Specim siciteR'S DaY Arts is Entertainment
PeRiTeRmaiiice
The Jewish Ensemble Theatre
& The Detroit Jewish News present...
from page 64
attacks, the two stars, Erez Tal and
Orna Banai, staged a skit in which they
went out on a date at a cafe. When the
waiter popped the cork on their cham-
pagne, they threw themselves to the
ground. 'Are you crazy?" screamed the
woman. "What do you think you're
doing, going around opening bottles?"
While the scene was audacious in
poking fun at the daily tragedies in
current Israeli life, it is typical of a
certain Israeli ability to find humor
in the ongoing matzay.
In fact, Only in Israel is one of the
most popular Israeli TV shows,
drawing an average of half a million
viewers each week, out of a country
of just five million plus. To Tal and
Banai, the show's stars, the idea- is
"relevant escapism," taking what
scares people most and making fun
of it until it is less scary.
Similarly, Israelis found it easier to
laugh at the threat presented by
Saddam Hussein when Yatzpan
dressed up as the Iraqi leader, assuring
his television audience that his mobile
laboratories were merely intended for
ESCAPISM
MAY 7th-JUNE 8th
adapted by Aaron Posner and
Chaim Potok from Potok's book
Directed by: Pat Ansuini
Takes us back to the 1940s and Brooklyn's Williamburg
neighborhood in this compelling theatrical version of Potok's critically
acclaimed story of friendship, religion, fathers and sons.
Tickets on sale now! (248) 788-2900
Bring your mother to either the 2 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. performance
on Sunday May 11th and she gets in FREE ....
<,''"'"E''',-,
2 with the purchase of your ticket!
/
ic
ITN
Sometimes funny, often stirring " -Washington D.C. City Paper
Moving...examines the freedom that comes with the passage from childhood to adulthood-
intellectual freedom religious freedom America's promise of Freedom " - Philidelphia Weekly
The May 11th performance is sponsored by: Renah & Max Bardenstein;
Barbara & Bernard Rosenand Family's in celebration of the memory of Louis and Esther LaMed
The May 18th, 7:30 p.m. performance is sponsored by: Bluma & Leonard Siegal
The June 7th, 8 p.m. performance is sponsored by: Rita & John Haddow
709220
New T444i Rt4e4viviLciA4
1 4/,02:4€4,- Deuy, •
Tuesday thru Thursday:
11 am - 10pm
Friday:
11 am - 11pm
Saturday:
4 pm - 11pm
Sunday:
4 pm - 9pm
574~47 14107 ite4
I
I
I
Expires 5/30/03 - Not Good With Any Other Coupon
ME NMI 111•• MIN IMINI
SPOSITA'S
RISTORANTE
66
Fine Italian Dining in a
Casual Atmosphere
ROOTS from page 65
Nathan Alterman poems put to music
by some of Israel's legendary tune-
smiths, such as Sasha Argov, Moshe
Vilensky and Mordehai Zaira.
Then there's the Pruta and the
Moon compilation, with contributions
from veteran Yemenite-born diva
Shoshana Damari, Arik Einstein,
Esther Ofarim and Yehoram Gaon
that take the romantic nostalgia mood
to the limit.
Like Manor, Heiman believes it is
not only the political-security situation
that has brought him and his contem-
poraries back into vogue. He feels
young Israelis are searching the cyber
mists of the global village for some-
thing tangible.
Reaching Out
"Youngsters today sit at home in front
of their computers and never see or
touch other people. Then you have a
bad geopolitical and geo-economic sit-
uation, like we have now, and people
try to escape that, try to reach out and
Far left: Popular
female singer
Zehava Ben, of the
younger generation
of Israeli peiformers,
recently released an
album based on
old material.
Total Bill
16 gm
5/ 2
2003
Jessica Steinberg is a Jerusalem-based
freelance writer.
finding the formula to Coca-Cola.
The very next night, Yatzpan might
impersonate the dovish Shimon
Peres, portrayed as an arrogant ego-
maniac ranting about the possibilities
for peace, or portray Sharon and
Arafat singing show tunes.
Sometimes, Yatzpan joins forces
with Tal and Banai, as they did in
January, when Yatzpan, impersonat-
ing Ariel Sharon, debated with
Banai's political persona, "Limor,"
offering a cynical, but hilarious, inter-
pretation of the upcoming elections.
The situation and its accompany-
ing realities also have become part of
the Israeli vernacular. During a
recent episode of Dudu Tobaz, the
popular evening talk show, Topaz
had his guest, Mizrachi singer
Margalit Tzanani, guess the identities
of several random people from her
life who came on the show.
It took her a few minutes to iden-
tify the surgeon who had operated
on her several years earlier, and her
kindergarten gym teacher, but she
immediately identified the security
guard from her bank.
"I know you," she exclaimed. "You
check my bag every week!"
Only in Israel. fi
INN
33210 W. 14 Mile Road
In Simsbury Plaza
Just East of Farmington Road
West Bloomfield
(248) 538-8954
709i390
Left: The material
of senior artists like
crooner Arik Sinai
is being resurrected
for today's audiences.