Long Run
"Spider Woman" has taken Joshua Finkel to many venues.
SUZANNE CHESSLER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
oshua Finkel will celebrate his matter of seconds. It's quite stun-
third anniversary with Kiss of the ning."
The play recounts the rela-
Spider Woman when he appears
at the Fisher Theatre April 18- tionship between two prisoners
who gradually lose their hostility
May 14.
He takes two parts — an and distrust and gain respect and
Amnesty International observer understanding for one another.
The terror and uncertainty of
and a prisoner named Emilio —
in the musical that features Chi- their imprisonment is eased as
ta Rivera recreating her Tony one prisoner weaves vivid
Award-winning Broadway per- fantasies associated with the
glamorous world of Hollywood
formance.
"The technical aspects of this musicals in the '40s. The score
show are pretty unique," said Mr. was written by John Kander and
Finkel, 31, who was in the origi- Fred Ebb, who created the songs
nal Broadway production as well "Cabaret" and "Zerba."
'We all sing, and we all dance
as on tour.
"All of the set consists of prison in this play," Mr. Finkel said.
bars. Projectors, located on the `The movie scenes are the happy
mezzanine, transform this very scenes."
The reality of the Michigan
simple and plain set into
completely different worlds in a scene has been a happy one for
the actor. In 1991, he was here in
a production of Les Miserables.
Years earlier, during his 18th
summer, he toured up north with
a production of The Pirates of
Penzance.
"I like the travel," he said. "It
helps keep everything alive and
fresh because everything around
the show changes — the theater,
the people who are backstage, the
location of the dressing rooms and
where we live.
Acting has taken
him to Detroit and
up north.
"I had a lovely summer work-
ing with the American Musical
Theatre in Petoskey. We toured
to Saginaw, Grayling and Tra-
verse City and stayed close to the
lakes."
Mr. Finkel knew he wanted a
stage career when he was very
young and started out doing mag-
ic shows at children's birthday
parties before he was 10. In high
school, the California native was
a regular on "American Band-
stand."
Throughout college, he knew
he would need a stable, back-up
career that could allow him to
work if there were long times be-
tween castings.
After studying theater arts and
graduating in three years from
the University of California at
Irvine, he earned a master's de-
gree in classical theater from the
University of Wisconsin, qualify-
ing him to teach at the college lev-
el if necessary.
"I feel very fortunate that I've
basically worked non-stop, espe-
cially since there are so many tal-
ented people who are not
working," Mr. Finkel said.
"After I got my master's de-
gree, I was asked to stay for a sea-
son in Milwaukee, first in Irma
La Douce and then in a French
review. Afterward, I went back
to my home in Los Angeles and
got into a small production of A
Chorus Line.
Joshua Finkel: In "Kiss" for three years.
"I left that show early to do a
Wisconsin show called Holiday
Punch. When I went back to Los
Angeles, I got the Donald O'Con-
nor role in a stage production of
Singin' in the Rain. Then I got
into the original Los Angeles com-
pany of Les Miserables.
"They asked me to do the bus-
and-truck tour of that show, and
I remained with it, giving me a
total of four years with the play.
During a Philadelphia stop, I au-
ditioned for Kiss of the Spider
Woman, and I left Les Miz to do
Kiss."
Mr. Finkel, a contributor to the
Holocaust Museum in Washing-
ton, finally got a chance to see it
while traveling with his current
roles.
His Jewish commitment builds
on his father's commitment to Is-
rael. A pilot in World War II,
Aaron "Red" Finkel went to Is-
rael as a civilian to fight in the
1948 battle for independence.
"Americans formed Squadron
101," Mr. Finkel recalled. "They
didn't wear uniforms; they wore
red baseball hats and normal
clothes.
They were fighter pilots fight-
ing for Israel, and they helped
make Israel a state. He's quite a
hero, and I'm very proud of him."
Mr. Finkel, who now lives just
outside New York, hopes to have
his own theater company in
Hawaii one day.
"When I did The Pirates ofPen-
zance in Petoskey, the director
was Brad Powell, who since be-
came the director of educational
TV in Hawaii. He brought me out
to do three music videos for an
educational art show, which was
marketed on PBS.
"Later, I was touring with Les
Miz in Charlotte, N.C., and peo-
ple kept telling me they saw me
in those videos on TV there.
"I always have migrated to-
ward the beach, and I would like
to reside in Hawaii. I think it's
important to have a dream and
to follow it." El
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