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MYSTERY TOLD FROM JEWISH PERSPECTIVE,
MINUS JEWS
'INSPECTOR CALLS'

FOUR STARS out of 4 stars
MARTIN F. KOHN FREE PRESS THEATER CRITIC 4/25/07

British dramatist J. B. Priestley's 1946 play
"An Inspector Calls" is a mystery.

It also has a plot. It concerns the death of a desolate, impoverished young woman and her apparent connection to a wealthy family in 1912 England.

We'll get to the story in a moment. First, the mystery: "An Inspector Calls," a gripping production by Christopher Bremer, is at the Jewish Ensemble Theatre whose mission is the "exploration of ideas that confront issues of humanity and community from the Jewish perspective."

Priestley wasn't Jewish. The characters aren't Jewish. Nobody in the play mentions Judaism or Jewish people.

And yet, what is Jewish about it seems pretty clear. If you're going to see the play and would rather draw your own conclusions, STOP READING NOW. By the way, there is a talkback after every Thursday night's performance.

The dead woman has committed suicide, leaving behind a diary disclosing how her path has crossed those of industrialist Arthur Birling, his wife, their son, their daughter and their daughter's fiance. Arriving late at night (as these people often do) and interrupting a jolly dinner party, Inspector Goole comes to make inquiries.

Speaking for the playwright, Goole makes the point that we are all responsible for each other and that we must take better care of each other. "To save one person is to save the world," says the Talmud (not the inspector). The Birlings had many opportunities to do just that. The concept, of course, is not exclusive to any one religion.

The Birlings may live by the precept that no single raindrop feels responsible for the flood, but this production succeeds because everyone lives up to his or her responsibilities. Let's begin with the first thing we see: set designer Christopher Carothers' stately, exceedingly wallpapered post-Victorian home. Next we see Mary Copenhagen's costumes, which further establish time and place and the female characters' status and sense of taste (the men dress in similar formal attire).

Beginning with believable and unwavering English accents, the cast is first-rate. As daughter Sheila Birling, Inga R. Wilson performs meticulously, reacting when others are speaking. As patriarch Arthur Birling, B. J. Love is the pompous bully who believes he's never wrong.

In contrast to all the plutocrats who speak with care, Alan Ball is blunt and forthright as Goole, an inspector not just of evidence but of souls.

Priestley's play is plot-driven and leans toward the melodramatic - it is more than 60 years old - but it digs deeply and very much merits the present revival.

ARTS: 'An Inspector Calls'
Top-notch production ends JET season.

Susan Zweig
Special to the Jewish News

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

A great whodunit goes down as satisfyingly as a glass of lemonade on a stifling afternoon; J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls, at the Jewish Ensemble Theatre through May 19, offers a swig of something even more provocative and chilling.

The upper crust Birlings at table in 1912's pre-war Edwardian Britain are the stuff of an era poised to be bygone, though they hardly know it. They dine surrounded by cut crystal, at arm's length from struggle. Here are wealthy families about to fuse in marriage, engaged and laughing on that brink; nothing can harm them. Arthur Birling speaks of a pseudo-utopian England in 30 years time without any grasp of the world wars that are to rock its foundations. Such events are beyond this family (and their station's) radar.

Leave it to the roving conscience and specter of Inspector Goole and his report of Eva Smith's death to make this dinner party see blood on their hands.

Written at the close of World War II, Priestley's play was a parable for a more egalitarian society. A powerful voice of his generation over the airwaves and through all forms with his pen, Priestley worked to reshape Britain and indeed the world to be congruent with his classless, brotherly ideals.

Staged within JET's walls, it's hard not to detect a potent whiff of Holocaust denial in Priestley's expertly crafted script. Its characters roil with pleadings of "it doesn't have anything to do with me" and "it's not my problem"; there also is that grisly, oft-repeated detail that a woman died from swallowing disinfectant "that burned out her insides." A crime against humanity has been committed; though their roles seem murky, this micro-society - and many just like it - would choose to stay swaddled in cushy detachment rather than reach out over the breach to condemn the evils swirling so obviously around them.

Under Chris Bremer's keen, decisive direction - with a stately, opulent set by Christopher Carothers for its backdrop - the ensemble works together with glorious ease, shining collectively and independently.

As Arthur and Sybil Birling, B.J. Love and Mary Wright Bremer effortlessly embody the fussy, resolute stalwarts of an England clung to for dear life. Dax Anderson presents a fine Gerald Croft, daughter Sheila's well-heeled intended. The human equivalent of truth serum, Alan Ball is terrific as the unwavering Goole. No stony conscience on this man's watch will be left unturned.

Given an even wider emotional berth in Priestley's script as the generation that must amend societal inequities, the younger Birlings - Patrick O'Connor Cronin and Inga R. Wilson as the drunken Eric and tormented Sheila respectively - are particularly impressive. Wilson teeters so naturalistically on the verge of breakdown, it's almost indecent to be watching.

Gorgeous are Mary Copenhagen's empire gowns for the female Birlings. Elaine Hendriks-Smith's gaslights cast an amber glow that grows harsher as truths get mined. Diane E. Ulseth's properties shine, from Sheila Birling's twinkling diamonds right down to Goole's tiny black steno book.

With a big event happening upstairs at the JCC, I couldn't tell if it was random synch, but several times when Goole closed in on a line of questioning, I could have sworn I heard thunder.

With funding at a standstill from the state, JET faces tough times ahead financially; support is crucial. Yet in turning out such a sensational bookend to the JET season, attendance is hardly charity: An Inspector Calls is a gem. Consider this fair warning.

'An Inspector Calls'
well worth investigating at the JET

By D. A. Blackburn Originally printed 04/26/2007 (Issue 1517 - Between The Lines News)

In opening the final production of its 2006-2007 season, "An Inspector Calls," the Jewish Ensemble Theatre has taken on a classic English tale of death and intrigue, and delivered an insightful production with relevance in the here and now.

The work, first staged for public consumption in 1947, is the product of prolific English journalist, novelist and playwright J. B. Priestly - a man known for exposing hypocrisy and inspiring social consciousness. It's these very ideals that drive "An Inspector Calls," and that make it such an enduring treasure.

