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 | | Karen Sokolof Javitch |
| |  Nebraska born songwriter and playwright, Karen Sokolof Javitch has 5 musicals under her belt. Three of them are licensed with Heuer: 1)Love! At the Café!, 2) Princess Diana the Musical and 3) Rachel and Ruthie. Love! At the Cafe! is her first musical and she wrote the 17 songs in the show. Jim Conant wrote the book and the 1950’s style musical is the perfect junior and high school musical. “A must see family show!” said the Omaha World-Herald.
Karen has always admired Princess Diana. When the Princess died, she wrote many songs for her, not knowing she would one day create a musical about her. PRINCESS DIANA THE MUSICAL has played twice in her hometown of Omaha. “I was thrilled with the positive response of the audiences and the cast. It is a beautiful musical about her, and a perfect one for a high school or college to produce.” There are more than 30 songs featured on the Princess Diana CD. In June of 2009, Wesleyan University in Lincoln, NE is producing the show.
RACHEL AND RUTHIE is a short musical – twenty minutes – and has only one song. This show is very personal to the author. Rachel is her youngest daughter, and Ruthie is Karen’s mom, who Rachel never got to meet because she died at age 56 of cancer. “This was my way of bringing both of them together,” Karen said.
Karen has written and produced 8 CDs of her music – 4 of them are her musicals – the other 4 are different genres. She has songs in two movies – "California Dreamin’" and "Omaha, the Movie." She has presented both President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton with songs she wrote for them, as well as Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.
At times, Karen uses her musicals and CDs to raise money for Nebraska charities. She has raised more than $150,000 for AIDS, the Red Cross, Alzheimers, Prevent Blindness, Nebraska Foundation for Visually Impaired Children and Little Sioux Scout Ranch. Her music is arranged by Chuck Pennington, musical conductor of the Grammy-winning group, Mannheim Steamroller.
Karen credits her parents as her inspirations. “My mom taught blind children and bravely battled cancer for half of her life. My dad, Phil Sokolof, was a great businessman who persevered with his passion of making this world a healthier place.”
Besides her parents as inspirations, Karen and Gary have three adult children: Jenny, Mark and Rachel. “They’re without a doubt the best part of my life. And they have always been helpful with my songs – going around the house singing them all the time!”
PS. Check out Karen’s latest on youtube – Girls Inc. girls are singing her song: PRESIDENT OBAMA GIVES US HOPE IN OUR HEART. It is becoming a youtube sensation and CNN has called to use it!
Karen’s website is JMRProductions.com | |
| | | Visit Karen Sokolof Javitch's web page: http://www.jmrproductions.com | | | Plays by Karen Sokolof Javitch with Heuer Publishing: | | LOVE! AT THE CAFE! | | PRINCESS DIANA THE MUSICAL | | RACHEL AND RUTHIE | |
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