Jeff Goldblum attended the premiere run of the stage production in 2005 in support of his fiancé Catherine Wreford - who originated the role of Rebecca Almazoff.
Although the 1919 story on which the musical is based was seen as shameful to many Winnipeggers, it is now acknowledged as one of the era's significant human rights stories and will be featured in the Canadian Museum of Human Rights.
The story is based in part on composer Danny Schur 's family history of an interfaith marriage between a Catholic and a Jew.
The characters Mike Sokolowski and Moishe Almazoff are based on real people. Moishe Almazoff was the pen-name of Solomon Pearl who left Canada for New York where he wrote for a Yiddish paper: The Morgan Freiheit.
When the stage musical on which the movie is based premiered in 2005, it starred Jay Brazeau in the role of Mike Sokolowski.