Set just prior to the outbreak of World War I, the play spends an evening in the home of Arthur (B. J. Love) and Sybil (Mary Wright Bremer) Birling, upper-crust citizens of Brumley, England. It is a joyous occasion, as the Birling's daughter, Sheila (Inga R. Wilson), and her fiance (Dax Anderson) have just announced their engagement, a union joining two of the town's most powerful families and businesses.

But the joy of the moment is short-lived. Arthur, patriarch of the family, seizes the opportunity to impart a little wisdom to his soon-to-be son-in-law and to his own son, Eric (Patrick O'Connor Cronin), who he believes lacks the constitution of a successful businessman. This advice - that man must concern himself more with his family and business than with the common good - sets an eerie tone to the evening. Coupled with Arthur's belief that the "rantings" of a few German officials do not mean that war is a foregone conclusion, the advice divides the men along generational lines. It also serves as a precursor to drama yet to unfold that evening.

It's at this point that the gruff conscious of the story, Inspector Goole (Alan Ball), appears, questioning the family about the gruesome suicide of a young girl that day. Over the course of the play's second and third acts, the interrogation of family members reveals that each of them has, unwittingly, touched this young girl's life in a negative way. The family's secrets are revealed, pitting them against each other, and inspiring introspective reflection among them.

The audience, much like the Birlings, is forced to confront the cold realities of day-to-day human interaction. Priestly, however, saw fit to give the work a devious twist - sorry, no spoilers here - bridging the gap between morality tale and thriller, and making the work both entertaining and affecting.

The JET has done well in placing "An Inspector Calls" in the sure hands of Managing Director Christopher Bremer, who cast an ensemble of notable professional thespians. The work comes to life with precision and poise. Consistently strong acting allows the characters to develop gradually, and though accents are probably not a spot-on match to the brogue of Northern England in 1912, they are steadfast and believable. Without fail, the performers exhibit a caliber of acting generally associated with larger theater troupes, and Bremer succeeds greatly in moving them about the stage and coaching their interaction.

The production also owes much to the excellent work of its design team, who assembled a breathtaking home for the Birlings and period costumes and properties which keep the story firmly planted in time and space.

The Bottom Line: In closing the season with "An Inspector Calls," JET has set a high bar
for its 2007-2008 season - a well-rounded and insightful work, executed with true professionalism.

Brothers bound by sacrifice and deceit

Detroit Free Press, November 5, 2006
BY MARTIN F. KOHN
FREE PRESS THEATER CRITIC

'The Price'

FOUR out of four stars

Phil Powers, left, is a New York City cop and Sol Frieder is a used-furniture dealer in Jewish Ensemble Theatre's production of "The Price." (photo: YAKOV FAYTLIN)

Victor Franz and his brother, Walter, haven't spoken to each other for 16 years and when Arthur Miller's "The Price" begins, it looks as if they might not speak for another 16.

Victor is a New York City police officer, Walter is a rich doctor and Miller is a canny playwright; of course he's going to have the brothers onstage together.

By the time that happens, three-quarters of the cast of Evelyn Orbach's gripping production at Jewish Ensemble Theatre has us heavily involved in the characters' lives: Phil Powers, delivering the performance of his life as stalwart good-guy Victor; Lynnae Lehfeldt as his envious wife, Esther, and Sol Frieder as the 89-year-old used-furniture dealer appraising the brothers' late father's possessions.

The dealer's name is Gregory Solomon, and you don't call a character Solomon unless he has wisdom to dispense.

Last on the scene is wealthy physician Walter, and Loren Bass quickly reveals him as a more complex character than Victor and Esther's comments would have us believe.

"The Price" reverberates with resentment, devotion, sacrifice and deception. The Franzes' father, once a millionaire, lost his fortune in the Great Depression. Victor dropped out of college and joined the police force to take care of him. Walter sacrificed nothing and when Victor asked for a loan so he could finish college, Walter turned him down.

Nothing, though, is as clear-cut as it first appears.

The deception will not be disclosed here, but its revelation shatters Victor. Before our eyes, Powers unravels in a cathartic performance that ranks with any currently on stage in Michigan.

Lehfeldt and Bass, as Esther and Walter, have less emotional ground to cover but it is still sizable. Esther makes a transition from envy to empathy, Walter from smug to (almost) sympathetic.

Frieder, marvelous as the aged Solomon, goes even further, from a depression born of age and heartache to bear-hugging what life he has left. It's never too late, Miller seems to be saying; it's never too late.

Contact MARTIN F. KOHN at 313-222-6517 or

mkohn@freepress.com.

JET's 'Price' pays off with a fine night of drama

Detroit News, Saturday November 4, 2006
Lawrence B. Johnson
Special to The Detroit News

'The Price'

GRADE: A

Sol Frieder is an estate buyer with his
own feelings about "The Price" we
pay for things in life.

Everything comes at a cost. If there's no such thing as a free lunch, neither does fame or indeed any measure of success -- or any personal choice at all -- come without some form of payment. The question is just how much, and what, are you willing to pay?

Then again, the price might be greater than you could know; what you give up in life to capture the brass ring might exceed all value of base metal. Likewise, compassion, honor, call it integrity if you like, can exact a human toll. And some coffers, once emptied, can never be refilled.

Take the case of beat cop Victor Franz and his brother Walter, a doctor so successful that he has his own hospital. They're Exhibits A and B in playwright Arthur Miller's "The Price," which the Jewish Ensemble Theatre sets forth in a production of unflinching directness, first witty and bittersweet, then crushing, clarifying and perhaps redemptive.

Victor (Phil Powers) and Walter (Loren Bass), men in mid-life, have been estranged for 16 years. As a young man, Walter bolted from home to pursue medical studies. To Victor, that meant abandoning his own study of science to care for their father, a man financially ruined and spiritually devastated by the stock market crash of 1929.

But now the brothers are brought face to face once more, in the attic of their late father's home, to meet with a world-weary old estate buyer and settle on a price for all those household treasures, all that outmoded old stuff, their shared history. Actually, it turns out to be just Victor and his wife Esther, who sees in objects like a beautiful harp and an antique table some relief from their modest mode of living.

Walter sweeps in at last. There are hugs, remembrances, laughs, then innuendoes, accusations, revelations, perspectives rocked, moral high ground gained and lost, voices raised, good intentions dashed. The price is settled. For everything.

