I ENTERTAINMENT

I

GOING PLACES

WEEK OF
NOV.3-NOV.9

SPECIAL EVENTS

GREENFIELD
VILLAGE
Dearborn, "Invitation to a
Murder," through Nov.
18; "Power in Motion,"
through January; "Fifty
Years of TV," through
Jan. 2,
admission, 271-1620.

COMEDY

MICHIGAN THEATER
Ann Arbor, Second City
(from Chicago), 8 p.m.
Saturday, admission,
668-8397.

THEATER

JACKIE KLEIN

Special to The Jewish News

The Detroit
Jewish
Community
Center presents
Yiddish Theater
as it spends
A Day in
the Catskills.

he Yiddish
Theater for many is a cherish-
ed memory, the recollection of
its golden age, a distant
perception of beautifully
woven gossamer.
But in the Detroit area is a
nucleus of performers and at
least one producer who aren't
willing to say a requiem for
that golden age. There are
stirrings in the wind and
Phoenixes about to rise.
Fran Aaron, a native New

Yorker who has written, pro-
duced and directed numerous
musicals for community
theater and cable television,
is getting the ball rolling.
Her musical review, A Day
in the Catskills, premiers 2
p.m. Sunday at the Jewish
Community Center in Oak
Park. •
The touring show also will
be performed at the Jewish
Community Center in West
Bloomfield, for civic organiza-

tions and in Detroit area
senior citizen homes.
With more Yiddish produc-
tions to come, Aaron is com-
mitted to reviving the lost
art. She acknowledges the
idea came from A Night in the
Catskills, directed by her son,
Jules Aaron.
The musical review, produc-
ed by Bernie Lawrence and
starring Claire Barry, Sascha
lbrma, the Williams Brothers
and Bobby Shields, was a hit

in Los Angeles and Atlantic
City.
"People are thirsty for Yid-
dishkeit," Aaron said.
"There's life after Fiddler on
the Roof After so many years,
little seedlings are being
planted. Now is the time for
the arts to bring back the
beauty and the joy of
Jewishness. Second Avenue
in -New York was the heart-
beat of Yiddish Theater. But
the Jewish people assimi-
lated, sought a better life and
got away from their humble
beginnings, their roots:'
She continued, "Events
have made us question our in-
tegrity as Jews, and we feel
defensive about our ethnic
background. But suddenly
there's a feeling of affirma-
tion about our Jewishness,
and it's natural to express
that in music and theater. We
need something that is
undeniably Yiddish."
•
Max Sosin, the Detroit
area's answer to Georgie
Jessell, is a natural for the
renaissance. The local come-
dian, who doesn't have a gag
writer, an agent, a routine or
a script, will appear in A Day
in the Catskills.
Sosin, which means "joy" in

JEWISH COMMUNITY
CENTER
6600 W. Maple Road,
West Bloomfield, West
Side Story, through
Sunday, admission,
661-1000.
ATTIC THEATER
7339 3rd Avenue, Detroit,
Burn This, through Nov.
19, admission, 875-8284.
ANN ARBOR
HURON HIGH
2727 Fuller Road, Ann
Arbor, Animal Farm,
Thursday through Nov.
12, admission, 994-2097.
WOODS PLAYERS
Oakland Community
College, Royal Oak
Campus, 40 Carats,
through Nov. 11,
admission, 293-0575.
PERFORMANCE
NETWORK
408 W. Washington, Ann
Arbor, Trane: Beyond the
Blues, Thursday through
Nov. 12, admission,
663-0681.
FARMINGTON
PLAYERS
32332 W. 12 Mile Road,
Farmington Hills, Mr.
Roberts, through Nov. 18,
admission, 538-1670.
HILBERRY THEATER
Wayne State University,
Detroit, The Philadelphia
Story, through Nov. 25;
Wenceslas Square,
through Nov. 24,
admission, 577-2972.
BONSTET
THEATER,
Wayne State University,
Detroit, My Sister in the
House, through Sunday,
admission, 577-2972.

Continued on Page 77

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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