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A Gem Of A Relationship

JULIE YOLLES ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

I

on Witz and Lori Flynn

Valentine's Day 1993, Flynn
had a Gem-dandy of a wed- and The All Night Strut cast
ding on Nov. 16. And can were taking their company
those two strut their stuff. bows. From the back of the
It all started in Decem-
house, a man with ma-
ber 1991 when, after 18
jor shpilkes made his
painstaking months of
way up the aisle, in be-
restoration, owner Chuck
tween the cabaret-style
Forbes was about to re-
tables.
open the historic Gem
"Excuse me ladies
Theatre with The All
and gentlemen, I have a
Night Strut. Flynn was in
very important an-
from New York to perform
nouncement to make,"
in the '30s and '40s musi-
Witz projected to the
cal — a show that would even- sold-out crowd of 450. The crowd
tually become the got very silent. "I've been dating
longest-running musical in De- Lori Flynn for the past year and
troit's history, although at- two weeks," he told the audi-
tempts to break the record are ence. "Then I turned to Lori and
now in motion with The All got on my knee and said, el came
up to the stage to ask you to
marry me.'

ILI

1‘,

\\‘

Gem Theatre
313.963.9800

Group Sales Call Nicole
313.962.2913

810.645.6666

http://www.gemtheatencom

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Focus On
America's
Future

During their 3 1/2-year en-
gagement, Flynn moved to
Nashville to pursue a country
music career and then back to
New York and Los Angeles for
the premiere of the L.A. All
Night Strut. Witz, by then, was
operating his own special events
firm in Chicago and Detroit,
while commuting back and forth
between the two cities. Some-
where in their frequent flier re-
lationship, they maintained a
joint condo in Chicago.
"We set a wedding date when
we both moved back to Detroit
[in August of '96]," says Witz,
who decided to run his business
here full time, and Flynn was
brought back to relaunch The
All Night Strut at the Gem.
"Being in Detroit together re-

Help Prevent
Birth Defects

I

Support the

On Feb. 14, 1993, in front of a sold-out
house, Jon Witz proposed to Lori Flynn,
following her performance in The All
Night Strut.

Night Strut and The All Night
Strut Holiday Show currently
back at the Gem.
Chicago native and Brandeis
grad Jon Witz was working
across the street at the time at
the State Theatre, another Na-
tional Historic theater also
owned by Forbes. Witz's direc-
tor of sales and events back-
ground there would prove very
helpful in the future.
"It was all business at first,"
recalls Witz. "I had seen Lori re-
hearsing for the show, but the
first time we ever talked was
when I drove her to pick up the
cast car." A week later, he asked
her out to dinner. "Then things
really took off from there."

On Nov: 16, 1996, Jon Wit and Lori Flynn,
who's back performing in
The All Night Strut, got married on the
Gem Theatre stage where they first met.

"The crowd all said, `Oooh.'
Lori said 'Yes, I will.' She cried,
and I was still shaking because
it was such an important mo-
ment in my life. Then we got a
standing ovation."

energized our relationship. It
was a unique opportunity to get
married on the stage where I
proposed to her. The Forbes fam-
ily was very gracious to offer us
their theater. We thought it was

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