. Wise’s book is rather thick with shtick.) Soon the Carlebach family has established itself in Brooklyn, where Shlomo continues his studies and begins developing his composing gifts. But he itches at the strictures of tradition and yearns to bring straying youth into the Jewish fold. When Shlomo, now played by Mr. Anderson, and his brother (Ryan Strand) perform Shlomo’s songs at a college campus, they are greeted with derision.

“Wake up, man!” says one of the students. “There’s a revolution going on.”

“Hey, we’re making a revolution, too,” Shlomo responds. “Let’s join forces!”

“Well,” comes the answer, “first thing is, if you want to talk to the rock ’n’ roll generation, you’ve got to jazz it up.”

Enter Nina, whom Shlomo meets when he wanders disconsolately into a piano bar where she is playing. They bond over a love of music and their different peoples’ history of suffering, and Shlomo feels new inspiration to use his music to revitalize the prayer services. “You’ve changed my world tonight,” he says as he leaves. “Peace, sister!” Mr. Wise’s book is rich in both life-changing moments and clanking dialogue.

In short order Shlomo has been exiled from his synagogue after his new music outrages his elders and he is discovered singing during a service at Nina’s storefront church. He finds a new path when he meets a panhandler in Washington Square Park who dubs him a “soul doctor” and hands over his guitar. “You mamish changed my life,” Shlomo humbly says. (You can brush up your Yiddish at “Soul Doctor”: “mamish,” I learned, means “certainly” or “surely.”)

Yet more life change is just around the corner, when a record producer hears Shlomo serenading lost souls in the park. He hustles him into the studio and a star of modest dimensions is born.

Carlebach’s music, much of which was written to accompany traditional Jewish songs and prayers, is often beautiful and blends folk instrumentation with more recognizably traditional liturgical sounds. Mr. Anderson sings with a soft, captivating intensity, and the orchestrations often appealingly evoke Carlebach’s original recordings .

But Mr. Anderson’s performance is limited by the superficiality of Mr. Wise’s book. The actor imbues Shlomo with an affecting tenderness and sense of spiritual yearning. But for someone who apparently brought a new audience to Jewish music through his performances, as depicted here Shlomo seems an awfully passive figure, always on the wrong side of somebody’s anger or disappointment. It doesn’t help that Mr. Schechter’s lyrics drip with platitudinous poetry about spreading love and happiness:

Can you feel the wonder

When all the world rejoices

Singing and singing

Come on and sing along

Fill the world with love and prayer

Let the fixing finally start

Raise your voice up and prepare

To mend a broken heart

I wasn’t feeling so much wonder, having a low tolerance for all-together-now spiritual uplift. Those with affectionate memories of Carlebach’s music may find “Soul Doctor” inspiring and absorbing. I found it disappointing that this intriguing figure came across as a bland, bromide-spouting relic of the hippie era, albeit one tie-dyed in classic Jewish guilt. Sometimes the most interesting and inspiring lives are the most difficult to dramatize.

Soul Doctor (2023)

Not Rated |

Soul Doctor: Journey of a Rock-Star Rabbi

SOUL DOCTOR, the Journey of Shlomo Carlebach, the Rockstar Rabbi, is a taste of MEMPHIS meets HAIR meets FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, and toss in a little GODSPELL on the side. The music, a highlight in this production, is a gift of Shlomo Carlebach's own soulful music. This lovely story was created by David Schecter (lyrics) and Daniel S.Wise (director/ book/libretto).

The passion and sincerity with which Eric Anderson portrays the controversial Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, in SOUL DOCTOR, is magical and inspiring. It will leave you grinning from ear to ear as you witness his commanding performance, the smile lasting for many hours afterwards. Mr. Anderson is earnest, delightful and sincere in the title role, effectively and competently driving this show throughout the production. He is missed when he is off-stage, and the show loses some momentum, waiting for his next entrance when it will accelerate again to cruising speed.

