azz musicians from New
York and circus acts
from around the world
are about to blend their
artistry at the Oakland Mall,
where a seven-story, air-condi-
tioned, big-top tent will become
the setting for Jazzmatazz, this
year's Big Apple Circus pro-
duction.
The music of the '20s and '30s
— the Jazz Era — plays to
flickering lights reminis-
cent of silent movies and
the glittering extravagance
brought to Broadway re-
vues in a show filled with
bareback riders, elephant
acts, clowns and aerialists.
"Jazz and circus have al-
ways seemed to me a nat-
ural pairing," said Paul
Binder, founder and artis-
tic director of the 18-year-
old, New York-based
circus, which comes to De-
troit for the third time.
"Both are essentially live art
forms. Both are vital, sponta-
neous and different in every
performance. Both are intricate
and elemental explorations of
artistic achievement."
Besides the company of con-
tinuing performers, there are
guest artists appearing in
Jazzmatazz: Swiss juggler Kris
Kremo; Swiss wire dancer
Masha Dimitri; and Russian
trapeze experts the Rizhkov
Trio.
"Jazzmatazz takes its inspi-
ration from an art form, a city
and an era that started the
country swinging," Binder
said. E

J

Bubble
Lubin

arry Lubin's Grandma really
knows how to Charleston.
If you remember her from last
year, you might not suspect
that, but this summer the senior is do-
ing some fast stepping.
Lubin made sure of that as he pre-
pared for Grandma's performance in
Ja7zmatazz, this year's Big Apple Cir-

cus production. Grandma is Lubin in
down getup.
"By coincidence, just before
Jazzmatazz, I had done a show in which
I had to learn how to Charleston, and I
was pretty good at it," Lubin explained.
`Then we had our own circus choreog-
rapher working with the entire compa-
ny, so we all brushed up. We do a
ballroom sequence in which I also get to
mambo a little bit.
"I think the music has inspired the
show as well as my performance because
the era of jazz was such a great and rich
time for music."
When Lubin started Emerson College
in Boston more than 20 years ago, he in-
tended to make a career of television pro-
duction. After three years, he decided to
take a break and go to Clown College in
Venice, Fla., just as a diversion, but his
goals soon changed.
"My original thought was that I was
going to do 1,000 characters," he remi-
nisced. "During my first year in show
business, I tried an awful lot of different
things, but this particular character
seemed to take off all by itself."
Although he does not fashion his char-
actor after anyone, Lubin believes some
of his portrayal comes from watching his
two grandmothers and senior citizens
strolling the boardwalk in Atlantic City,
where he grew up.

Lubin worked with Ringling Bros. and
Barnum & Bailey Circus before joining
the Big Apple Circus in 1982. Occasion-
ally, during his Big Apple stint, he
stopped performing so that he could stay
put for a while with his wife, Roberta,
a former bareback rider, and two daugh-
ters, Danielle and Emily.
Lubin tried stage opportunities in Cal-
ifornia, worked as a writer/consultant
for CBS' "Circus of the Stars" and ap-
peared in the movies Big Top Pee Wee
and My Life. He is a regular guest in-
structor for Ringling Bros. and Barnum
& Bailey.
"The road is the most difficult part
of our business," Lubin said. "If the job
was not so wonderful and the Big Apple
Circus was not such a wonderful place
to perform, there'S no way that the dif-
ficulties of traveling would be worth it."
When he is not clowning for large au-
diences, Lubin is proud to entertain one-
on-one for young hospital patients under
sponsorship of the Big Apple Circus
Clown Care Unit, which was featured
on two recent episodes of CBS' "Chicago
Hope."
"Our Jaz7matazz band is made up of
some of the greatest jazz musicians in
New York," Lubin commented. "That re-
ally generates a lot of the energy we take
with us into each performance. It's dy-
namite music."

-

Opposite page:
Top left: Elena Egorova,
16, makes her
American debut with
her "Salute to the
Ziegfeld Girls" hula-
hoop act.

p

hil Stein brings four new Characters to the
Big Apple Circus this season and will leave
with some new characterizations of Ju-
daism.
A comedy-club entertainer who creates many
roles for his act, Stein easily fits into his circus per-
sonas of toastmaster, circus usher, ballroom host
and ventriloquist.
"This is my first time with any circus, and I en-
joy the communal life," said Stein, who also has
worked in theater, movies and TV co _ mmercials,
most recently promoting steak sauce.
"I do characters in clubs, and that's why they got
me for this year's circus. I regularly play a Catskills
comedian, a third-rate lounge singer and a pan
tornimist with a hitchhiking routine set to classical
music."
Stein credits the New York school system for
training him as class clown. Soon after gradua-

tion, he pursued his comedy career, creating the
Phil Stein Vaudeville Show; he later entered the
world of comedy clubs. Stein's sister, Alice Colin,
also is a club comedian.. The two take their talents
from their joke-telling father and wisecracking
mother.
After Stein was selected for Jazzmatazz, he had
to learn to project his material for the larger audi-
ences, filling the tent that travels with the troupe
from town to town. When Jewish holidays occur on
the road, he comfortably exercises the observant
side of his own persona.
'When we were in Virginia for previews, it was

during Yom Kippur," recalled Stein, whose wife and
two children generally remain in New York while
he is on the road. "I've never worked Yom Kippur,
and they gave me the time off."
After scouring the Yellow Pages and calling three
temples, Stein was befriended by a woman rabbi
who invited him to her home and services. His fin-
gers did the walking again when the Big Apple Cir-
cus was in Boston during Passover.
"I called synagogues and said I needed a place to-
go for a seder, and we found a Conservative rabbi
who invited us to his house," Stein said. "Beside
me, there were three other people from the circus,
and it was one of the best seders I ever had ..
invited the rabbi's whole fan)* - to the,oirc
we had a very warm time together."
When Stein has some_time off away from N
York, he likes to read, write and go to the movies.
"Most of all, I like bei,ng around people and talk-
ing to people," he said. "I consider myself a talk-

clown."

Et The Big Apple Circus will perform June 7-
16 at Oakland Mall. The first performance is at
7:30 p.m. Friday, June 7 (sold out). Except for
a day off on Monday, June 10, the troupe offers
matinee and evening shows. Perfoimance time
is 2 1/2 hours, including a 15-minute intermis-
sion. Tickets are $10-$25 and can be ordered by
calling Ticketmaster at (810) 645-6666. For in-
formation, call (313) 923-8259.

Bottom left: Phil Stein
brings his vaudevillian
schtick, and Barry Lubin
brings his Grandma to
the big tent of the Big
Apple Circus.

Right; Elena Panova,
Melinda Merlier and
Elizabeth Griffith are the
"Bathing Beauties" of
the all-new production.

This page: Kris Kremo,
an international star, is
often called the
"World's Greatest
Juggler."