Powers offers an emotionally charged take on Victor the cop, now feeling some doubt about the path he chose, only to find new conviction in Walter's challenge. And Bass cuts an elegant figure as the self-interested brother, more assured in aspect than in soul. His ultimate retreat is as believable as it is angry and sad. Lynnae Lehfeldt provides an attentive catalyst as Esther; and the veteran Sol Frieder, sly and funny, steals the first act as the ancient estate buyer who has seen it all before -- and has paid his own dear price.

Lawrence B. Johnson is a Detroit-based cultural writer and critic. He can be reached at lawrencebj @aol.com.

Show is very entertaining

The drapes of JET open on Allan Sherman revue

Detroit Free Press, August 29, 2006
BY MARTIN F. KOHN
FREE PRESS THEATER CRITIC

	'Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh!' THREE out of four stars One obscene gesture	Fred Buchalter, Matthew Stewart and Leah Smith in "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh!" (YAKOV FAYTLIN/Jewish Ensemble Theatre)
	This will blow your mind, as they used to say in the '60s. Can you name the only artist to have three No. 1 albums on the Billboard pop charts between 1962 and 1963? Allan Sherman. Peter, Paul and Mary had two. Ray Charles and (Little) Stevie Wonder each had one. If you're too young to remember those days you may be asking, "Who is Allan Sherman?" Here's the best way to find out. Catch "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh!" at the Jewish Ensemble Theatre. It's a delightful revue of Sherman's songs, tied together loosely with a bit of story line: A boy is born, goes to school, gets married, moves to the suburbs, has kids, grows old. Somewhere in there he goes to camp, which provides a reason to perform the title song. Sherman (1924-1973) mostly wrote parodies of existing songs. It's harder than it looks, and Sherman's songs have held up well. To the tune of "Frere Jacques," for example, Sherman set a question-and-answer conversation between two people: "How's your cousin Bernie? He's a big attorney. How's your Uncle Sidney? They took out a kidney," and so on. Once you hear Sherman's lyrics, they're impossible to forget. Memorable, too, is Kayla Gordon's production at JET. The actors -- Fred Buchalter, Eric Gutman, Catherine Lutz, Leah Smith and Matthew Stewart -- all sing with gusto and, when called upon, harmonize very nicely. Everything goes so smoothly that not until the show is over do you realize how many different costumes they wore. Eli Magid's costumes are a flurry of colors and accoutrements, including a couple of bassinets. The plot is labored and the jokes are almost painfully corny, but it hardly matters. And even for people who think they know their Sherman songs there are a couple of big surprises: the very poignant ruminations on mortality, "Like Yours" and "Did I Ever Really Live." Was this ever really Sherman? Yup. They are from his Broadway musical, "The Fig Leaves Are Falling" (music by Albert Hague), which lasted for only four performances in 1969. Sherman deserved better from the theater, and he's certainly getting it at JET.

Brooklyn boy succeeds,
play doesn't miss a beat

3 out of 4 Stars

BY JOHN MONAGHAN
FREE PRESS SPECIAL WRITER

February 21, 2006

You can take the boy out of Brooklyn, but ... oh, you know the rest.

Watching the first bits of "Brooklyn Boy," you might think you have the play figured out as well. After all, this isn't the first time we've watched someone from the old neighborhood, in this case a best-selling novelist, wrestle with the bittersweet burden of success.

The twist in Donald Margulies' new play, making its Midwestern debut in metro Detroit, is how it packs truth into every scene. This is helped by a uniformly excellent cast that knows how to mine every nuance. Director Christopher Bremer finds laughs here, but wisely instructs the cast that none come cheap.

Eric Weiss (John Lepard) is a middle-aged writer whose semiautobiographical "Brooklyn Boy" just hit No. 11 on the best-seller list. The play opens in between an appearance on the "Today" show and a meeting in Hollywood, as Eric visits his widowed father Manny (Arthur Beer), in a Brooklyn hospital.

Eric escaped from his hometown long ago, and Manny, a retired shoe salesman, doesn't let him forget it. The old man is hardly flattered when Eric gives him a copy of the book and shows him the dedication. It simply reads "to my mother and father" and Manny busts his chops for not mentioning them by name. "The only time people like us get to see our names in print," Manny moans, is in the death notices.

Another complication is introduced. Because the book is based on Eric's life, a version of Manny will be in the book. What the old man thinks of his depiction is one strand playwright Margulies doesn't follow up on.

Instead, he shows other people in Eric's life, including his soon-to-be-ex wife, Nina (Jean Lyle Lepard), and an old friend, Ira (Fred Buchalter), who runs into him at the hospital. Eric and Ira lost touch as soon as Eric left after high school, but Ira, who stayed home to run the family deli, has been following his career trajectory ever since.

Their scenes together are the most poignant, forcing Eric to confront one of the many ironies in the play: the past he so desperately wants to shake is the reason for his newfound success.

The second half of "Brooklyn Boy" follows Eric to Hollywood, where his book has been optioned for a movie. His producer, Melanie (Shannon Nicole Locke, maybe a bit too brassy), of course, wants to change a thing or two, playing down what she calls the "Jewish quotient." She also wants to cast Tyler Shaw (Brian Thibault), a hot new TV actor, in the role.

Of course, Tyler comes off like a Keanu Reeves La La Land idiot. But in an impromptu scene reading, the young actor shows surprising depth. The scene, with Eric playing the father, punctuates the complex relationship that opened the play.

You might say that "Brooklyn Boy's" other concern -- Eric's struggle with religious faith -- seems a little obligatory, but it feels right. The scenes occur in the now-empty family home, where you can practically smell the Shabbat dinners Eric never was home for.

Contact freelance writer JOHN MONAGHAN at madjohn@earthlink.net.

“Side by Side”

By JUDITH COOKIS RUBENS
Special to The Oakland Press, Monday December 26, 2005

Stephen Sondheim’s sophisticated lyrics tell vivid, full stories — some humorous, some insightful, some achingly sad.

Many of his songs can stand alone as mini dramas. You almost don’t need the context of the Broadway musical they were written for, though it sometimes helps. This makes the tunes perfect for a musical revue like “Side by Side by Sondheim,” the master songwriter’s 1976 “greatest hits” show, now enjoying a delightful revival by the Jewish Ensemble Theatre.

