The Book of Esther tells how she and her pious cousin, Mordecai, defeated the scheming Haman, a powerful royal adviser, thereby saving the Jewish people from annihilation.

Esther is a short book that reads like a modern-day thriller. The queen is banished for not obeying her husband’s orders, and Esther, an unknown, replaces her.

This book is named after its principal character, Esther, the beautiful Jewish maiden whose vicissitudes at the court of Persia were instrumental in saving her people from extermination.

And yet, while the Book of Esther is firmly rooted in Jewish canon, this Branson production was unambiguously Christian. “She’s a natural figure to attach to,” Brewer said.

According to a tradition dating back to at least the 1100s, Mordechai and Esther were buried in a mausoleum in Hamadan, believed to be the ancient city of Shushan mentioned in the Book of Esther.

The rabbi later read the Book of Esther from the megillah scroll in accordance with the Purim custom. According to a tradition dating back to at least the 1100s, ...