CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY
OF DETROIT PRESENTS...

MAMA MIA

from page 83

NEIL

Tokyo

from page 85

String

Doris Roberts, center,
serves it up with the
cast of "Everybody
Loves Raymond" —
Ray Romano, Brad
Garrett, Peter Boyle
and Patricia Heaton.

JN: What about your son?
DR: My son is a Catholic and his chil-
dren are Catholic. Growing up he did-
n't follow Catholicism, but he is mar-
ried to a Catholic girl, so now he does
follow it and so do his children. In fact,
when we were in Rome, I arranged to
have them all blessed by the pope.

JN: Marie is Italian, but do you think
she could be Jewish just as easily?
DR: Absolutely. The writer, Phil
Rosenthal, is Jewish, so what we get is
a combination of a Jewish and an
Italian mother. Honestly, the rhythm
that he writes in could be Italian or
Jewish, so I am playing both.

JN:Is it difficult for women over 40
to get acting jobs.
DR: It's terrible. I feel Madison
Avenue dictates to us. People in their
20s are getting facelifts and worrying
about looking older —they want to
look like 12-year-old boys: no breasts,
no behinds. I have talented actor
friends — most of them, in fact —
who can't get work because no one is
writing for people over the age of 50.
It's OK for men, but women are dis-
missed. I am on a big campaign about
that; something has to be done. O

thing I remember very vividly."
Back to the present: The main
melody in Sedaka's life is his wife and
business manager, the former Leba
Strassberg, the daughter of a Catskills
hotel owner. The couple will cele-
brate their 38th wedding anniversary
this month. They have two grown
children — daughter Dara (who sang
with her dad on his 1980 recording
"Should Have Never Let You Go")
and son Marc, currently a screen-
writer in California.
Looking back on his many accom-
plishments, Sedaka is proud to have
been one of Top 40's original archi-
tects. He also takes pride in having
staged a renaissance of his music —
he "retired" for about 10 years when
Beatlemania swept America — with
Sedaka's Back and The Hungry Years
in the mid-'70s. (In 1975, he went
on to win Record of the Year
Grammy honors for the Captain and
Tenille's "Love Will Keep Us
Together.")
Life, Sedaka said, is a gift he treas-
ures every day. Indeed, he has experi-
enced the madness, the fame, the
passion — and the sadness.
Since his father's death from colon
cancer in 1983, Sedaka has mourned
the loss of co-writer Greenfield, who
died of AIDS in 1986, and his sister,
Ronnie, who died in 1996 at age 57
of pancreatic cancer.
He admits he is still devastated,
yet, he said, he not only embraces
life more, he continues to honor the
memories of his departed friends
and family in a very special and per-
sonal way.
"In my home, I have what I call
my 'sink of death,"' Sedaka disclosed.
"I have pictures of all the people who
have passed away that I have loved
on the walls around my bathroom
sink. So when I get up in the morn-
ing, I see them and I can remember."
As for his own mortality, Sedaka
does not dwell on the fact that life
ticks away. He said he plans to leave
his entire song portfolio to his chil-
dren, and they can do with it what
they want. He knows, in their hands,
his life's work will continue. Cl

Q uartet

PERFORMING -

SHOSTAKOVICH:

STRING QUARTET No. 1 OP. 49

WOLF:

ITALIAN SERENADE

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT ALL

BEETHOVEN:

ticketmaster

STRING QUARTET IN E-FLAT
MAJOR, OP, 127

TICKET CENTERS,

INCLUDING HUDSON'S AND

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16

HARMONY HOUSE STORES.

8:00 PM
SEUGMAN
PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

TO CHARGE TICKETS BY PHONE,

CALL 248.645.6666.

located at Detrott Country Day School,

22305 141. 13 Pale Road and Leiner

Pamela Fratilz. violin
& Claude Frani?, piano

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 8:00 PM
—PERFORMING-

BRAHMS BEETHOVEN

248.737.9980

leetz&

AFE VENEZIA

r

MONDAY & TUESDAY SPECIAL

Sunday Night Special

Dinner
for Two

15% OFF each dinner entree
with a party of up to 6 people.

I.

Expires 09/17/00

a

OR

r

All-U-Can-Eat

Spaghetti & Meatballs
For $7.50

with a party of up to 6 people
Monday-Thursday, 2-5pm ONLY

The Academy of Television Arts &
Sciences presents the 52nd
Primetime Ernmy Awards, hosted
by Gary Shandling, 8 p.m. Sunday,
Sept. 10, on ABC. A pre-show,
Countdown to the Emmys, runs 7 8
p.m. Everybody Loves Raymond airs
9 p.m. Mondays on CBS.

-

"An Evening with Neil Sedaka
and Dionne Warwick" comes to
Macomb Center for the
Performing Arts 8 p.m. Friday
and Saturday and 7 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 15 17. $42 $52.
(810) 286-2222.

-

I.

ExLres 09/17/00

Coupon can't be combined with any other
offer or discount. One coupon per visit please.

$ 22

99

(Dinner for one $115-Q)

2 entrees
(choice of 7 entrees)

2 glasses of wine

Soup or salad
Dessert

(ice cream or coffee)

25938 Middlebelt Rd. (at 11Mile

Rd.) (248) 476-1750
Open 7 days • Lunch: Monday - Friday • Dinner: Monday - Sunday

-

CPR

can keep your love alive

American Heart
Association.

Fighting Heart Disease
and Stroke

9/8
2000

93