“Side by Side” is only the JET’s third musical in its 17-year history — a surprise considering the caliber of performers assembled here. The show, directed by Harold Jurkiewicz, mixes Sondheim hits from 1957-76 (from “West Side Story” to “Pacific Overtures”). His popular musicals such as “Sweeney Todd” and “Into the Woods” aren’t represented because they came later.

A talented foursome — Naz Edwards, Shannon Nicole Locke, Brian Thibault and Peter Kevoian — join a narrator and two pianists to deliver 32 formidable tunes from “Follies,” “Company,” and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” among other shows.
Sure, there are favorites such as “Send in the Clowns” (splendidly delivered by Edwards). But this revue also reminds us that Sondheim, now 75, also wrote witty lyrics for other people’s music; Leonard Bernstein, Julie Styne, and Richard Rodgers were among his collaborators.
Equally impressive are his more obscure numbers such as, “Can That Boy Fox Trot,” a funny song that was cut from “Follies,” and the bawdy, double entendre of “I Never Do Anything Twice” from the 1976 film “The Seven-Per-Cent Solution.”

If you’re not a Sondheim aficionado, don’t worry. You’ll get a brief background on his life and his musicals’ plots from JET Artistic Director Evelyn Orbach, who acts as narrator.

The background helps organize these tunes into some order (often chronological, sometimes thematic). Orbach’s narration, while it adds context, could use some tightening so as not to slow the musical’s momentum.

But that’s a minor note. Nothing takes away from Sondheim’s delicious repertoire, sung by a tuneful cast who masters these challenging melodies.
Edwards has a brilliant knack for comedy and the vocal gymnastics to tackle the superhuman pace of “Getting Married Today” (a nervous bride’s chatter from “Company”). Her show-stopping anthem of survival, “I’m Still Here” (from “Follies”) is another treat.

The other leading lady, Locke, is a classic triple threat whose lilting soprano voice is carefully controlled.Locke and Thibault pair up as bickering couples in several funny duets on married life (“The Little Things You Do Together” and “We’re Gonna Be Alright”).

But it’s Kevoian’s pleasing tenor voice and expressive acting that anchors several other plaintive numbers including “Anyone Can Whistle.”
Kevoian and Edwards are experienced Broadway vets who lift this production to a musical level rarely seen in local theater.

With its elegant set, rich costumes and grand pianos, this show yearns to burst out of the intimate confines of the Jewish Ensemble Theatre.
All four performers (and narrator) seem to be genuinely having fun, which always helps sell a show. Case in point is the cast’s spirited rendition of “You Gotta Have a Gimmick” from “Gypsy.”

Even though we hear songs about it, this musical revue doesn’t boast any gimmicky plot or contrived effects. It doesn’t need ’em, for it’s got smart, edgy lyrics and catchy tunes. And that’s more than enough.

Sondheim' cast in fine voice at JET

Detroit Free Press - December 20, 2005

BY MARTIN F. KOHN
FREE PRESS THEATER CRITIC

'Side by Side by Sondheim'
*** out of four stars

The Stephen Sondheim revue "Side by Side by Sondheim" begins with three songs from "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," only one of which, "Comedy Tonight," actually made it into the musical.

One of the also-rans, "Love is in the Air" (not, repeat not, the theme from the old TV show "The Love Boat"), contains some lines applicable to the "Side by Side" production at Jewish Ensemble Theatre: "Some are hasty/ Some are halting/ Some are simply somersaulting."

In Harold Jurkiewicz's staging, Naz Edwards' rendition of "Getting Married Today" is hasty (it's supposed to be), Evelyn Orbach's narration is halting (it's not supposed to be) and the vocal performances -- by Edwards, Shannon Nicole Locke, Brian Thibault and Peter Kevoian -- sometimes somersault heavenward.

At other times notes are missed. Sondheim is notoriously difficult to sing, and this compendium, which leans toward his more tuneful material, is no exception.

Still, each cast member has shining moments. Edwards delivers a pellucid reading of "Send in the Clowns." Locke and Thibault engagingly play a married couple in songs from separate shows: "The Little Things You Do Together" from "Company" and "We're Gonna Be All Right" from "Do I Hear a Waltz?" Jurkiewicz cleverly makes them the same couple. In "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" Kevoian makes a credible Andrews Sister.

Not everyone knows that the Andrews Sisters were a 1940s singing trio. The narration provides such information. It shouldn't drag the show down, but Orbach wasn't quite ready on opening night.

Placing pianists R.C. Blouse and Rich Alder on opposite sides of the stage makes sense stereophonically, but they can't always hear each other. Occasionally they were out of synch with each other and with the singers.

Jurkiewicz and his cast have time to iron out such opening-night glitches. Assuming they do, JET's "Side by Side" should go somersaulting merrily along.

Contact MARTIN F. KOHN at 313-222-6517 or mkohn@freepress.com.

Ensemble revives 'Sondheim'
Revue's rigor will test singers' ability to perform composer's witty words and complex music.

Lawrence B. Johnson / The Detroit News
December 16, 2005

Naz Edwards, left, and Peter Kevoian star in "Side by Side by Sondheim" at the Jewish Ensemble Theatre.

The many-splendored -- if also notoriously dark and edgy -- art of composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim has kept audiences in thrall for half a century. That peculiar charm goes on display through Jan. 8 in the Jewish Ensemble Theatre run of "Side by Side by Sondheim," a revue fashioned from his stage works through the late 1970s.

Although versions of "Side by Side" date back to 1976, when three singers in London first organized a professional reprise of Sondheim, the revue has undergone some changes in the three decades since. Today, it embraces stage works from 1957's "West Side Story" (for which Sondheim wrote the lyrics to Leonard Bernstein's music) and "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" to "Follies," "Anyone Can Whistle" and "A Little Night Music."

It is, in short, a Sondheim feast. (Did I mention "Pacific Overtures," "Gypsy" and "Company"?) It's also a huge challenge for the four singers who must learn not only Sondheim's witty words but his always taxing music as well. For JET's production, the cast includes soprano Shannon Locke, mezzo-soprano Naz Edwards, tenor Peter Kevoian and baritone Brian Thibault.

