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Japanese Restaurant
"An authentic dining adventure
with preparation of fresh sushi
and top quality Japanese
delights."
— Danny Raskin
Enjoy
THE FINEST FRESH SUSHI
AND AUTHENTIC
JAPANESE SPECIALTIES
LUNCII
SPECIAL
Ho= Mat. - Sat. 11:30 - 1030, Sun. 5-9
6635 Orchard Lake Rd., West Bloomfield, MI 48322
(at Old Orchard Mall, Farmer Jack Center)
(248) 626-8111
,*0.4e#F.,
KOMANO'S
7ke Otegestal a the Veal
Pizza • Catering • Carry-Out • Delivery
Let Us Cater
Your Next
Party!
248-626-4888
Open 7 days a week after 4:00pm • Catering Anytime!
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Pastas • Lasagna • Subs • Salads
Hot Wings • Chicken Strips
10% OFF
lour Next Order
PICK-UP ONLY • MAXIMUM DISCOUNT $10
Expires 3/15/02
MORE THAN OMELETTES
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Four Star Rating/Detroit News & Free Press
****
Full Breakfast & Lunch Menu
1/2 OFF
Purchase one entree
and receive 50%
off second entree
of equal or greater value
COUPON
Not valid on Sunday and Holidays
• Children's Menu • Non Smoking
39560 Fourteen Mile Road
(248) 926-0717
3/1
2002
62
JEWISH NEWS
CLASSIFIEDS
12481 539-3001
MELODY MAN from page 60
with Hart produced songs that were
sophisticated and romantic. His work
with Hammerstein leaned toward the
sentimental.
Hart was beset with a slew of prob-
lems. His Napoleonic stature was a cause
of constant shame, as was his homosexu-
ality,. Both of these perceived problems
no doubt contributed to his refuge in
alcohol. Hart was a falling-down drunk,
making a spectacle of himself in public
and deeply embarrassing Rodgers.
Finally, Rodgers severed the relation-
ship in 1943. Hart died that same year.
Ironically, alcohol would become
Rodgers' own bugaboo.
Secrest never tracks exactly when
Rodgers' own heavy drinking began, but
by the 1950s he was hiding his bottles
(once in the toilet tank), a classic sign of
an alcoholic. When he drank, Rodgers
didn't behave outlandishly; he merely
passed out.
Rodgers' own take on his boozing
reveals just how deeply in denial he was.
In his 1975 autobiography, Music-al
Stages, he says depression led to some
heavy drinking in 1957. "This never
grew to the point of my becoming an
alcoholic," he wrote.
Rodgers was married just once, for 49
years, to the former Dorothy Feiner, a
chic, wealthy woman with aristocratic
features. She had her own intractable
demons, including almost chronic sick-
ness and a neurosis for perfection.
In the early years of their marriage, it
seemed a happy union; Rodgers' love let-
ters from his courtship and early mar-
riage are poignant, especially considering
his characteristic emotional detachment.
But the union was built On eggshells.
According to their children, the marriage
was largely a sham.
Rodgers may have been a lush, but he
didn't allow drinking to interfere with
his music. Hammerstein was a meticu-
lous worker, and Rodgers was equally
industrious. Hammerstein was an eter-
nal optimist. Even in a relatively dark
work like Carousel, there is redemption
at the end. Hammerstein's best work
exuded a sunny sincerity that seemed to
coax Rodgers out of the doldrums.
When Hammerstein died of stomach
cancer in 1960, Rodgers was devastated.
Yet, he sought no solace in religion.
Rodgers never developed a spiritual
anchor. His parents were Reform, but,
Secrest says, "not particularly observant."
If they were lukewarm toward their reli-
gion, Rodgers was cold. He became a
nonbeliever.
However, when his daughter Mary
married a gentile, both Rodgers and his
wife insisted that a rabbi be present at
the ceremony, along with a minister.
"We're social Jews," Mrs. Rodgers
explained to friends.
However flawed he
was, Rodgers was no
ogre. Although he was
a tight-fisted business-
man, Rodgers was
extremely generous to
those in need. And
although he was capa-
ble of unleashing with-
ering remarks, he first
had to be provoked.
melody: "The Sweetest
Sounds," from No Strings.
Rodgers wrote. both the
words and music. In
them, he seemed to be
=.1 searching for something
— or someone — lack-
ing in his life: "The.
sweetest sounds I'll ever
hear/Are still inside my
head./The kindest words
I'll ever know/Are wait-
ing to be said."
No matter his defects,
Incomparable
Moyle Secrest's new biography
Richard
Rodgers ought to
of Richard Rodgers explores the
Composer
be
evaluated
based on the
composer's life as an immensely
Until Secrest's book
reason we all know his
talented
but
ill-tempered
and the PBS special
name: as a composer.
perfectionist, a compulsive
emerged, little was
And
when you analyze
known about Rodgers' philanderer and a secret
his
gifts,
you have to do
personal life. Certainly, alcoholic.
so with no small degree
nothing much was
of awe.
divulged in his less-than-forthcoming
One simply has to marvel at the
autobiography. Now we know he was no breadth, ingenuity and polish of Rodgers'
angel.
tremendous output. Of course, not every
Despite this unflattering portrait, it's
sow:, is memorable. But when Rodgers
important that the artist not be confused hit the summit — and that was often —
with his art. Picasso treated women
the result stays lodged in the memory.
badly. Sculptor Louise Nevelson left her
His talent for melody, unexpected har-
child and husband to pursue her career.
monies and sprightly rhythms was as
Liszt was a notorious womanizer. Edna
refreshing as it was engaging. And when
Sr. Vincent Millay was a promiscuous
a superb Rodgers tune was married to a
alcoholic. But these faults don't diminish good lyric, the result didn't merely mesh;
their stature as great artists.
it was welded together.
Sometimes it's possible to understand
Rodgers' first big hit, "Manhattan,"
a composer's torment through his music, was composed in the early 1920s, but
something Secrest resists in her often
the jaunty tune extolling the powers of a
coolly distant bio. One of Rodgers' most girl and boy to "turn Manhattan into an
wistful lyrics is set to an equally yearning isle of joy" still captures the romance of
HAPPILY EVER AFTER from page 61
now know me. And it's opening in dif-
ferent places, including Vienna and
Philadelphia, and is under considera-
tion at the University of Michigan."
Presently, Lippa is writing music for
an animated film based on the story of
Noah's Ark. He also is writing the
music for the Broadway-bound A Little
Princess, based on the novel by Frances
Hodgson Burnett, author of The Secret
Garden.
"It's being directed and designed by
the same people who did The Secret
Garden," says Lippa.
A Cantor, Too
When asked who his biggest influ-
ences have been, Lippa answers
without hesitation.
"The [late] cantor of B'nai
Moshe, Louis Klein, and my high
school music teachers, Mr. Wolfe
and Miss Powell," he says. "In a
tangible way, they were all responsi-
ble for opening the door of this
wonderful world."
Looking ahead, Lippa says he
would love to write something
Jewish.
"As a Jew, I am always on the
lookout for sensitive Jewish materi-
al," he says. "I would love to write
about my Jewish experiences. It's a
large part of who I am."
Judaism is very much a part of
Lippa's life. He is permanent guest
chazzan during the High Holidays
at a Conservative synagogue in the
suburbs of Vancouver in western
Canada.
"I go every year with my partner
David and my parents," he says. "It
started in 1997 when I was an actor
in a play there during the High
Holidays, and went to shul and met
the rabbi.
"He asked me if I sang, and put
me in the choir. The next day some-
one asked if I could come back next