k‘ N. Entertainment

She Loves
A Gershwin Tune

Liz Rowin will perform the music
of "Porgy and Bess" in the MOT orchestra.

E

lizabeth Rowin never wears
earplugs when she plays vio,
lin with the Michigan
Opera Theatre (MOT)

orchestra.
She keeps that gear handy for
places like the Palace and Pine Knob,
where the sounds of nearly 20,000
rock fans can be a major distraction
from the music she performs for tour-
ing stars, such as Led Zeppelin.
Rowin, 33, a freelance musician who
teaches violin and viola performance at
Oakland University, is in her third sea-
son with MOT, generally playing for
large, operatic productions, which
includes Porgy and Bess.
She also is a regular with the
Warren Symphony and the Lyric

More Gersininn.

Chamber Ensemble.
"I love the Porgy and Bess music,"
said Rowin, who is finding it lengthier

than she anticipated. "It's really pow-
erful and a great American work."
Rowin didn't think she'd return to
Michigan once she left at age 18 to
study and pursue a career in New
York, but the offer of a University of
Michigan (U-M) fellowship to play
with the Graduate String Quartet
drew her back.
Both family and considerable work
keep her here.
"As a kid, I just wanted to take vio-
lin, and when I was in first grade, I
drew pictures of me playing the vio-
lin," Rowin recalled about her early
interest. "There's a special way that

real George: An artistic and fifinancial
success, he is unabl e to find the right
woman to „marry. Biographers of
Gershwin note that he often 'corn-

ained to intimate friends that he
lat h Pi could
not find a suitable mate."

music engages me and expresses ele-
mental human feelings."
Her mother, Helen Rowin, has
been a soprano soloist at Temple Beth
El and has included her daughter in
some singing engagements. She also
encouraged other musical interests.
"I've really been fortu-
nate to study with great
people," said Rowin,

whose teachers have
included Ani Kavafian
and Paul Kantor. "I was
the youngest player when
the Jewish Community
Center had a symphony."
Rowin, who earned
bachelor's and master's
degrees from the Mannes
College of Music, has
organized faculty chamber
music concerts at U-M.
She builds on her sum-
mer experiences at the
Interlochen Center for the Arts, Aspen
Music Festival and the Fountainbleau
American School of the Arts in France.
The violinist practices between two
and six hours on her own each day,
depending on how much time she
gives to rehearsals for specific shows.
She takes off one day a week.

songwnter who travels to London to

oversee the British version of his hit
New York show. He is lamenting his
lonely life when a beautiful woman
suddenly needs his help.
He rescues the "damsel in distress"

the personal appeal of the novel
e lOnely and lovelorn Gershwiri

Town"... you know the
wards and the tune. Easily
hummed, like most
Gershwin melodies — but also an
idea for a musical that George
Gershwin wanted to write, based on
P.G. Wodehouse's novel A Damsel in
Distress.
Gershwin fell in love with the
1919 novel (Woddiouse turned it
into a play in 1928) and hoped to
bring the story to the stage in musical
form. It has been suggested that he
was beguiled by Wodehouse's book
simply because its hero is a successful
American composer named George.
But the parallels actually go quite a
bit deeper.
As it happens, the novel s George
was beset with the same unease as the

,

'

n

the so
but George
could be completed, *Fred
Astaire, the completed script added
roles for the popular comedy team
George Burns and Gracie Allen and
thus bore scant resemblance to the
original P.G. Wodehouse story.
Now, with a new book by
Canadian. playwright Norm Foster, the
musical. A Foggy Day takes shape in a
form that certainly would have been to
George Gershwin's liking. The world
premiere production debuts at The
Shaw Festival on May 23.
The story concerns an American

by sheltering her from a pursuer. It's
love at first sight, although she disap-
pears before he can find out her
name. When he finally discovers that
she's an English aristocrat, he must
use his wit and charm to win her
affection.
The musical includes such
Gershwin hits as "Nice Work If You

"I like MOT because it's not just
symphonic music," said Rowin, whose
next step will be auditioning for major
orchestras around the country. "There
are words and voices, and I've made
great friends. I love the real sappy
things."

Liz Rowin:
Playing “a
great
American
work."

Rowin plays the violin at temple
and appreciates the emotional
response of the congregation.
"I've played Kol Nidre, and I feel
it's really [touching] when people tell
me they've cried," she said.

— Suzanne Chessler

Can Get It," "Put Me to the Test,"
which is still unpublished, "Things
Are Looking Up," and the a.forernen-
tioned "A Foggy Day in London
Town."
Since stage musicals need more
songs than film musicals, several addi-
tional Gershwin songs were added to
those that were heard in the film.
And so, 'suddenly, I saw you there
— and through foggy London town
the sun was shining ev'rywhere."
Gershwin longed for this same cloud-
to-sun, depression-to-elation senti-
ment.
Wodehouse often referred to
his novels as "musical comedies with-
out the music." In A Fox, Day,
George and Ira Gershwin happen
splendidly to have supplied the miss-
ingredient.

— Linda Bachrack

A Foggy Day, words and music by
George and Ira Gershwin, will be
performed at the Shaw Festival,
Royal George Theatre, through
Nov. 1. $22-$65. Niagara-On-
The-Lake, Ontario, Canada.
(800) 51 I -SHAW.

7Z=Zr',Z1t1

—

5/22
1998

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