Veteran director Harold Jurkiewicz says "Side by Side" is harder than a full-length Sondheim show "because it's so concentrated. At least with a show, you have the breaks of dialogue." But he admits he loves the way a Sondheim revue offers, in effect, a series of dramatic moments.

"Each number is a little play in itself," Jurkiewicz says. "That's how important the lyrics are. Each song has its own story to tell."

Hence, the selections will be semi-staged, with costumes changing from number to number. "There are people who don't care for Sondheim, who find him too dark or too intellectual," the director says. "But this show has some surprises. It offers a different perspective."

You can reach Lawrence B. Johnson at (313) 222-2394
or ljohnson @detnews.com.

Side Order of Sondheim
JET’s only musical of season pays tribute to Broadway legend

Bill Carroll
Special to the Jewish News

The Jewish Ensemble Theatre’s holiday gift to the community is a dazzling array of 32 musical numbers by Jewish composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim — some of his best-known works from a variety of landmark shows — as JET pays homage to the reigning king of Broadway in his 75th birthday year.

JET will perform Side by Side by Sondheim, a revue with four singers and two pianists, for its third production of the 2005-2006 season. The show opens Tuesday, Dec. 13, and runs through Jan. 8 at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield.

It will be the only musical of the season on the newly renovated Aaron DeRoy Theatre stage, and only the third musical in JET’s 17-year history. The others were Falsettos and Fiddler on the Roof.

“The songs depict the sophistication, wit and genius of a man who is probably the greatest living Broadway composer,” said JET Artistic Director Evelyn Orbach of West Bloomfield. “We’re thrilled to have a cast so rich in talent, with great charisma among the four of them.” The ensemble includes Naz Edwards of Ann Arbor; Peter Kevoian and Shannon Nicole Locke of New York; and Brian Thibault of Detroit. The local pianists are Randy Blouse and Rich Alder.

Musical Potpourri

Side by Side by Sondheim takes its name from the song “Side by Side,” from the 1970 musical Company, one of Sondheim’s biggest hits. Originally called A Sondheim Songbook, the show was conceived in 1976 in England by performers needing a revue-type show for a local charity fund-raiser.

The show ultimately ran for three years in London before moving to Broadway for 384 performances and has played in community theaters across America. Writer Burt Shevelove, who did the book for Sondheim’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, suggested the name change to Side by Side by Sondheim.

“The show is very popular with regional companies and is probably the single biggest reason for the spread of Sondheim’s popularity beyond sophisticated New York and London,” explained director Harold Jurkiewicz of Dearborn, who has been behind the scenes in various capacities at JET for four years and also has directed several other Sondheim shows throughout the country.

“We’re sticking to the same format of the show as the year it made its debut in England, with the same songs,” he said. “The performers will take turns narrating and giving vignettes and background about Sondheim’s life. When they sing, they’ll wear costumes depicting the show the song came from.”

Side by Side has nine numbers from Follies (1971), including one that was cut from the show, one performed by the entire cast (“You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow”) and two that usually bring down the house: “I’m Still Here” and “Broadway Baby”. There are seven songs from Company; two numbers, “A Boy Like That” and “I Have a Love,” from West Side Story (1957), with music by Leonard Bernstein; two from Gypsy, including the raucous burlesque number “You Gotta Have a Gimmick”; and some favorites like “Send in the Clowns” from A Little Night Music and “Pretty Lady” from Pacific Overtures.

The show opens with “Comedy Tonight,” the biggest hit from Forum, the first musical where Sondheim composed music to go along with his lyrics — although the song wasn’t added until the show played previews on Broadway. Music by Jewish composer Richard Rodgers and his daughter Mary Rodgers also creep into Side by Side to accompany Sondheim’s lyrics. The cast also does a 15-minute medley of snippets of songs from other Sondheim shows not covered individually by the performers.

“It’s really a sophisticated production — and our scenic designer, Christopher Carothers, has come up with a real work of art as a backdrop depicting most of Sondheim’s shows,” said Jurkiewicz, who once toured the country as a performer in Hair.

Music Man

Regional performances of Side by Side culminate a year of musical tributes to Sondheim in honor of his 75th birthday.

Born into a prosperous but nonreligious Jewish family on New York’s Upper West Side, he didn’t have a bar mitzvah and was pretty much neglected as a youngster, his biographers note. He was 10 when his father, Herbert, a businessman, abandoned the family; and his mother, Janet “Foxy” Sondheim, reportedly became an emotionally abusive hypochondriac.

The intense love-hate relationship with his mother re-emerged in his later works, where he treated love and commitment as claustrophobic and smothering, most notably in Company. Sondheim gave words and music to several strong, manipulative, somewhat unstable female characters, such as Mama Rose in Gypsy, Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd (now playing in a revival on Broadway) and the Witch in Into the Woods, all of whom are obsessive about holding on to their child or lover.

Around the time of his parents’ divorce, Sondheim moved to Pennsylvania with his mother and befriended the son of well-known lyricist and playwright Oscar Hammerstein II, who became a surrogate father to him and designed for the young Sondheim his own course on the construction of a musical. Sondheim received a more formal education at Williams College in Massachusetts.

At the age of 25, Sondheim got his big break when he became part of the quartet of “Jewish geniuses” who created West Side Story, one of the most successful Broadway musicals of all time — although the show’s popularity received a strong boost from the movie version. Sondheim wrote most of the lyrics — to music by composer Bernstein, book by Arthur Laurents and choreography by Jerome Robbins. Like his collaborators on Story Sondheim is gay, although he did not acknowledge his homosexuality publicly until 2000.

Sondheim went on to win many Tony Awards and honors, including a Pulitzer Prize for Sunday in the Park With George in 1985.

After the success of West Side Story, Bernstein, who had written only two lines of the lyrics, offered to reapportion the royalties from the songs to 2 percent each for himself and Sondheim, instead of 3 percent for Bernstein and one percent for Sondheim.

“Like an idiot,” Sondheim once recalled, “I said, ‘don’t be silly. I don’t care about the money. I just wanted to work with you.’” Sondheim said he shudders when he thinks of the amount that single remark has cost him over the years.