After a rather upbeat and enthusiastic opening scene, which was too quick to capture my immediate interest, Soul Doctor gets off to a slow start. This is the fault of keeping the story true to the reality of the Carlebach's need to leave Vienna during the holocaust, escaping Nazi-occupied Austria in 1938, and moving to New York. There is no way to celebrate this depressing part of history without emotionally draining any audience. However, much to the credit of Daniel S. Wise's commanding book/libretto and his attuned, savvy and powerful direction, it recovers nicely from this period of despair. There are a few comedic lines delivered to lighten the material, and spirits begin to rise once the Carlebach family has safely moved into a home in Brooklyn.

The party truly begins when we are fast-forwarded to 1957 and Shlomo has the good fortune to wander into a piano bar and enjoy a musical performance by Nina Simone, played gloriously by Amber Iman, her smoky vocals, the perfect blend of soulful sophistication and elegant sexiness. This scene catapults Soul Doctor from slow moving into overdrive. There is such a comforting chemistry between Nina and "Shay-li-mo" -as she, playfully calls him, to the audience's delight, throughout much of the remainder of the play. The couple barely touch, yet their friendship, love and affection is palpable, and a testament to how seamlessly these actors not only become their characters, but think their character's thoughts.

The pair instantly realizes they have much in common during this initial meeting. Nina was raised in the south, a colored girl treated with no equality by the racist whites. While Shlomo was enjoying a happy childhood with his family in Vienna, until Hitler marched in and changed the course of their lives. Her family's church burned to the ground because they were black, his father's synagogue set on fire because they were Jews. A bond is formed by their empathy and solidified by their love of music. Shlomo had silenced his love for music during his most difficult years, while Nina used hers as a form of escape, embraced her love of music and allowed it to flourish. Nina welcomes Shlomo into this warmth, and in a valiant attempt to share her musical passion with this interesting man, invites him to a revival meeting. Shlomo enthusiastically accepts this invitation. Coincidentally, the address she gives him is adjacent to his synagogue. She explains that the address is a small storefront Church. Shlomo counters with the obvious, that a rabbi, attending a revival meeting in a Christian church would be even more astonishing than that same rabbi listening to jazz music in a piano bar. When she asks what "his people" have against going into a Church, he quips with "maybe it's something about that rabbi nailed up to the cross".

This encounter changed both of their lives. Shlomo makes some very tough decisions, which simultaneously yield joyful and devastating results. This rabbi mixes his religion with folksy rock music, during a love revolution, and the consequences are mind bending. His hippie followers rejoice in all of his glory, yet his family is disgraced. While Nina, at Shlomo's urging, pursues her dream of performing at Carnegie Hall.

There are some 35 musical numbers in the show. I was unfamiliar with the music, but the audience seemed keenly accustomed to it, humming along, hand clapping, arm waving--much like a revival meeting. There was certainly joy in the packed audience, and it was contagious! People around me were talking about Shlomo as if he had been their neighbor. I heard audience members recounting personal stories during intermission. This man made a difference, and this show tells part of his story in a way that seems to resonate with his followers, theater lovers and musicians alike.

The entire cast is magnificent and many actors believably portray several characters, quickly slipping in and out of roles (and costumes) in less time than it takes most audience members to power down their cell phones. This was a respectful audience, who appreciated every move made by this talented, and extremely well-directed ensemble. Jacqueline Antaramian and Jamie Jackson were formidable in their roles as Shlomo's mother and father, carefully calculating the perfect blend of love and pain. Teddy Walsh (at the performance I attended ) was impressive in the role of young Shlomo, playing a child's mixed and muddled emotions during tragic times with a sophistication unexpected in someone so young. Ethan Khusidman, young Eli Chaim in this performance, was equally adorable and imposing in his roles.

Daniel S. Wise skillfully mastered the task of writing this book/libretto, and directing a sound production. I am certain that every word, song, and movement was lovingly considered. His passion for this project is evident. David Schecter, the show's lyricist, created and developed this powerful production along with Wise, and they carefully nurtured the music and real life story of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, almost as if they were working under his tutelage. Their respect and ardor toward this project and this man is evident.

The choreography by Benoit-Swan Pouffer is perfect for this type of musical, using full use of a rather crowded stage, and having this fine ensemble of actors, dancers and musicians perform some of their most memorable numbers up close and personal with the audience. We were used as if we part of the cause and were so caught up in being included, that we were all mindlessly brought to our feet, and ready to join in the fun and love and stuff.

