THE GEM & CENTURY THEATRES

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Based on the true story of Patsy Cline's friendship
with an adoring fan, Always... Patsy Cline
is a heartfelt comedy featuring over 20
of Cline's most memorable songs.

Cantorial

1/2 PRICE PERFORMANCES THROUGH MARCH 5!

The Purple Rose Theatre Company Production of

"Yoop it up for Escanaba,
a Gem of a comedy."

-Michael H. Margolin, Detroit News

Originally headed for
a secular career in
opera, bass baritone
Daniel Singer
chooses the cantorate.

"Some comedies have laughs
by the dozen. Escanaba has
them by the gross."

SUZANNE CHESSLER

-Martin F. Kohn, Detroit Free Press

Special to the Jewish News

A Hilarious Comedy

BY JEFF DANIELS

313-963-9800 • 333 Madison Ave

W NV W. g 11.1 theatre.com

(248) 645-6666

www.tleketmesteccom

JN Online will celebrate this
year's Oscar event with its
annual contest. The person
that chooses the most correct
winners of a selection of
Oscar categories will win an
Oscar night on the town that
includes dinner at Fishbones
and four unrestricted passes
to the movies at the Star
Theatre. There will be a 2nd,
and 3rd place winner of two
Star passes each.

In the event of a tie, winners will be

drawn at random.

2/25

2000

78

aniel Singer started work-
ing part time at Temple
Beth El two years ago,
singing in the chorus,
playing guitar for the religious school
and substituting for Cantor Stephen
Dubov as Shabbat soloist.
Singer, with his sights set on a sec-
ular performance career, was looking
for all kinds of professional experi-
ence, and he's been getting that,
including an upcoming appearance in
"Oy Vey Cabaret and a Little Broad-
Vey," an evening of show tunes and
Jewish songs which will be performed
7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 4, at
Temple Beth El.
Selections from South Pacific and
Show Boat as well as the Ladino
repertoire will be on Singer's solo
program. In other numbers, he will
be joined by Dubov, Beth El choir
member and cantorial assistant
Wendy Davidow and Lori Corrsin,
Temple Israel cantor.
The entertainers are working
toward an enriching and fun evening
for the community, and it's that kind
of outlook that recently helped moti-
vate Singer to change his career
choice. While taking on assignments
at Temple Beth El, Singer decided to
become a cantor.
"Meeting Cantor Dubov was pivotal
in making me realize that everything in
my life was pointing toward this," says
Singer, 25, who soon will begin cantor-
ial studies in Israel and then go on to
Hebrew Union College in New York.
"I'd like to serve the Jewish community
and connect with people, which is

missing from opera. Being a cantor is
much more personal."
Singer, a bass baritone, found a lot
of personal meaning in his temple
experiences because of the neighbor-
hood where he grew up. He lived in a
small Wisconsin town where there
were no Jewish children other than
his brother and sister, and he missed
being part of a religious community.
"It was the wish of my dad (Barry
Singer) that I [celebrate becoming]
bar mitzvah, and I too wanted it, but
the situation with the Jewish commu-
nity prevented it," recalls Singer,
voice department chairman of the
Flint School of Performing Arts and
continuing artist for the Toledo
Opera.
"Instead, I promised my dad that I
would have my bar mitzvah, given
the chance, in exchange that he edu-
cate me."
Singer's father, a librarian, set up a
reading program that included reli-
gious subjects and fiction by Jewish
authors. There also were stories about
ancestors who had musical talents:
Singer's maternal grandfather, Arie
Talmy, a concert violinist and chaz-
zan who left Poland for Palestine; a
cousin, Benjamin Oren, a pianist,
coach and teacher at the Rubin
Music Academy in Jerusalem; another
cousin, Joseph Schmidt, a tenor and
cantor in Germany; and a distant rel-
ative, David Oppenheim, a clarinetist
who became the head of Columbia
Records, dean of humanities at New
York University and a close friend of
Leonard Bernstein.
"Although my father was not a
musician, he still contributed to my
musical development," Singer recalls.

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