Detroit News - Monday, November 7, 2005

David Coates / The Detroit News

West Middle School's efforts to diffuse bullying included skits depicting such behavior. Catherine Lutz, left, Kelly Rossi, My-Ishia Cason-Brown and Annie Palmer of the Jewish Ensemble Theatre act out a scene common among girls.

Learning

School acts on bullying issue

West Middle in Plymouth uses plays to demonstrate the effects intimidation and exclusion have on students.

By Amy Kuras / Special to The Detroit News

If your child is being bullied

• Listen to your child. Make sure he or she knows you do not blame, or feel disappointed, in him or her.

• Ask your child what he or she thinks should be done.

• Encourage your child not to retaliate or to let the bully see how much he has upset him or her. Discuss strategies to defuse the bully, such as walking away, using humor, or deflecting the comments.

• Help your child find strong friendships through activities that reflect his or her interests, such as extracurricular activities, church youth groups or after-school clubs.

If your child is the bully

• Take the behavior seriously. Ask your child to explain his or her actions. Do not accept excuses or rationalizations.

• Make clear bullying will not be tolerated and outline consequences of any future bullying behaviors.

• Increase your supervision of your child's activities.

PLYMOUTH -- A generation ago, many teachers and principals ignored bullying, seeing it as just kids being kids.

Now, however, schools take such behavior seriously. Students at West Middle School in Plymouth recently spent nearly a half-day focused on the issue.

They saw performances of two plays produced by the Jewish Ensemble Theatre about bullying -- one for boys called "Word" and one for girls called "Mean Girls."

In addition to the plays, teachers talked about bullying during class time.

Students said the performances, which looked at the ways each gender uses bullying and the effect it has on them, was true to life.

"It was pretty realistic for the girls," said eighth-grader Molly Wallace. "Most of the time conflicts are within groups of friends, and your best friend can be your worst enemy."

Experts say girls do stealth bullying, by exclusion or starting rumors. Boys lean more to physical intimidation. Each play addressed a bullying situation that may be faced by each gender.

Molly said she had endured a situation similar to the one depicted. "With girls, we don't say when we're mad, and then we go and do something behind your back," she said. "You could have someone that hates you and not even know."

Bullying education in middle school is especially effective, organizers said, because children at that age are socially oriented. "Because of their developmental age, they are becoming more aware of the world around them," counselor Valerie Swift said.

"They are noticing how their actions impact others and how others' actions and words impact them."

Counselors and other school staff members work to create an atmosphere where bullying is not tolerated or accepted, they said. Staff as well as students are educated about bullying, and counselors distribute posters to teachers that declare their classroom a "bully-free zone."

There's also a "bully box" that lets students who witnessed a bullying incident to report it, so that appropriate action can be taken by the school staff.

Each year, there's a new theme that drives lessons about bullying, so students haven't heard the same thing three times by the time they leave the school after eighth grade. Different lessons take place in each grade, as well.

"When we intervene, we are very successful," said Principal Ellison Franklin. "It's something you have to be on it all the time. If it's your rule or your policy, you have to keep working on it to keep it in front of the children."

When students witness bullying or are themselves victims, they aren't able to focus on school, said counselor Leann Gross. "Everyone is aware of the issue and that it's not going to be tolerated, because everyone needs to be respected," she said.

"Kids need to feel safe here at school."

Students say the lessons are having an impact; they know that bullying will be punished. But it's a challenge to persuade kids to report bullying.

"Most of the time people won't come forward and say they are being bullied," said Keith Choma, an eighth-grader.

Keith said he's been bullied and learned that it's best not to retaliate.

"I just say, 'Thank you,' so it doesn't go on to another conflict," he said.

Counselors help kids who are having a hard time fitting in at school connect with a group. They may introduce them to students with similar interests, or ask one to have lunch with a new student and show him or her around.

The central goal is to promote empathy -- to teach students to put themselves in the bullying victim's shoes. Swift has seventh-graders make life-size silhouettes of people and then crumple them up. When straightened out, creases remain in the paper, just as scars from bullying remain.

Empathy generates less bullying and helps alleviate the bystander problem, when kids see something happening and don't take steps to stop it.

"It helps me stand up for people and come forward if I am being bullied," said Molly Wallace. "If I don't make it stop, it could happen to more people."

Teaching students about the dangers of bullying gives them skills to navigate the choppy waters of middle school. In addition, the counselors said, it helps them as they grow older and enter high school and even the workplace.

"We can't start this young enough," Swift said.

"There's no greater quality that you can help them out with than empathy. If they can understand this now, they will be very, very productive citizens and very successful."

Amy Kuras is a Metro Detroit freelance writer.

The Detroit News, Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Photos by Bob Benyas

Jason Richards (left) and Dax Anderson (left) play brothers Eugene and Stan Jerome, two aspiring comedy writers, with Joe Albright as their father in the Jewish Ensemble Theatre production of Neil Simon's "Broadway Bound."

JET's 'Broadway Bound' finds laughs in pain

Spot-on cast mines both sides of comedy from Neil Simon's autobiographical play.

By Lawrence B. Johnson / The Detroit News

In the sense that life is absurd, precarious, a walk through a funhouse, sometimes appalling beyond comprehension, in the end an unfathomable comedy -- Neil Simon's play "Broadway Bound" is funny.

Yet, as the Jewish Ensemble Theatre's new production reminds us with eloquence and edge, this warted portrait of the human condition is hardly an evening of laughs. People get hurt. There is real pain. But the comedy in it all is real, too.

Romeo, in Shakespeare's romantic tragedy, has it wrong when he says his friends laugh at love's scars only because they've never felt its wounds. That's a key point of Simon's tragi-comedy. That's the peculiar human balm -- our ability to laugh when indeed we've been cut.

In "Broadway Bound," the last play in Simon's autobiographical trilogy that begins with "Brighton Beach Memoirs" and "Biloxi Blues," the twentysomething brothers Eugene and Stan Jerome (Jason Richards and Dax Anderson) are talented, eager writers dying to break into the big time writing comedy for radio or even Hollywood.

When their chance comes, but inspiration fails, they turn to the bizarre material right in front of them -- in their own dysfunctional household, where their parents' marriage is crumbling and their mother's elderly father, a devout and preachy socialist, constantly scolds everyone around him for neglecting the poor.