"A bizarre and at times bewildering musical." Charles Isherwood for New York Times

"Clumsy, finesse-free storytelling does zip to put the rose in the cheeks of this 'Soul Doctor.'" Joe Dziemianowicz for New York Daily News

"Terminally earnest and relentlessly sunny." Elisabeth Vincentelli for New York Post

"Those intrigued by this passionately performed niche entertainment shouldn't dawdle. For the less choosy of the chosen people, the musical hits the spot." Philip Boroff for Bloomberg

"Old-fashioned and unadventurous. It's content to tell its story through clichés and creaky theatrical devices. ... The music of Shlomo Carlebach is appropriately honored in 'Soul Doctor,' but the show is wanting in almost every other aspect." Robert Feldberg for The Record

"It's easy to see how a few sublime moments in an otherwise flawed work could turn this musical about a cult hero into a cult favorite itself." Roma Torre for NY!

"Much as you may try to "open your heart" (as Shlomo often urges everyone) to an obviously well-meant enterprise like "Soul Doctor," the crude nature of the libretto, score and production make that awfully hard to do." Michael Sommers for Newsroom Jersey

"The transfer may have been ill-advised.." Frank Scheck for The Hollywood Reporter

"Unless you're personally into it, there's entirely too much of this ponderous religious pedantry to keep an audience alert." Marilyn Stasio for Variety

External links to full reviews from popular press...

New York Times - New York Daily News - New York Post - Bloomberg - The Record - Newsroom Jersey - Hollywood Reporter - Variety

Originally published on Sep 22, 2017 00:00

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Pixar's "Soul" is about a jazz pianist who has a near-death experience and gets stuck in the afterlife, contemplating his choices and regretting the existence that he mostly took for granted. Pixar veteran Pete Docter is the credited co-director, alongside playwright and screenwriter Kemp Powers , who wrote Regina King's outstanding "One Night in Miami." Despite its weighty themes, the project has a light touch. A musician might liken "Soul" to an extended riff, or a five-finger exercise, which is very much in the spirit of jazz, an improvisation-centered art that's honorably and accurately depicted onscreen whenever Joe or another musician character starts to perform. 

The prologue peaks with Joe (voiced by Jamie Foxx ) falling into an open manhole and ending up comatose in a hospital. It's a bummer twist ending to a great day in which Joe was finally offered a staff job at his school, then nailed an audition with a visiting jazz legend named Dorothea Williams ( Angela Bassett ) who had invited him to play with her that night. After his near-lethal pratfall, Joe's soul is sent to the Great Beyond—basically a cosmic foyer with a long walkway, where souls line up before heading toward a white light. Joe isn't ready for The End, so he flees in the other direction, falls off the walkway, and ends up in a brightly colored yet still-purgatorial zone known as The Great Before. 

The Great Before is a bit like the setting of Albert Brooks' metaphysical comedy " Defending Your Life ." It has its own rules and procedures, and is part of a larger spiritual ecosystem wherein certain things have to happen for other things to happen. There's a touch of video game structure/plotting to the entire premise, and it's reinforced by the stylized drawing of Great Before characters in supervisory positions over mentors and proto-souls: they're two-dimensional, shape-shifting Cubist figures made of elegant neon lines.

The purpose of the Great Before is to mentor fresh souls so that they can discover a "spark" that will drive them to a happy and productive life down on earth. Joe is motivated mainly by a desire to avoid the white light and get back to earth somehow (and play that amazing gig he'd been waiting his whole life for), so he assumes the identity of an acclaimed Swedish psychologist and mentors a problem blip known only by her number, 22 ( Tina Fey ). Twenty-two is a blasé cynic who has rejected mentorship from some of the greatest figures in mortal history, including Carl Jung and Abraham Lincoln. Can Joe break the streak and help her find her purpose? Have you ever seen a Pixar film before? Of course. It's mainly about how things happen in these films, rarely about what happens. 

