JCC Thurnauer School of Music students perform at a recent Jazz Wednesday. Michael Reingold

The JCC Thurnauer School of Music, named a Major Arts Institution by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, offers Jazz Wednesdays. The lively and fun free monthly showcases of the school’s jazz combos and large ensemble are held in Studio 1 of the Music School. The school is part of the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly.

The next Jazz Wednesday will be on Jan. 25. Subsequent performances will be on Feb. 29, March 28, April 25, and May 30. All take place at 7:30 p.m. in Studio 1 of the Music School. (201) 408-1465, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), or jccotp.org/thurnauer.

In addition, Black Box Studios will present the Moriah Middle School Drama Program’s production of “Grease,” directed by Matt Okin with musical direction by Matthew Brady, at the Moriah School in Englewood, on Jan. 7 at 8 p.m., and Jan. 8 at 4:30. Tickets will be $5 at the door.

Ongoing Black Box Studios’ theater programs at the Jewish Center of Teaneck include the Intergenerational Theater Workshop which will perform “The Music Man,” Jan. 10 at 7:30 p.m., and Jan. 14 at 8. The Adult Acting Workshop will perform “Circle Mirror Transformation,” January 9 and 12 at 7:30 p.m. Both Starting Out on Stage and Continuing on Stage will collaborate to perform “Scenes and Songs from Peter Pan” on Jan. 17 and Jan. 18 at 6:30 p.m. Showtimes for the Pro Drama Workshops for Teens will perform “The Dark at the Top of the Stairs” on Jan. 11 at 7:30 p.m. and Jan. 15 at 8. “Seussical Jr.” will be performed by the Musical Theater Workshop for Kids on Jan. 16 at 6:30 p.m., and Jan. 17 at 7:30. The Pro Musical Theater Workshop for Tweens will perform “The Secret Garden (Spring Edition)” on Jan. 15 at 4 p.m. and Jan. 16 at 8.

Black Box Studios is a Partnership Program with the Jewish Center of Teaneck. For information, www.blackboxnynj.com.

It does not get more “only in America” than this. A Christian president with an African-born Muslim father and a rabbi on his wife’s side of the family throws a Chanukah party at the White House. The featured act is the West Point Jewish Chapel Cadet Choir — a group that serves as a beacon of Jewish pride and identity at one of the nation’s top military academies, while also boasting a non-Jewish conductor and plenty of non-Jewish members.

And one more twist.

When the Jewish choir performed at the White House Chanukah party earlier this month, it chose to serenade the commander in chief with a song of peace.

“We were invited there for the party, a big honor,” said Cadet Evan Szablowski, 20, the choir’s non-Jewish conductor, a junior from Bakersfield, Calif.

With a new executive director, the National Yiddish Theatre-Folksbiene is heading in a different direction. Both its productions this season are in English, and that is a big change right there.

Executive director Bryna Wasserman is no stranger to Yiddish theater, certainly. For years, she led the Montreal Yiddish theater named after her mother, Dora Wasserman. It was there that she built relationships with other theater companies, and where she developed a particular interest in working with young people.

Wasserman said in a recent interview with The Jewish Standard that she wanted to build bridges to a diverse audience in New York, as well. “We are looking to the future to make this a Jewish theater,” said Folksbiene trustee Judith Rosen, “not just a Yiddish theater.” There is no plan to change the theater company’s name, Rosen insisted.

The Ein Prat Fountainheads Courtesy JCC in Manhattan

The Ein Prat Fountainheads will perform live in concert on Saturday, Dec. 17, at 7:30 p.m., at the JCC in Manhattan. Israel’s premiere pop group and worldwide Youtube sensations will give an exclusive Chanukah performance. (646) 505-5708 or www.jccmanhattan.org.