Moses Montefiore Anshe Emunah Hebrew Congregation will show its musical talents with its ninth annual Dinner & Show on June 8, a popular event featuring well-known musical pieces performed by congregants.

The origins of the event can be traced back to one MMAE congregant, Larry Stahl, who has been a member since the mid-1980s and has been deeply involved in the synagogue’s leadership for decades.

“I’ve always been involved in music in the synagogue. I’m one of the people who leads services on Saturdays and on some of the holidays. And I realized that we had a number of people who had various musical talents and, after a conversation or two or three, I suggested that we try a talent show,” said Stahl.

Stahl said that the first event was smaller than what is seen today, with a minor dinner and talent show featuring several congregants. But he added that it was well received instantly and grew into an annual celebration of the synagogue community and its musical prowess.

Stahl said that the event quickly grew longer and more elaborate as more people began taking an interest, with the dinner becoming a buffet and the show stretching up to an hour and a half.

Each year, there’s a theme that the musical performances center around, such as music through the decades and “Fiddler on the Roof.” This year, the theme is “A Trip Through Our Favorite Music” and will include piano music, comedy, rock and roll and more, according to Stahl.

“It’s very well received to the point where people at the end of the year will ask us, ‘Well, what are you doing next year?’ Which is always a good sign. It’s a lot of fun. We have a whole bunch of people from the synagogue who take part and they show their talents,” Stahl said.

As for the planning process with this event, Stahl said that a few weeks after the performance they hold a cast party, where they discuss what they did that year and see if there are any ideas for next year.

Stahl said that he takes the information gathered during the party and meets with Lee Cooper, the congregation’s music director, and they form the shape of the upcoming year’s event around the High Holidays.

They reach out to previous performers to see if they will return, and most do, along with opening the invitation across the community to people who haven’t participated before and seeing if they’re interested based on the upcoming theme.

Then Stahl and Cooper begin to work with the performers as the event draws closer to fine tune the acts before they hit the stage. After that comes Sunday rehearsals starting in the spring that run through June, when the event is held, although they do take a break during Passover.

“It’s an all-hands-on-deck effort in the synagogue. And we’re the kind of synagogue where we are very much a family. And everybody who gets asked, ‘Can you help us with this? Can you take care of this? Will you look for this?’ — I don’t think I’ve ever had anybody say no. It’s a lot of fun, and it becomes truly an [entire] synagogue activity,” Stahl said.

Stahl credited MMAE’s Rabbi Yerachmiel Shapiro for helping foster an environment at the synagogue that encourages this level of collaboration and openness to try exciting new things like this event.

And the proceeds from the event also go right back to helping the synagogue, with the money benefiting the Sylvia Rosenblatt Hebrew UnSchool.

Beyond that, Stahl said the event is something that people from across the community can enjoy and pointedly noted that it’s a relatively affordable experience.

“It’s one of the great bargains in the Jewish community. I mean, it’s popular music, it’s a full dinner and a show and it’s $38 a person. I don’t think you can go out and have a nice dinner and see a musical revue for less than that,” Stahl said.

Throughout the years, the show has also helped build relationships with the community beyond the walls of MMAE, and Stahl said that it has even helped them bring new members in.

“As many people who come to the show over the years are members as are not members, and we’ve actually picked up some members, because people have been invited to come to the show, and not only did they like the show, but they liked the interaction with the folks who were there,” Stahl said.

More information can be found on mmae.org.

bhamelin@midatlanticmedia.com