A Classy, Sassy Musical
Celebration of the 1930s & 40s

'Goodnight Irene'

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Detroit's longest running musical.

"Gusto and high humor,
hotshot arrangements
and costumes
apparently right off the
backs of Patti,
Laverne and Cab."
-Lawrence De Vine,
The Detroit Free Press

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The Gem Theatre
(313)963-9800

7 zcArdiii:.4-s-rm-.-v

(810)645-6666

Call Nicole for groups of 15 or more (313)962-2913
http://www.gemtheater com

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(810) 360-8800 ED Jj

Working on a cramped stage,
ere would Jews be with- lucky with his cast.
Peter Birkenhead plays one of Daniel C. Walker's set design is
out guilt? Since it does ex-
ist, Jewish artists have the longest roles that I have seen laudable and the sound design by
enthroned it and idealized lately — he's barely offstage. His Ed Special and Tom Bray is ex-
cellent.
it. In Ari Roth's Goodnight Irene neurotic bafflement is
Goodnight Irene has
at Ann Arbor's Performance Net- amazing; truly, part of
hair-trigger emotional in-
work, personal and social histor- neurosis is being con-
tensity, some earned
ical guilt are fanned to hysterical sciously unaware, and
behaving that way.
heights.
laughs and one whole pile
of very special Jewish
Remember that Philip Roth, Birkenhead was dead
touchstones. At the end,
Arthur Miller and Woody Allen on.
As Keith, Tim Ed-
it does not resolve satis-
have been taking the guilt trip for
MICHAEL H.
fyingly: The subplot does
years. (Ifyou think Neil Simon es- ward Rhoze has a talent
MARGOLIN
not come together in an
caped, you read between the for playing the character
SPECIAL TO THE
"oh, yes" way, and
laugh lines.) For many, these au- and still flirting with the
JEWISH NEWS
Ethan's own final solu-
thors' outline of Oedipal and class edges, sidestepping a bit
tion is, I think, hedged.
struggles mirrors their own. And in self-mockery. That,
too, works. Jennifer Jones plays But for fierceness of writing and
so, Art Roth is in good company.
Goodnight Irene centers on several characters, among them honesty, this one gets the 1996/97
Ethan Goodman, a 30-ish writer a performance artist, with great season off to a running start.
wit and clarity in speech
obsessed with social jus-
and mannerism.
tice for African Ameri-
HEATER
Michelle Mountain is
cans. His best friend is
Andi, Ethan's wife, and
Keith, an up-and-coming
' Goodnight Irene performs
African American attorney. While Zehra Berkman is Cammy. Some
Sept 20-22 and 25.-29 at the
Ethan's wife awaits the birth of minor reservations: Berkman's
Performance Network in Ann
their first child, Ethan's putting voice can become flat; Mountain
Arbor. Tickets are $12 and $9
together the initial issues of Re- seems a touch distant from her
for students and seniors. (313)
pair, his journal of leftist/revi- character. In two supporting roles,
66,3-0681
sionist social justice. ("Repair?" Jodie Westerman is fine.
Keith asks. "Automotive?")
Living in New York, Ethan is
haunted by the 1991
Chasidic/black struggle in Crown
Heights precipitated when a car
driven by a Lubavitch Chasid ac-
cidentally struck and killed a 7-
year-old black boy and critically
injured his cousin. Racial and re-
ligious internecine warfare erupt-
ed, resulting in the stabbing death
of a 29-year-old rabbinical student
by two black males.
Granted, this is enough mate-
rial for a play or two, yet Roth has
created a compelling subplot:
Ethan's neurotic sister, Cammy,
is involved in a relationship that
Ethan feels is not healthy for her.
"You always romanticize and
pathologize," Cammy yells at him.
We are out of Woody Allen terri-
tory and into primal scream ther-
apy. This, too, is layered: Ethan's
and Cammy's childhood years
were marred by the traumatizing
death of their aunt about which
Ethan feels — what else — guilty.
Roth plunges us directly and
deeply into these conflicts in scene
after scene of imaginative, vitu-
perative, rat-a-tat language full
of hip references. Orientation,
time and place are often unclear
initially, coming out in subsequent
dialogue. It is a crash course in in-
tensive listening. But worth it, if
for no other reason than Roth's
honesty.
The characters' demons are
real ones. Roth has wrestled with
and bit into them until the emo-
tional juice is running down the
playgoer's chin.
As the director, Gilbert Mc-
Cauley is dexterous at keeping
the balls in the air — a critical el-
Keith (Tim Edward Rhoze) and Ethan Goodman (Peter Birkenhead) are best friends,
ement to this play. He has been
struggling with family, friends and race-relations angst.

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