The Zulu and the Zayda

The Zulu and the Zayda
Sheet music cover (cropped)
Music	Harold Rome
Lyrics	Harold Rome
Book	Howard Da Silva and Felix Leon
Productions	1965 Broadway

The Zulu and the Zayda is a musical play by Howard Da Silva and Felix Leon, with music and lyrics by Harold Rome (his last musical score), and directed by Dore Schary. It was based on a story by Dan Jacobson. Described as a comedy with music, the play has two acts and 18 scenes.

Produced by Theodore Mann and Dore Schary, the Broadway production, opened on 10 November 1965 at the Cort Theatre, where it ran for 179 performances. The cast included Menasha Skulnik, Ossie Davis, and Louis Gossett. It also featured Yaphet Kotto in his first Broadway appearance.

Set in Johannesburg, South Africa, this comedy is about a lively Jewish grandfather (zayda is the Yiddish word for grandfather) who moves to Africa from London, whose family (the Grossmans) hires Paulus, a native (a member of the Zulu tribe), and brother of a family servant, as a companion, and "grandfather sitter." The relationship between the zayda and Paulus, the Zulu, bridges the gulf between black and white, Africa and Europe, and age and youth, as Paulus teaches his new friend local Zulu phrases while he himself learns Yiddish expressions. Eventually, local prejudices interfere, but there is a happy ending.

The play description written by C. Burr, included on the original cast album, notes:

Dan Jacobson, the author of the original story upon which this work was based, was born in 1929 in Johannesburg, South Africa, where his family had fled to escape persecution of Jews in Europe. His grandfather was a rabbi in Lithuania. Many of his stories and novels dealt with issues of prejudice and racism. The original story, "The Zulu and the Zeide," was also the basis of a one-man performance without music, created and performed by Michael Picardie of the Everyman Theater in Cardiff, Wales, as part of the 2004 Leeds (UK) International Jewish Theater Festival.

Harold Rome was familiar with the Jewish background of "the zayda" because of his own Jewish background, but he was also familiar with African culture since he had been a collector of African art since 1939, eventually bringing together one of the most important collections of such art in the world. Additionally, he was intrigued with African music, resulting in a score that combined elements of music from both African and Jewish cultures.