ENTERTAINMENT I GOING PLACES WEEK OF DEC.29-JAN.4 SPECIAL EVENTS Now: At 25, Sipher is working on his third full- length musical, an adaptation of a Martin Scorsese film. GREENFIELD VILLAGE "Power in Motion," through January; "Fifty Years of TV," through Jan. 2, admission, 271-1620. COMEDY MOUNTAIN JACKS 24275 Sinacola Ct., Farmington Hills, The Ron Coden Show, through Dec. 31, free, 476-5333. THEATER A Cammack!! Sum Former Detroiter Devan Sipher is no longer practicing the piano; he's in New York writing musicals. I t has been more than 12 years since the young teen Jonathan deceived his mother, who thought he was practicing the piano when he was. really outside playing football. That was the long-running Highland Appliance com- mercial filmed in 1977. In the commercial, Jonathan performed Beethoven's. "Fur Elise," recorded it, played it back and, lugging a football, climbed out the family room window. Seconds later, the tele- phone rang. His mother, in the kitchen listening to the recording of her son's piano playing, picked it up and an- swered, "No, Jonathan can't come out to play right now. He's practicing the piano." Today, his mother is no longer deceived; she's proud, because Jonathan, 25-year- old Devan Sipher who grew up in Southfield, is making a name for himself writing musicals in New York. The Big Highland Audi- tion: "As far as I was con- cerned, the audition was a disaster," Sipher said. "I barely could play the piano in 1977. I was also too vain to wear my glasses, so when I went to play, I couldn't even read the music. I kept STEVE HARTZ Special to The Jewish News Then: At 13, Sipher played "Fur Elise" in the Highland Appliance commercial. messing up left and right, and these businessmen and commercial makers were just cracking up, so I figured great, I've lost one commer- cial, I'll lose one more. At least I'm comic relief." Sipher was up against hundreds of children, some who were regularly working and had nationally syn- dicated commercial credits to their names and others who were piano prodigies and played Beethoven sym- phonies at the audition. "There I was playing `Evergreen,' which was a popular song at the time, with the trills all wrong," he said. But Sipher got the job and was told to be at the sound studio the next day — and bring "Fur Elise." "I didn't know `Fur Elise,' so I had to buy the music and had to literally learn it overnight, teaching it to my- self," he said. The commercial was a success and played — on and off — throughout the late 1970s and all through the 1980s. That would be it for Sipher as far as making commer- cials. He did get calls from advertising agencies after the Highland Appliance commercial aired, but all were disappointed when he MEADOW BROOK Oakland University, Rochester, Dial M for Murder, Jan. 4-28, admission, 370-3300. SOUTHFIELD PERFORMING ARTS Days Hotel, 17017 W. Nine Mile, The Fantasticks, through Dec. 30, I Do, I Do, Jan. 12-27, admission, 557-4800. BIRMINGHAM 211 S. Woodward, Oh Kay., Dec. 3- through Feb. 4, admission, 644-3533. DETROIT REPERTORY 13103 Woodrow Wilson, Detroit, Blood Relations, through Dec. 31, admission, 868-1347. MARQUIS THEATER 135 E. Main, Northville, Cinderella, through Dec. 30, admission, 349-8110. SOMERSET 2801 W. Big Beaver, Troy, Somerset Dinner Theater at Sebastians, Fridays and Saturdays, through Dec. 31, admission, 643-6360. WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY Detroit, Hilberry Theater, The Winter's Tale, through Feb. 17, admission, 577-2972. NIGHT CLUBS MIRAMAR 8635 Cooley Lake Road, Union Lake, (formerly Duffy's on the Lake), James Greenway, Fridays and Saturdays; Don Nadel, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, through December, free, 363-9469. THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 591