“THIS CABAL GUY COULD BE RIGHT”: NUMERIC CORRELATIONS IN MAURY YESTON’S IN THE BEGINNING

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dc.contributor.authorVandegrift, Leonard
dc.date.accessioned2022-06-30T09:41:37Z
dc.date.available2022-06-30T09:41:37Z
dc.date.issued2018
dc.description.abstractThe study of gematria and isopsephy, the numeric conversion of Hebrew and Greek words, yields an abundant harvest of biblical insight. Though applying this method to more secular literature is rare, we have a unique set of circumstances in Maury Yeston’s musical In the Beginning that renders its use appropriate. Derived from Hebrew and Greek, the names of the show’s principal characters can be converted to numeric values, all of which share at least one of three common factors. Moreover, the names are often connected thematically, and their factors reflect key elements in the first five books of the Bible. Along with contributions from fellow collaborators Larry Gelbart and David Hahn, Yeston appears to be the most likely candidate to have included these numeric features, the intention of which is expressed in the words of the antagonist Romer, who draws particular attention to Kabbalah’s use of numbers: “There is something about the number forty. This Cabal guy could be right” (2.4.65; emphasis added). The character only skims the surface of the number 40’s implications and misses entirely the deeper meanings that further reflection offers, but having drawn some attention to the matter, the script seems to have left the question open for any observant director, performer, or audience member familiar with such things and with sufficient interest to investigate further. In the case of this article’s author, his background in theatre, literary criticism, and gematria provided the key to unlock a rich subtext of the writing that until now had lain otherwise dormant and awaiting discovery. Keywords: Gematria, Isopsephy, Number, Numeric Value, Standard Value, Ordinal Value, In the Beginning, Hebrew, Greek, Musical Theatreen_US
dc.identifier.citationVandegrift, L. (2018). “This Cabal guy could be right”: Numeric correlations in Maury Yeston’s In the Beginning. Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy. 5(1). http://journaldialogue.org/issues/v5-issue-1/this-cabal-guy-could-be-right-numeric-correlations-in-maury-yestons/en_US
dc.identifier.issn2378-2331
dc.identifier.issn2378-2323
dc.identifier.urihttp://nur.nu.edu.kz/handle/123456789/6320
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherDialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogyen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesDialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy;Volume 5, Issue 1 — Visualizing Popular Culture: From Theater to the Graphic Novel
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/*
dc.subjectType of access: Open Accessen_US
dc.title“THIS CABAL GUY COULD BE RIGHT”: NUMERIC CORRELATIONS IN MAURY YESTON’S IN THE BEGINNINGen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
workflow.import.sourcescience

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Volume 5, Issue 1 — Visualizing Popular Culture: From Theater to the Graphic Novel