I REVIEW

6.1

effebration
ffeJrations

THIS YEAR'S FESTIVITIES ARE
BETTER THAN EVER!

The celebration package for December 31, 1990
includes:

• A two room suite for overnight accommodations
with early check-in and late check-out on New
Year's Day.

• Special cocktail and hors d'oeuvres reception and
5 hour hosted bar in the Atrium

• An exquisite four course dinner featuring filet mi-
gnon and lobster tail, wine, shrimp cocktail and a
sweet table extravaganza

• Dancing to STEVE KING & THE DITI1IES in the
ballroom, and featuring DJ's in the Atrium and
Jacques Demers

Annette DePetris, Tony Dobrowolski and Sol Frieder in
"A Rosen By Any Other Name."

• A midnight champagne toast to 1991 with a tradi-
tional balloon drop and party favors

'Rosen' Scores Well
With Comedy And Theme

• A cooked-to-order breakfast on New Year's Day in
the Atrium

$250

per couple
(plus tax)

EDWARD KARAM

MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS NOW AT

Special to The Jewish News

350-2000

i.

I

EMBASSY
SUITES

ESTAUQAN7 & LOUNGE

28100 Franklin Road, Southfield, Michigan 48034

Presents

LIVE Featuring
OPERA

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WEDNESDAY EVENING
7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

FINE DINI G

Enjoy Excellent Italian Cuisine and Listen To
Arias and Duets From The Most Beautiful Operas Ever Written

I LIVE ITALIAN MUSIC TUES. THRU SAT. I

31735 Plymouth Road
3 Blocks West of Merriman
Livonia

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NEW YEAR'S EVE GALA
Seatings at 5, 7 & 9

COMPARE ANYWHERE! ... IF YOU WANT THE BEST

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GIVE US A TEST!

I OPEN 7 DAYS-SUNAHURS 11-10

FRI.-SAT. 11-11

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I

CLOSED
THANGIVING

f the title A Rosen By
Any Other Name makes
you cringe, as it did me,
you are not alone. "You don't
think that's funny?" asks
Jacob Ardenshensky, the old
actor who welcomes us to
Israel Horovitz' comedy.
"You're not the only one!"
Mr. Ardenshensky, played
in the Jewish Ensemble
Theatre's production by Sol
Frieder, who originated the
role off-Broadway in 1986, in-
troduces us to the Rosens,
who live in Sault Ste. Marie,
Canada, in 1943. Mr. Arden-
shensky, incidentally, also ap-
pears in other roles.
Although, he boasts in (Mr.
Frieder's) genuine Middle
European accent, he's such a
master of disguise that we
probably won't recognize him.
I'm guessing, therefore, that
in addition to the miserly old
actor, he was the kind-
hearted rabbi, the grinning
sculptor of a revolting bar
mitzvah centerpiece, and
possibly also the Canadian
judge in a sprawling bar-
rister's wig. Beyond that, the
masterful Mr. Frieder, or
rather Mr. Ardenshensky,
had me baffled.
Whimsy is important to the
Rosens' story, which unfolds
on Eric M. Johnson's warm,
nostalgic set: yellowing
wallpaper and faded floral
patterns, wooden floors, hook-
ed rugs and cramped
bedrooms. In these innocent
radio days, boys like young

118 SOUTH WOODWARD • ROYAL OAK

JUST NORTH OF 10 DOLE NEXT TO ZOO

L

60

544-1211

Edward Karam is a freelance
critic living in Ann Arbor

QUALITY AND CONSISTENCY IS OUR PRIORITY!

1111..M.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1990

■ 111, 11=MEM

Stanley Rosen wear knickers
and braces.
But, as Stanley's mother
Pearl tells us, hysteria is slow-
ly invading this haven. Flut-
tering over her son, urging
him to practice his piano, An-
nette DePetris' Pearl seems
calm enough, but she turns
frantic when Stanley com-
plains about her ideas for his
impending bar mitzvah.
What's wrong with his
photograph on the napkins?

Ms. DePetris does a
beautiful job of showing us
Pearl's intense love for her
family as well as her fren-
zied tastelessness. Costumer
Edith Leavis Bookst.ein
assists DePetris by providing
Pearl with a dubious scarlet
dress that she wears around
the house.
Pearl's hysteria is only a
portent of what's to come.
Rocks are being thrown
through windows of Jewish
businesses. Stanley's father
Barney (Tony Dobrowolski),
always wary of Jew-haters (in-
.cluding Franklin Roosevelt),
is shaken after a rock is
thrown through the window
of his tailor shop. He decides
to change their Jewish name.
"Things are never so bad that
they can't get worse," he
warns, and he nearly destroys
his family in his desperation
to save them.
Stanley's only ally is his
visiting older cousin, Manny
Boxbaum, who has been
shell-shocked and suffers
from nightmares. Mr.
Horovitz doesn't really
develop a link between anti-
Semitism in the navy and the
war in Manny's mind, but
Manny seems to be a Jew
who's retained his identity at

