Arts & Entertainment QUEEN OF ACERBITY from page 43 former, a social commentator, a provo- cateur." Balabusta Bernhard was less provocateur than balabusta during a recent in-person interview. As her 6-year-old, Cicely, prattled in the background, she described the Shabbat dinner she intended to cook (kosher steak, pota- toes, vegetables, challah); her daily Zohar meditations that "connect to the upper sephiroe ; her Saturday sojourns to synagogue; and her new comic bit about international shul hopping. "I like the intensity of hearing the whole Torah reading," she said. "I never miss it wherever I go." She was less meticulous about attending services during her Conservative childhood, when Bernhard herself became the victim of verbal attacks upon moving from Michigan to Scottsdale, Ariz., at age 10. She says the local children were not as sophisticated as those in the East and ragged on young Sandra, the daughter of a proctologist, because she "was different." Bernhard, who said people were more accepting of her iconoclastic nature in Michigan, added that she developed her humor as a survival mechanism and took it with her to Kibbutz Kfar Menahem, which tough- ened her up and gave her what she describes as "a fabulous work ethic." Upon her return to the United States in the 1970s, she drove her Plymouth jalopy out to Los Angeles, worked as a manicurist during the day and practiced her caustic act at clubs at night. By 1983, Bernhard had earned rave reviews playing a crazy fan opposite Jerry Lewis and Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy. She went on to star in films such as . Hudson Hawk and to portray the first regular TV character to come out as gay on "Roseanne." Along the way, she teased the public with her ambiguous sexuality (she has since come out as a bisexual); her equally ambiguous relationship with ex-gal pal Madonna (she eventually admitted they did not have an affair); and her outrageous stage shows. Her act combined wicked riffs with torchy renditions of nick 'n' roll songs and sometimes concluded with Bernhard ripping her blouse off to Prince's "Little Red Corvette." On Kabbalah Of late, Bernhard's re-invented herself as a prime-time TV guest star, playing the kinds of characters one might expect of the Queen of Acerbity: a scathing creative-writing professor on the lesbian chic show The L World, for example, and a gritty detective on Crossing Jordan. And what Jewish woman doesn't remember the Will & Grace episode in which she announced that The Forward had named her "Jewess of the Year"? Bernhard is even more famous — among Jews and non-Jews — as one of the first celebrities to study Kabbalah. She discovered the practice when her non-Jewish, Brazilian trainer took her to a lecture at the Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles on her 40th birthday. Although she had always enjoyed celebrating the Jewish holidays, Bernhard had been so focused on her career that she was feeling a spiritual void. So she frequented the center's lectures, purchased a full set of the Zohar in Hebrew and English and vis- ited the kabbalistic city of Safed, Israel. Why was she drawn to Kabbalah? "It's the only thing that really explains why you're doing what you do [in Judaism]. Why you light can- dles, why you drink wine, why you make the brachas over your food. It puts all kinds of tradition and ritual into a spiritual context. You just start putting it into your daily routine and it just brings a sense of order." What does she think about all the other celebrities jumping on the Kabbalah bandwagon? "If you really want to change and you're really connected to it and you can integrate it into your life day to day — fabulous," she said. "[But] there are so many different levels of hypocrisy and weirdness in people's desire to connect to something and a lot of it is fashion. "When you're constantly proselytiz- ing or running around letting people know you're studying Kabbalah, it's really irritating and I don't like it," she said (Bernhard doesn't name names). "I mean, I'm not judging. I'm like, great, if they're into it. I think that's fabulous but I think ... you either are into it or you're not." The performer is gentler when dis- cussing the Kabbalah Centre. "I've gotten a lot out of it, but it's changed a lot since I started 10 years ago," said Bernhard, who now hopes to find additional teachers for herself. "I think they are a little bit lost on their own spiritual path right now I think they've been overwhelmed by celebrity, and that's always a corrupt- ing experience." The performer will no doubt evis- cerate the corrupting experience of celebrity in her new show. "It's not about offending people; it's about waking people up," she said. CI Sandra Bernhard in Everything Bad and Beautiful comes to the the Power Center in Atm Arbor 8 p.m. Thursday, June 30. This performance contains strong lan- guage. $22-$38. For information, go to www.summerfestival.com . Tickets also are available online at www.tickets.com, or call (734) 764-2538 or (800) 221-1229. Ann Arbor Summer Festival will highlight musical side of "Law Order" and "Cheers' star. SUZANNE CHESSLER Special to the Jewish News Ann Arbor ebe Neuwirth won two Emmy Awards for her role as Jewish therapist Lilith Sternin-Crane in the 'TV sitcom Cheers, but her upcoming Michigan performance will recall songs that brought one of her two Tony Awards in musical theater. When Neuwirth appears at 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 5, as part of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, she will fea- ture numbers from her starring role B 6/ 9 2005 48 in the hit play Chicago, scored by John Kander and Fred Ebb. The actress-singer-dancer also will present numbers from other Kander-Ebb shows as well as songs by Kurt Weill, whose music filled Here Lies Jenny, an off-Broadway production in which she recently starred. Neuwirth, who this TV season has been seen in the dramatic role of Tracey Kibre in Law 6- Order: Trial by July, has been disappointed that her proposal for a TV variety show has not been accepted by a network. "I am not completely content in a performance without dancing," Neuwirth, 46, told Terry Gross of National Public Radio's Fresh Air. "I have been dancing since I was very, very young." Neuwirth, who will be accompa- nied by the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra at Hill Auditorium, has been seen in a variety of theater, film and TV roles. Although Jewish, Neuwirth has had no religious train- ing, but she says she enjoyed appear- ing as a Jewish mother in the 1999 film Liberty Heights. Among the musicals to be spot- lighted by Neuwirth are Cabaret, Three Penny Opera and Spider Woman. Songs include 'All That Jazz," "Stranger Here Myself" and "Razzle Dazzle." Two other Mainstage programs in the festival also have Jewish ties. Pilobolus Dance Theatre, known for its gymnastic style and unusual configuralions, will appear at 8 p.m. Saturday, June 25, at the Power Center. Jonathan Walkon, co-founder and an artistic director of the compa- ny, is Jewish. "Our dancers require very special training," Walkon says. "Our strength is in the agreement of people who are collaborating."