As the two brothers, the older, intense Stan and the mellow peace-maker Eugene, who also narrates the story, Anderson and Richards make a satisfying match. When Eugene asks his mother Kate (Milica Govich) to show him how as a young girl she once danced with George Raft, his charmed engagement as her partner is as believable as his later confession of awkwardness at their intimacy. Credible, too, in fact utterly gripping, is Stan's explosion at his father, Jack (Joseph Albright), when Dad takes offense at the radio broadcast that seems to cast him in an unflattering light.

Not for a moment does humor touch Albright's finely drawn portrait of Jack, as a sober, even sullen man of 55 years burdened with twofold guilt: his loss of interest in his good wife and his actual betrayal of her. As Kate, Govich provides this show's real tour de force -- the joyful, loving mother and hurting yet hopeful wife. When Kate finally confronts her husband and elicits the truth, she all but dies of a broken heart -- without indulging in a hint of melodrama. The whole household hurts with her, and so do we.

Hardly less brilliant or touching is Sol Frieder as Kate's father, Ben, doddering and absent-minded but also capable of disarming clarity and wisdom. As Kate's sister, Blanche, married into great wealth (to socialist Ben's unending dismay), Jodie Kuhn Ellison offers an assured and sympathetic performance.

Evelyn Orbach directs the show with unerring fluency, making effective use of an elaborate two-level set. The dark lesson of "Broadway Bound" should be amusing to any mortal, any of fortune's fools. And JET gets it exactly right.

You can reach Lawrence B. Johnson at (313) 222-2394 or ljohnson @detnews.com.

Sol Frieder is Ben, the moralizing socialist who offers flashes of wisdom to his grandsons, daughter and son-in-law, in JET's "Broadway Bound."

Detroit Free Press, May 3, 2006
Middle-age crazy: JET plays turning 60 for laughs
Cast solid in quietly funny 'Coming of Age'
BY MARTIN F. KOHN
FREE PRESS THEATER CRITIC
*** out of four stars
Language, sexual situations

Sarah Simon is so vain, she probably thinks this play is about her.

Sarah (no relation to Carly), a character in Kitty Dubin's "Coming of Age," would be correct. "Coming of Age" is about her and her husband, Ben, and Sarah's old college roommate, Holly, who all see age 60 around the bend or, in Ben's case, in the mirror.

As the play opens, Sarah (Naz Edwards) is the one literally looking in the mirror, pushing up a jowl, readjusting a breast, not at all pleased with what she sees.

Ben (Mark Rademacher) is struggling mightily to remember the name of the actor who starred in the video he just rented. Uh oh.

Relax. This isn't about Alzheimer's. Not to trivialize the disease, but any number of plays, movies and TV specials have already covered that territory very well. Dubin steps off that beaten path.

Her play, a comedy but not a raucous comedy, isn't about aging; it's about how people of a certain age look at what's happening to them. Growing older is inevitable -- except for, you know, the alternative -- and there are basically two ways to face it: eagerly or kicking and screaming.

Ben can't wait to retire, and he likes getting senior citizen discounts. Sarah doesn't even want him to say the R-word and she takes aging as a personal insult.

Their differences couldn't be clearer in Gillian Eaton's world premiere production at Jewish Ensemble Theatre, beginning with the casting. As an actor Rademacher (absent from the stage for the past four years) is the consummate smooth guy, elegant, affable, laid- back. Edwards plays it big, brassy and out there as a woman obsessed with her outward appearance. The two performers are ideal for the parts they play.

As their widowed friend, Holly, Babs George starts out irksomely weepy and whiny, but as her character grows over the play's two-year span, so does her performance. Thomas Hoagland, as Holly's much younger (fortysomething) hippie boyfriend, Jake, wisely doesn't overplay his character.

There are two more characters, but they never appear. Ben and Sarah's daughter leaves a bombshell of a message on their answering machine, and Holly's late husband, Eric, is much talked about.

That's a major flaw -- that some significant events and people are spoken of rather than presented. But Dubin's characters are worth caring about, which should compensate for whatever shortcomings there are in "Coming of Age."

Contact MARTIN F. KOHN at 313-222-6517 or mkohn@freepress.com

Observer and Eccentric April 27, 2006

Middle-age crazy: JET plays turning

Local playwright's 'Coming of Age' opens at JET
BY NICOLE STAFFORD
STAFF WRITER

Birmingham playwright Kitty Dubin's latest work, 'Coming of Age,' explores the realities of aging.

The passing of time is a curious thing.

As human beings, we can't help but try to get a hold of the ticking clock.

Birmingham playwright Kitty Dubin's Coming of Age, which opens Saturday, April 29, at the Aaron DeRoy Theatre in West Bloomfield, aims to help us all resist the temptation. Presented by the Jewish Ensemble Theatre and directed by Gillian Eaton of Plymouth, the play continues through May 21.

"It's about getting older, but it's really about starting to get older," said Dubin, an award-winning playwright who also teaches her craft at Oakland University in Rochester Hills. "There's a name for most of these transitions -- the teenage years, mid-life crisis, identity crisis."

But the period following middle age, strangely enough, manages to exist without a name, Dubin said, adding, "I'm calling it the transition to getting older."

Her two-act play explores this life passage by tracking the relationship between two best girlfriends, Sarah, played by Naz Edwards of Ann Arbor and Holly, portrayed by Babs George of Austin, Texas. Best friends since college, the two women annually spend one week together, along with their spouses, each summer at a cottage on Lake Michigan.

The play begins when "for the first time in 12 years, one of the women arrives alone," her husband having passed away, explained Dubin.

Over the course of two more summers, both women continue to confront difficulties associated with getting older.

"It's beyond middle age when so many things are happening at once. Your looks are fading, you have an empty nest, retirement is looming and friends are getting older. Any of one of those things could throw you for a loop," said Dubin. "And these friends help each other get through the hurdles that they have."

Dubin has had close to 20 of her plays professionally produced, including Ties That Bind at the Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea and, in New York City, Tough As Nails at the American Globe Theatre and Mimi and Me at the American Playwright's Theatre. In 2002, she received a Jewish Woman in the Arts Award for her lifetime achievement and work in the arts in metro Detroit. She has received two playwriting grants from the Michigan Council for the Arts.

