Go mental with Yentl this weekend as the Downtown Independent screens everyone's second-favorite Jewish movie musical as part of Outfest's Downtown 30. Thirty years ago, Yentl marked quintuple-threat Streisand's directorial debut. The film also marked the second, and only, time that a supporting actress (Amy Irving) was nominated for both an Oscar and a Razzie. Based on Isaac Bashevis Singer's genre-bending short story and subsequent play, Yentl the Yeshiva Boy, then–41-year-old Streisand plays Yentl, a Jewish girl living in a turn-of-the-century Polish shtetl where the men get to argue about Talmudic law and the women are expected only to tell the difference between a herring and a carp. Her head exploding with knowledge, Yentl and her kindly dad study in secret. After Papa dies, she goes butch and runs off to join a yeshiva. There, she meets Hebraic hottie Avigdor (Mandy Patinkin), who's only got eyes for his submissive bride-to-be, Hadass (Irving). A love triangle ensues, not to mention more than a dozen heartfelt ballads; funny how Patinkin, one of Broadway's greats, won a Tony for Evita just a few years prior, yet Streisand is the only one singing. Still, even movie musical haters have to admit that “Papa, can you hear me?” — aside from “People, people who need people” — are the five finest and kitschiest words Babs has ever sung. Downtown Independent, 251 S. Main St., dwntwn.; Wed., Jan. 30, 7 p.m.; $10. (213) 617-1033, downtownindependent.com.

Wed., Jan. 30, 7 p.m., 2013

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