I ENTERTAINMENT I Baby Dance Addresses Moral Guilt Problem You are cordially invited to a bountiful feast. • An afternoon of epicurean delights presented by more than 30 of Michigan's premiere chefs. Special to The Jewish News - Pearl City Pike Street Ranier's Pastry Ristorante Di Modesta Saad Pastries Savino Italian Sorbet Sebastian's Grill Shanghai Cafe The Sizzling Crab The Skyline Club Southfield Marriott Hotel Superior Coffee Co. Tango's European Bistro & Bouquets Vineyards/Taste of Seasons Van Dyke Place The Whitney Wine by General Wine Company For more information, contact Southfield Community Relations Department, (313) 354 4854. - RESPONSE CARD MICHIGAN THE BOUNTIFUL February 2, 1992 — 3-6 p.m. — Southfield Pavilion, Southfield Civic Center NAME ADDRESS STATE CITY TELEPHONE: (home) ZIP (work). @ $39.50 each Total enclosed: $ Number of Tickets: Advance ticket deadline: January 28, 1992 Advance ticket deadline in person: January 31, 1992 Return this form, with check payable to Michigan Chefs de Cuisine Association, to: MICHIGAN THE BOUNTIFUL Community Relations Department City of Southfield 26000 Evergreen Road P.O. Box 2055 Southfield, Michigan 48037-2055 SOUTHFIELD AN INTERNATIONAL CITY 60 FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 1992 4 T Participating Establishments The Baker's Loaf Chimayo Cocina del Sol Detroit Athletic Club The Detroit Club Excalibur The Golden Mushroom Hogan's of Birmingham Jacques Demers Restaurant Le Metro Machus, Inc. MacKinnon's Mark of Excellence Catering Morels, A Michigan Bistro Musashi Japanese Cuisine & Sushi Bar Pals of Bloomfield The Peacock 4 MICHAEL ELKIN Sunday, February 2, 1992, 3 6 p.m. Southfield Pavilion, Southfield Civic Center, 26000 Evergreen Road. $39.50 per person advance ticket (by mail by January 28) $45 per person at the door Tickets available at the City Hall Reception Desk at the Civic Center (through January 31). Co-sponsored by the City of Southfield • and the Michigan Chefs de Cuisine Association. Proceeds benefit the Michigan Chefs de Cuisine Association Scholarship Fund. Hot and cold hors d'oeuvres, entrees, desserts, pastries and wine. Experience the ultimate—Experience Michigan's finest cuisine. Semi-formal attire requested. • he Baby Dance is a bitter two-step bet- ween two couples pitted against each other in an adoption procedure, with an unborn child caught in the middle. The Jane Anderson drama is a taut and touching "dance" of diametric oppo- sites — the yapping yuppies from L.A. who time their lives by the Rolexes they sport, and the dirt-poor Louisiana couple, pregnant with problems, whose un- born baby the California couple covets. Ms. Anderson's play takes an issue usually portrayed in stark, uncompromising tones and colors it with the reality of red-hot tempers, moody blues and the grays of morality that temper the process of "buying babies." There is no simple formula to follow when this adoption, as all concerned learn quick- ly, becomes anything but child's play. L.A. law hasn't prepared Richard (Joel Polis) for his brief encounter with Loui- siana ethics and ethnics. When he and his urbane wife (Stephanie Zimbalist) tangle with the down-home hicks (Genie Francis and Richard Lineback), it becomes a rube awakening. It is to the playwright's — and players' — credit, however, that the characters created aren't caricatures, that the clash of city/country is a dramatic conflict arising naturally out of conditions on stage. As Richard, Joel Polis is caught in a precarious parent trap, bending, but not breaking, when push comes to shove in an emotional showdown over the unborn baby's future. A gifted actor whose credits include considerable stage work (Family Busi- ness, Ghetto) on both coasts, Mr. Polis is a familiar figure to TV fans who cheer his ap- pearances as the barbarous barkeep Gary on "Cheers." There is much to cheer about in Mr. Polis' polished work in the play. His per- formance as the Jewish at- torney is outstanding, offer- ing a powerful perspective of Michael Elkin is entertain- ment editor for the Jewish Ex- ponent in Philadelphia. 4 -4 Joel Polls: As Rachel's husband. a man forced to cope with his own sense of moral guilt. The fact that Richard is Jewish is no accident, says Mr. Polis, who is Jewish himself. "He happens to be the kind of entertainment attorney" one often runs into in Los Angeles. Mr. Polis is enjoying a healthy run with Dance. He has been in the play for the past 1Y2 years, crisscrossing the country and trailing critical kudos. But there has been one re- view that has stung cast and crew by criticizing the play's focus on the character's Jew- ishness. One major New 4 York critic carped that writing Richard as Jewish was nearly an anti-Semitic act. -4 "I was stunned," says Mr. Polis, who considers such criticism of the lawyer un- just. • Facts are facts, even when it comes to a stage fiction: many entertainment peo- ple in power out L.A. way are Jewish, says Mr. Polis. Portraying such a character on stage is not a wild — nor anti-Semitic —stretch of the imagination. Richard is somewhat of a stretch for Mr. Polis, a good- '4 natured guy whose off- putting onstage character bears the brunt of making a painful decision about the baby at play's end. "I'm the bad guy in the play," says Mr. Polis, who made many a friend atten- ding the University of Southern California and then the Yale Drama School. In reality, he says, the decision he is forced to make concerning the unborn