ENTERTAINMENT I GOING PLACES ----- WEEK OF April 8-14 COMEDY HOLLY HOTEL 110 Battle Alley, Holly. Mark Hamilton, Sheila Kaye, today and Saturday, Chris Jakeway, "Donnell," Craig McCart, Thursday through April 16, admission, 634-1891. DUFFY'S ON THE LAKE 3133 Cooley Lake Rd., Union Lake, Bob Posch and John Cionca, now through April, 9:30 and 11:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, admission, reservations, 363-9469. COMEDY CASTLE AT PUZZLES 29900 Van Dyke, Warren, Pam Matteson, today and Saturday, Dave Coulier, Tuesday through April 16, admission. THEATER ATTIC THEATER Bonia Shur came from a musical family — his father and brother were conductors. Sight Reading Attic Theater Playhouse, Detroit, Knock Knock now through Sunday, admission, 875-8284. Composer-musician Bonia Shur doesn't hear music, he "sees" it Oakland University campus, Rochester, Deathtrap, now through April 17, admission, 377-3300. VICTORIA BELYEU DIAZ Special to The Jewish News onia Shur — composer, musician, scholar, and director of liturgical arts at Hebrew Union Col- lege in Cincinnati — does not want to talk about himself. "That is irrelevant," he says, with a slight wave of his hand. "It does not inspire me." What Bonia Shur does want to talk about is music, music, music. In town recently to conduct a rehearsal of the cantata he was com- missioned to put together in honor of the 60th birthday of Birmingham Temple's Rabbi Sherwin Wine, Shur was espcially eager to discuss, as a composer, his personal view of how he "sees" music. "I see it as a vehicle, as a channel to creating moments of total spiritual and artistic experience," he said, em- phasizing the point by drawing a large circle in the air. "I'm not writing as a composer who thinks about his music as merely something to be heard. I write music that will fit the total structure of an experience in which the rabbi, the cantor, the music director, and the congregation are all interconnected. "The cantata I've written for this occasion I see as that kind of ex- perience:' The 60-ish composer approached the composition of the cantata, he said, by holding an "artistic discus- sion" with himself. "The text (words written by Rab- bi Wine) was intellectual. It doesn't `fly' poetically, you see. How do you sing, for instance, words like 'Hope is not a guarantee'? The challenge is to take Sherwin's intellectual message and translate it into a poetic, lyrical, dramatic setting. "To start, I was given several pages of Sherwin's writing. Then, from that, I chose what I wanted to work with. Although we didn't sit down and actually work together on the cantata, you could still say that, in a way, we collaborated. I worked with his words, although his words weren't precisely fitted for a cantata." The cantata took about three weeks to complete, Shur said. WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY Hilberry Theater, Nicholas Nickleby, now through April 16, admission, 577-2972. MEADOW BROOK THEATER DETROIT REPERTORY THEATER "It was a challenge. It was like acrobatics!" he said, again emphasiz- ing his words with a draniatic wave of the hand. "It is very, very hard to take words that speak to the brain, then think about it, and make them speak to the heart. But, it is something I was delighted to be ask- ed to do. "So, I paint the picture," he said. "I paint the words. The people sing. The message comes through." Roger Jamison, music director at the Birmingham Temple, said that Shur was chosen for the commission- ed work on the basis of the congrega- tion's enthusiastic response to other compositions of his, which had been performed earlier by the temple choir. "We thought his music was very fresh and very ethnic," Jamison said. "When he was at Temple Emanu-El recently (as a scholar-in-residence conducting workshops in music), I met him, and I liked what I saw. Soon after, we commissioned the work?' Though Shur had not visited Bir- mingham Temple before, he had met Rabbi Wine at HUC functions, and was familiar with his writing before 13103 Woodrow Wilson, Detroit, The Colored Museum, Mornings at Seven, now through May 8, admission, 868-1347. BIRMINGHAM THEATER 211 S Woodward, Birmingham, Doubles, now through May 8, David Groh, admission, 644-3533. FISHER THEATER Fisher Building, Detroit. Me and My Girl, now through April 24. Tim Curry, Donna Bullock, Barrie Ingham. Admission. 872-1000. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN GILBERT AND SULLIVAN SOCIETY 911 N. University, Ann Arbor, The Gondoliers, now through April 17, admission, 761-7855. TAP LTD. Novi Hilton, 2111 Haggerty, Novi. An Evening With Oscar, Saturdays through May 11, admission. 349-4000. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN POWER SERIES Power Center, Ann Arbor, On the Thwn, Thursday through April 17, admission. 764-0450. THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 53