THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, November 16, 1984
it
ing a degree in theater from Western
Michigan University, Rosenthal has
sung, danced and acted in dinner thea-
ter, nightclubs, summer stock, chil-
dren's theater, and commercials. She
has worked twice before with the
M.O.T. — as Pitti-Sing in The Mikado
and Gretchen in The Student Prince.
( She also taught drama for a short
while to students at an American
' school in Belgium.
Not bad for someone who never
took voice lessons until she was an
adult, was told by a dance teacher at
) the age of 4 that she couldn't dance,
and, in high school (at Birmingham
Seaholm), participated in only one
dramatic production, because she was
"too shy. 1
According to Rosenthal, who
started life in Oak Park and grew up in
Birmingham, her parents never
encouraged her to become a singer, al-
Ahough they never really discouraged
her either.
"I always sang," she says. In fact,
I
I remember, as a little girl, singing
every night in bed. My fantasy was
'Doris Day, and I'd lie there, singing
L Que Sera, Sera. What started out
softly woud get louder and louder until
my mother would have to say
`Rochelle, please go to sleep.' "
"I asked my mother once, 'HI sang
every night, why didn't you give me
voice lessons?' Instead, I had piano les-
sons, like every other kid — but I
didn't have any real calling to the
piano. She said she just didn't think
about it. I guess it just wasn't part of
their mentality — I don't know.
"My folks never said 'don't,' but
they never said `do,' either. I kinda
wish that they would've been more
encouraging, or more guiding, let's
-ay. But maybe if they would have, I
probably wouldn't have paid atten-
tion."
Rosenthal went to New York in
1979, as part of a two-member singing
. comedy act with Detroiter Larry
Lawrence, whom she met during a
dinner theater production at the
Botsford Inn in Farmington Hills.
"What you do in New York is
`showcase,' " she says. In other words,
you play for free in restaurants where
it's known that agents come to see ta-
lent. They usually put you on at 2 or 3
o'clock in the morning, and, if you get a
good response, you come back on a
weekend — just with the hopes that
. somebody will be in there who will see
you. After awhile, Larry and I got to be
regulars at a place called The Good
Times.
"But, after about a year, we still
! hand't gotten anywhere financially.
"I knew that I really was not
happy. I hated being a partner, really
didn't feel it was the right thing for me.
So, I broke up the partnership."
Following the break-up, Rosent-
hal stayed in New York, living in a
sub-let Manhattan apartment for
three years, doing promotional sing-
ing for Macy's, working in Manhattan
clubs (including Catch A Rising Star
and The Improvisation) and appearing
at the 18th Street Playhouse.
When she wasn't working, she
spent the time studying voice, acting
and dance.
"It's a real common thing for ac-
tors to be unemployed," she says. "So
you fill up your days with voice les-
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sons, dance lessons, acting lessons.
And, of course, the creme de la creme of
teachers is there. I felt really lucky,
because I studied with some excellent
people. I'm in an interesting position
in that my brother and I own some
buildings together. And the rent corn-
ing from those enable me to do that,
without waiting tables.
"But I still wasn't happy. It was
like I had a great weight sitting on me.
And I felt like my life was in neutral. If
I called up an agent and they said,
`Don't call us again' — I wouldn't. But
you can't do that. You won't get any-
where that way. You've got to call
them again. But, I kept thinking,
can't do this.'
"The funny thing is, when I got
back here, I had much more gumption
than when I left. After the experience
of New York, you come back here and
people seem like pussycats — even the
scariest person you can think of. There
wasn't a phone call I was afraid to
make once I got back here. Plus, there
were some magic words: just got here
from New York.' That opened a lot of
doors.
"I've been working ever since I got
back,” she says, smiling, and looking
as if she's utterly delighted at the situ-
ation she's found herself in. "It's just
incredible."
Rosenthal says she's looked for-
ward to getting the chance to play the
role of the Beggar Woman in Sweeney
Todd ever since seeing the show for
the first time in New York. She sees it
as something tailor-made for her and
something she can really enjoy doing.
"The last role I did for M.O.T. was
a little Japanese girl in The Mikado.
She was very contained, and it was
really a confining role. But this role is
just the opposite. It's very flamboyant.
The Beggar Woman is half-crazed. She
sort of fades in and out of lucidity. I get
to crawl around on my knees a lot,
trying to sing at the same time."
"The M.O.T. and I had a kind of
funny beginning," she says. "I sent
them a resume back in 1976, as a per-
former, and they called me in to do
props! I'd never done props before. It
was a major undertaking. We were
doing Regina that year, which has a
ball scene with champagne, and food,
and trays and all that. Then, they did
Carmen and they begged me to do
props again.
"But, through that, I found out
about auditions for The Student Pr-
- ince. And, when I went, I was hearing
remarks like `Gosh, we hold auditions
and the prop girl comes!' I can re-
member being there, getting up on
that stage, opening my mouth. I'm a
little person, and you don't expect a big
voice to come out. I remember looking
out into the auditorium (as I was audi-
tioning) and there were all these
saucer eyes out there. And, ever since,
because of that, I've felt we had a cer-
tain fondness for each other — maybe
they were tickled by that.
"Anyway, I got the part in The
Student Prince. And then, for The
Mikado, they called me. And now, here
I am again."
After Sweeny Todd, Rosenthal is
looking forward to doing work with the
Meadowbrook and Attic theaters, and
getting into more commercials.
Plans, however, definitely do not
include a return to New York.
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The Michigan Opera Theatre,
now in its 14th year, is enjoying its
most successful season. Season tic-
ket sales have reached an all-time
high of 5,700, and individual ticket
sales have increased more than 50
percent in the last two years.
Tonight's production of Sweeny
Todd will mark the Michigan pre-
miere of Stephen Sondheim's Tony
award-winning musical thriller.
Prior to Sweeney Todd, M.O.T. pre-
sented The Merry Widow, with Cleo
Laine, and The Magic Flute, featur-
ing Jerome Hines. Aida will con-
clude the season in April at the
Masonic Temple, with Leona
Mitchell in the title role. Sweeny
Todd will continue through next
weekend at the Music Hall.
In its efforts to make its prod-
uctions more accessible to the com-
49
munity, the M.O.T. has established
a number of outreach programs, in-
cluding the Michigan Opera
Theatre-in-Residence Program,
which last year toured southeastern
Michigan and the Upper Peninsula
and spent two weeks in the Detroit
Public Schools, providing work-
shops, classes and presentations to
students.
In further efforts to promote ac-
cessibility. M.O.T. was the first
company in the Midwestern United'
States • to employ English surtitles
during one of its productions (the
projection and translation of the
libretto above the stage was first
introduced last season during per-
formances ofAnna Bolena). In addi-
tion, a number of performances
each year are "signed" for the
hearing-impaired.