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October 22, 1993 - Image 95

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1993-10-22

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

tainment

Kicking Op
His litzels

Bruce Michael saw
the Rockettes at
age 7, and now
makes them
his career.

SUZANNE CIfSSLER

SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

The Radio City Music Hall Rockettes.

11(

eeping the
faith — both
religious and
personal — is
the stepping-
stone to suc-
cess, according
to the senior producer of "The
Great Radio City Music Hall
Spectacular," which can be seen
Nov. 9-14 at the Fox Theatre.
Bruce Michael, who came
up with the idea to take Ra-
dio City's precision-dancing
Rockettes on tour, believes
Judaism and purposeful liv-
ing have shown him the way
to his dreams.
At age 7, when his parents
first took him to the famed
Music Hall, he set his sights
on a job that would let him be
part of the dazzling show be-
fore him. Nearly 20 years lat-
er, after appropriate
schooling and experience, he
was hired.
"I feel that my cultural
background has really helped
form a very good foundation
in my life, enabling me to be

Bruce Michael

in a business that requires a
strong sense of balance," said
Mr. Michael, 46, who belongs
to two synagogues, one close
to his home in New York City
and the other near his home
in Southampton.
"Just having come out of
the High Holidays, we've
been reminded that so much
of the service is about posi-
tive living, filling each day
with aliveness, joy and mag-
ic and making the most out of
every day. It's also about for-
titude, strength
and moving for-
ward.
"With faith in
myself as well as
my religion, I be-
lieve that if a
person has a
dream and real-
ly wants it, then
that person
must go for it be-
cause it will hap-
pen with enough
hard work."
It has taken
Mr. Michael
three years of
hard work to put
together his vi-
sion of the show
that celebrates
the 60th an-
niversary of the
Radio City Mu-
sic Hall.
Susan Anton
performs with 24
Rockettes, a

male ensemble of singers and
dancers and more than 2(
musicians, some travelin. ;
with the troupe and others
selected from local talent
pools.
"We draw from the best-
known and most classic pro-
duction numbers, and we'll be
doing some new numbers as
well," explained Mr. Michael,
whose career has associated
him with a long line of dance
companies.
"While I taught for three
years in New Jersey, I devel-
oped and tried out a dance
theater for young audiences
(Pumpernickel Players)," he
said. "It was so successful
that we ended up touring all
over the country, and I was
able to do this full time."
He used this experience
and his degrees — a bache-
lor's in speech and theater
from Montclair State College
and a master's in directing
from Hunter College — to tap
into work at Radio City.
"I just called and talked to
the senior producer," Mr.
Michael reported. "We clicked
right away, and he said if I
would like to see a rehearsal,
I could go the next week as
his guest. So I went.
"I was very young and very
excited, and I met everybody.
Within a year after that, they
offered me the job of stage
manager."
Concurrent with that posi-

KICKING page 87

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