Pannonica Rothschild, baroness from a branch of the wealthiest family in the world at the time, had a not-so-well-kept secret: she loved jazz.
The former Kathleen Annie Pannonica was born in 1913. She grew up in Hertfordshire, England.
When we meet her, it’s the early 1950s, and the baroness’s formal role was to smile at grand openings and accompany her husband Jules at various state dinners and meet-and-greets as the “pretty face” of the family’s money and status. Because she was a woman, she was barred from working in the family’s bank. Pannonica and Jules survived World War II in England and had five children.
Pannonica was increasingly frustrated by her restricted standing as a baroness (she could fly an airplane and joined the Free French Army during the war); at the same time she was also becoming obsessed with meeting Thelonious Monk, the era’s leading jazz pianist.
After hearing Monk’s “Round Midnight,” she abandons her children, husband and life as a socialite, and moves to New York.
That’s the set-up for a moving jazz-infused evening of theater by the Teatron Ivri (Hebrew Theater company) currently touring Israel.
During a visit to jazz saxophone great Charlie Parker’s infamous Manhattan jazz club, Birdland, Pannonica attempts to bribe the booster for Monk’s home address. He won’t give it to her but warns she won’t find him playing anywhere. Monk’s “not on the menu,” he snips.
An inebriated Parker then appears on stage and provides the baroness what she’s been seeking. When she finally meets the piano player, she learns that, because he was previously jailed for drug possession (covering for his student Bud Powell), he’d lost his “cabaret card,” the police permit which allowed musicians to work in New York clubs.
It’s a not-so-thinly veiled metaphor for the racism that stymied many Black jazz performers in the 1950s. Through her eventual public connection to Monk, the baroness was depicted repeatedly in the media as “corrupt.”
I would have enjoyed the plot and performances of “The Baroness Rothschild” in any case, but we made a point of seeing the show out of town (the Jerusalem performance had been canceled due to the Iran war in April) because our son, Aviv, plays saxophone in the on-stage band.
Aviv has had a remarkably busy career since he returned from New York a year ago after receiving his BFA in music from The New School. He plays a range of styles (klezmer, pop, disco, Jewish wedding music), is in a Phil Collins cover band formed by the drummer from Israeli rap superstars HaDag Nachash, but his first – and still true – love has always been jazz.
And that’s what this play is all about. At first, we only hear the band in the background, but when Pannonica visits Birdland, the curtains part and the band – decked out in period hats, vests and ties – are brought to center stage.
This is not a musical; the actors don’t sing. Neta Plotnik (who most recently appeared in the Netflix drama “Bad Boy”) plays Pannonica with tremendous emotion and poise. Gabriel Demidov is her husband Jules and Gil Weinberg is her brother, Victor. Parker and Monk are played by Ethiopian Israeli actors Adi Alamo and Aimos Alno, respectively.
The music itself was arranged and written specifically for the play by Yonatan Perlman (other than a tune that Thelonius Monk wrote specifically for Pannonica, and a Charlie Parker cover). The play is directed by Gadi Tzedaka and was written by his son, Yehonadev. At times, when the actor playing Charlie Parker attempts to use his saxophone on stage, it’s Aviv who’s blowing the actual horn.
I won’t be giving anything away – this is not a fictional piece by the Duffer Brothers but part of the historical record – by sharing that, in the show, Pannonica befriends both Parker and Monk, helping them financially, including paying for groceries and hospital visits.
Parker dies in 1955 in Pannonica’s hotel room, apparently overdosing on iodine – another scandal for the papers. Monk was busted on cannabis possession in 1958. This time, Pannonica takes the rap for him and was sentenced to three years in prison, although her family’s intercession results in the case being dismissed on a technicality.
Monk leaves his wife Nellie (played by Tovit Samai) to shack up with Pannonica. It’s left vague whether the two had a romantic relationship. Monk died in 1982.
Earlier in the story, Pannonica’s brother and husband both beg her to return to England, at the very least to raise her children. She refuses. Jazz needs her more. She lived in New York and later in New Jersey for 25 years until her death in 1988.
Despite my shaky Hebrew, I understood most the words: When dialogue is paired with vivid scenes (Jules shaking Pannonica, Monk being hauled off to jail by a capricious cop), you get more context than if you’re just reading in Hebrew.
Pannonica Rothschild befriended and supported more jazz musicians than Parker and Monk. Saxophonist Sonny Rollins said, “her story is our story…she realized that jazz needed any kind of help it could get, especially the musicians. But more than that, she was with us. We could go to places and feel like human beings.”
Miles Davis called her a “wonderful friend.”
On the other hand, political activist Amiri Baraka (formerly LeRoi Jones) condemned her as “a wealthy dilettante and a groupie.”
For more on this remarkable story, Hannah Rothschild, Victor’s granddaughter, wrote the definitive inside story, “The Baroness.” Also check out David Kastin’s biography, “Nica’s Dreams.”
The Baroness Rothschild will be playing at Israel’s Northern Theater, in Kiryat Haim, north of Haifa, through much of July and August, as well as slightly closer to Jerusalem, in Or Akiva, on July 30, 2026. It will continue touring and, hopefully, give Tel Aviv and Jerusalem residents an opportunity to delve into this captivating chapter of musical history.
I first reviewed “The Baroness” for The Jerusalem Post.
