The first biog­ra­phy of the beloved Tony-win­ning and Oscar-nom­i­nat­ed actress, Made­line Kahn: Being the Music — A Life exam­ines the career of a star who grew up in a non-obser­vant fam­i­ly and went on to work fre­quent­ly with Jew­ish writer – direc­tors such as Mel Brooks, Peter Bog­danovich, and Gene Wilder. With a spe­cial focus on Made­line’s work in Wendy Wasser­stein’s play The Sis­ters Rosensweig and Eric Mendel­sohn’s film Judy Berlin, each of which explores Jew­ish cul­tur­al her­itage, the book also exam­ines sub­tler treat­ment of Jew­ish themes in Young Franken­stein and High Anx­i­ety, among others.