APOCRYPHA WATCH: A musical based on the books of the Maccabees is playing in Kansas City.

• Maccabeat, music by Harvey Shield, lyrics by Richard Jarboe and Chayim Ben Za'ayev, book by Ben Za'ayev, from a story by M. Edelman based on portions of the 1st Book of Maccabees (Apocrypha). Directed by Steven Eubank, music directed by Chris Leavy. 2 & 8 PM July 15 at Just Off Broadway Theater in Penn Valley Park.

"A pop rock musical take on the Biblical story of Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. Judah Maccabee and his brothers sing doo wop, chase girls and try to remain true to their faith and traditions in a world where it's cool to be Greek. When Judah and the lovely Allura, a 'heathen,' fall for each other, two very different cultures are forced to confront — and learn from — one another. With Allura's help, Judah and his brothers outwit the bad guys and strike the blow against tyranny that made the Chanukah celebration possible. It may not have happened quite this way, but hey — you never know."

Loosely based on the books of the Maccabees.

The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle has more details:

As source material for a musical romp, Edelman said, the Book(s) of Maccabees are somewhat problematic.
"The Book of Maccabees is interesting for a couple of reasons," he said. "Number one, there is no cruse of oil that miraculously burned for eight days in it. That didn't happen. And number two, it's about fighting - mostly the Syrian Greeks, but also against the assimilated Jews ... and how do you celebrate that?
"But there is all this space in between the stories for their day-to-day lives. What might have happened to them? These are Jews living in their Holy Land several hundred years after they made a deal with Alexander the Great to keep their religion. But now after Alexander died, these bad guys took over and started to impose their will on them. Still, you're talking about great minds and ideas like Aristotle and Plato and the Olympics. ...
"So what if Judah had been this Fabio-looking hunk, and what if he had assimilated friends who wore clothes that were cool, and what if he attracted the attention of the sister of Antiochus' general, Appolonius, and what if he tried out for the Olympics?"
Like the Talmudic rabbis who invented the "miracle of the oil," Edelman and Krausz, et al, had to find a way to "resolve the arc of that story."
All the characters, except for Judah's "heathen" temptress, Allura, are taken from the Books of Maccabees.
"It's a natural attraction between the characters, but she is interested in his world, too," Edelman said. "She tells her father, 'They have a rich history; we could learn from them.' And Judah does the same about the Greeks. And in each case, the older generation says '... Nah! Stay with your own kind.'
"Allura learns to blow the shofar, and Judah learns about Greek things, but ultimately, they are from two different worlds and can't bridge the gap."

Very loosely based on the books of the Maccabees.