But Coming of Age is no "downer," said Dubin. "It's funny. As people are sort of mucking around in this struggle, there's both humor and pathos."

More importantly, the play's "starting to get older" journey speaks to life transitions of all ages, she said, adding, "I think people will really be able to see themselves in this play."

There are real people living in
'Brighton Beach'

THREE STARS
out of four stars

May 12, 2005

BY MARTIN F. KOHN
FREE PRESS THEATER CRITIC

When Neil Simon wants an audience to know something, he generally has the good grace to come out and say it. He has never been big on hidden messages, although he seems to have slipped one into his autobiographical comedy "Brighton Beach Memoirs."

'Brighton Beach Memoirs'

THREE STARS
out of four stars

Sexual dialogue

7:30 p.m. Wed.-Thu., 8 p.m. Sat.,
2 & 7:30 p.m. Sun.

Also 2 p.m. May 25 (no evening show)

Through June 5

Jewish Ensemble Theatre
Jewish Community Center
Maple Road at Drake, West Bloomfield

248-788-2900

$33-$37

2 hours, 30 minutes

His main character is one Eugene Morris Jerome, age 15, a witty, observant, aspiring writer who is generally understood to be the young Neil Simon. Brighton Beach is a neighborhood in Brooklyn where the play takes place. Morris and Jerome are names of avenues in the Bronx, where the real Simon grew up. The message? This may be a memoir but don't take it too literally.

More important than the place is the time.

Set in hard-times 1937, "Brighton Beach Memoirs" is a comedy with substance, a coming-of-age story where even the adults grow up.

Just when you think they should post a "Beware of Flying Wisecracks" sign, Simon snaps you back to reality. Eugene, describing an emotional scene at the dinner table, observes, "The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Which is more than you could say for the liver."

A rim-shot moment, yes, but later, Eugene's mother, Kate, will spell it out for him: With seven mouths to feed, they can't afford anything fancier. The four Jeromes have taken in Kate's widowed sister and her two daughters, no small burden in the Depression. Amid the one-liners the play is about people taking responsibility for each other. They do it badly sometimes, interfering, intruding, imposing their values on loved ones who neither welcome nor require such guidance, but at least they give it a shot.

Evelyn Orbach's Jewish Ensemble Theatre production skillfully weaves the comic and more serious strands of Simon's pleasing but overlong play.

Clutching Eugene's ever-present security blankets -- his notebook or his baseball glove -- grown-up actor Jason Richards captures that combination of graduate-level wit and high school-level curiosity (especially concerning women) that identifies the precocious adolescent. Dax Anderson plays Eugene's 18-year-old brother Stanley as more evolved but with a foot firmly planted in each camp.

Eugene and Stanley constitute the typical Simon dyad: Two wisecracking brothers, at least one an aspiring writer, who have women on their minds and loving but bossy parents on their backs.

Jack, the father, makes many ends meet by holding down two jobs. It takes a toll, but to hear Jack speak is to recognize that Eugene's sense of humor is hereditary. Samuel Pollak could easily fall into the snappy rhythm of stand-up comedy, complete with pauses for laughs, but prudently eschews that choice.

Kate, in doing right by her sister and nieces, becomes burned out and resentful. As Kate, Karen Sheridan stands, speaks and looks angry. Kate isn't angry, she's scared; the wolf may not be at the door but he's casing the neighborhood.

And a highly entertaining neighborhood it is.

Curtain Calls
By Donald V. Calamia
of Between The Lines

Originally printed 03-31-05

'The Last Yankee' & '74 Georgia Avenue'

Depressing themes give way to bright performances at JET

I can hear it now.

"Wanna go see a play tonight?" someone somewhere in metro Detroit will ask their partner or friend.

"Sure," will be the response. "How about those two one-acts at JET ... you know, the ones written by those two Jewish playwrights?"

"What are they about?"

"Despair. Depression. Disappointment. Isolation."

"Oh, yeah! Sure! Sounds like a barrel of laughs! Say, what's playing at the movies instead?"

Such a response would be a shame since the two unrelated plays - "The Last Yankee" by Arthur Miller and "74 George Avenue" by Murray Schisgal - are anything but depressing. Rather, both offer hope - a ray of sunshine - to those experiencing the worst life as to offer. And each clearly shows that even at our lowest moments, we're never truly alone; help can come from the most unexpected sources!

In "The Last Yankee," two women - one with a rich, productive husband and the other with a husband of great skill but little ambition - find themselves in a state mental hospital suffering from depression. Karen Frick has slowly withdrawn from the world around her, but a friendship that blossoms with Patricia Hamilton serves to spark a return to a productive life. Patricia, on the other hand, is in the hospital for the third time. This might be her last, however, since she's secretly stopped taking her medication; for the first time in years, she's thinking clearly again.

Too bad self-confidence isn't the only battle each must overcome; it's visitation day, and their husbands have arrived to check their progress.

Although it's an interesting concept, "The Last Yankee" is not one of Miller's better scripts. For starters, the playwright can't seem to decide whose story is being told: the husbands' or the wives'? And his psychology is sketchy at best. (When in doubt, blame the husbands.)

In the hands of director Lavinia Hart, however, Miller's script blossoms. She avoids the temptation to explore the extremes to which these disparate characters could gravitate; instead, she fills it with nuances and shadings that, instead, provide deeper insights into their lives.

Fine performances are given by Lynnae Lehfeldt (Patricia), Thomas D. Mahard (John Frick) and Seth Amadei (Leroy Hamilton).

But it's Laurie V. Logan's performance as Karen who truly stands out. Watching Karen come alive only to fade away once again is gut-wrenching. And amazing to watch. It's a level of performance we've come to expect from one of the town's greatest assets.

The second half of the evening also raises the bar for local actors.

In "74 Georgia Avenue," Mahard plays Marty Robbins, a married man lost in life who returns to his childhood apartment seeking his Jewish roots. There he finds Joseph Watson (played by James Bowen), a black man whose wife is dying and who's searching for roots to connect with.

Marty comes at a bad time with an odd request: Let him spend the night so he can reunite with his past. But when Joseph reveals his connection to Marty's ch

'An Inspector Calls' well worth investigating at the JET