That having been said, there's a nifty comic twist about halfway through the film that livens up "Soul" just when it was starting to drag, and it's best not to spoil it here (even though trailers and ads already have). Suffice to say that 22 eventually does find her spark, although it takes a lot of effort and more than a few wild misadventures to get there; and that Joe reexamines his years on earth as a genial but meek teacher and finds them wanting. He didn't make as many friends as he should have and was consumed by fears that he traded his childhood dream of becoming a working jazz artist for a more ordinary life. (Joe's mother, played by Phylicia Rashad , is not supportive of his music.) The downside is that this turns "Soul" into another of a string of animated films (including " The Princess and the Frog " and " Spies in Disguise ") in which a rare Black leading character is transformed into something else for the majority of a film's running time.

Is this the first midlife crisis movie released by Pixar? Possibly, although Woody in the " Toy Story " films seemed to have a touch of that affliction as well. The movie is a bit shaggy and disorganized with its mythology/rules—something that Pixar is usually meticulous about, to the point of being obsessive. I'm not convinced it adds up to all much in the grand scheme by the time the final sequence arrives. The film's message could be summed up as, "Don't get so hung up on ambition that you forget to stop and smell the flowers." A birthday card could've told you that. And some of the jokes are a tad DreamWorksy, like the bit where a lost soul returns to earth and realizes that he's completely wasted his life by working in hedge funds; a ruthless international mega-corporation like Disney— which stuck most of its 20th Century Fox repertory holdings in a "vault" last year  to push people to rent or purchase new Disney product, and that once sued day care centers for putting its characters on murals without permission—has no business lecturing anybody else about the moral emptiness of materialism. 

And yet, " Cars " and its various derivatives aside, Pixar has never released a flat-out bad film. And this is a good one: pleasant and clever, with a generous heart, committed voice acting, and some of the kookiest images in Pixar history (including a ghostly, pink, land-bound pirate vessel belonging to a "mystic without borders," with tie-died sails, a peace symbol anchor, and Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" blasting on a continuous loop). The company has been entrenched at the center of popular culture for decades, its reputation fortified by animated features that blend innovative design and graphics, lively physical and verbal comedy, impeccably staged action, and a sensibility that one of my old college film textbooks called "sprezzatura"—described in Baldassare Castiglione's 1528 The Book of the Courtier  as " ... a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art, and make whatever one does or says seem to be without effort, and almost without any thought about it." In other words, Pixar makes it all look easy, even when hundreds of people worked on the project long enough to justify a "production babies" section of the end credits.

Despite feeling like rather minor Pixar overall, "Soul" will prove to be of historical interest because, despite the transformation issue, and when it isn't getting wrapped up in goofy afterlife shenanigans, it's the most unapologetically Black Pixar project yet released. Its portrayal of jazz is not only accurate in terms of its soundtrack of classic cuts and depiction of performance (the piano and trumpet playing is as correct as anything in Spike Lee's " Mo' Better Blues ") but also its wider cultural context. 

In a flashback, Joe's dad, who introduced him to jazz, describes the music as one of the greatest African-American contributions to world culture. There are many other touches in the film that testify to the story's anchoring in an experience beyond the white, middle-class suburban norms that Pixar embraces by default. There's even a visit to a Black barbershop showcasing an array of male hairstyles; a joke about the difficulty of a Black man hailing a taxi in New York City ("This would be hard even if I wasn't wearing a hospital gown!"); and a reference to Charles Drew, a Black physician credited with pioneering the blood transfusion. This distinction gives weight to lines that might not have registered in a Pixar film with white protagonists, such as 22's quip, "You can't crush a soul here. That's what life on earth is for."

Available on Disney+ on December 25.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

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Film credits.

Soul (2020)

Rated PG for thematic elements and some language.

102 minutes

Jamie Foxx as Joe Gardner (voice)

Tina Fey as 22 (voice)

Ahmir-Khalib Thompson as Curly (voice)

Phylicia Rashād as Libba Gardner (voice)

Daveed Diggs as Paul (voice)

John Ratzenberger as (voice)

Richard Ayoade as Jerry (voice)

Graham Norton as Moonwind (voice)

Rachel House as Terry (voice)

Alice Braga as Jerry (voice)

Angela Bassett as Dorothea

• Pete Docter

Co-Director

• Kemp Powers

Writer (story and screenplay by)

Cinematographer.

• Matt Aspbury
• Ian Megibben
• Kevin Nolting

Composer (jazz compositions and arrangements by)

• Jon Batiste
• Trent Reznor
• Atticus Ross

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