Arts & Entertainment
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NateBloom
Special to the Jewish News
NeW Muse
Congrats to Scarlett Johansson for
getting a Golden Globe nomination
(Best Supporting Actress) for her per-
formance in Woody Allen's Match
Point. Allen's flick also scored Best
Picture/Best Screenplay Golden Globe
nominations. (The film opens in
Detroit in late January.)
Many critics are referring to the
blond, blue-eyed Johansson as 1A-body's
new "muse." After making Match Point,
the actress almost immediately filmed
Allen's next project, Scoop.
I can't help thinking about Jason
Biggs' story about getting the part of
the "Woody
Allen Jewish
character" in
Allen's film
Anything
Else. The
Italian-
Scarlett Johansson
Catholic
and Woody. Allen
actor said he
was cast
because he "looks Jewish',' and Woody
assumed he really was Jewish. When
Biggs told Allen he wasn't Jewish dur-
ing filming, Woody, Biggs said, was
"stunned."
Would Scarlett Johansson be
-Woody's new-"WASP-y" muse (follow-
ing in the footsteps of Diane Keaton
and Mia Farrow) if Woody knew,
before casting her, that her mother is
Jewish? In other words, the Biggs story
.
Uma Thurman, Nathan Lane and
Matthew Broderick in "The
Producers"
in reverse. Did or does Woody know
about Scarlett's mum? Hum.
Springtime For
Opening Dec. 25 is the film version of
Mel Brook's musical stage hit The
Producers. Nathan Lane and Matthew
Broderick re-create their starring
stage roles. (While the musical got a
Golden Globe nomination for Best
Musical or Comedy, even favorable
advance reviews say it won't become a
classic like the original film.)
Everybody has seen some version of
The. Producers, but here's a little trivia
you might not know.
In the new film, Uma Thurman
plays Ula, the sexy Swedish secretary,
in a role greatly expanded from the
original movie version. In real life,
Thurman's maternal grandmother
was a famous Swedish beauty who
married a German baron. She mar-
ried him in Berlin (1935) just after
the Nazis released him from jail. He
was briefly held for not denouncing
his Jewish business partners. The cou-
ple wisely moved to Sweden after the
wedding.
Broderick's character, Leo Bloom,
'Maury And Connie
gets his name from the Irish-JeWish
While it's unclear just "how Jewish" the
main character in James Joyce's Ulysses. Dr. Yang character is, there are certain-
And while The Producers' gay stage
ly Jews with East Asian ancestry.
director character pronounces his last
Among others,
name "DeBreeze," it is spelled "DeBris."
there are persons
of East Asian
Yang Jew
ancestry who con-
Dr. Yang, a Chinese-American charac-
verted to Judaism
ter on TV's Grey's Anatomy, has just
as adults.
come out as "Jewish:' In the Dec. 11
For example:
show, Yang (Sandra Oh) was annoyed
Connie
Chung.
Connie Chung: A
when her live-in boyfriend talks about
The
former
Jew in real life.
getting a Christmas tree. She told him
NBC/CNN anchor
that she is "Jewish" (citing a Jewish
converted to Judaism when she mar-
stepfather). This surprised both the
ried broadcaster Maury Povich.
boyfriend and TV viewers. (In a sweet
The couple will team up to do a new
ending, she returns home from a long
MSNBC weekend news show, premier- .
shift at the hospital to find the apart-
ing Jan. 7. .
ment decorated With a Christmas tree
I hope it is a roaring -success, and
for him and a menorah for her.)
that Maury's 2006 Chanukah present
Clearly, Sandra Oh didn't know
to us all will be to stop doing his cur-
before this season that her character
rent shlocky daily talk shoW.
was "Jewish:' Last year, she said it
"was cool" for a per- .
French Treat
son of Korean
Yes, there are a metric ton of reasons to
descent, like her, to
dislike the French. Here's One to like
play a Chinese char-
them: As first reported by the Forward
acter."Because," Oh
early this month, 300,000 French TV
explained,"if you're
viewers voted Alexandra Rosenfeld,
white, you can play
a blond Jewish beauty, Miss
British, Polish, Jewish France/World for 2006.
and French!'
Rosenfeld, 19, told French TV that
Sandra Oh:
Dr. Yang may start a the book that most influenced her was
Playing a Jew
trend; perhaps other
Primo Levi's Survival in Auschwitz,
on TV.
closeted Jewish TV
and when asked the person she most
characters will "came out" — like a
admired, she replied, "ma grand-mere"
"desperate housewife" who will start
("my grandmother").
playing big-money mahjongg at her
Her grand-mere must be
synagogue.
knelling. ❑
.
REVIEW
Sondheimite's Delight
Bill Carroll
Special to the Jewish News
f you're a big Broadway
musical fan in general, you'll
- enjoy Jewish Ensemble
Theatre's production of Side by
Side by Sondheim. If you're an
ardent Stephen Sondheim fan,
you'll love it.
The show is performed in
revue style by Naz Edwards of
Ann Arbor; Peter Kevoian and
Shannon Nicole Locke of New
York, and Brian Thibault of
Detroit. They pack 31 musical
numbers into two hours and 15
I
42 December 22 • 2005
minutes
true to the original.
format of Side by Side, created in
England in 1976 as a charity
fund-raiser.
But most of the songs are
Sondheim's lesser-known works,
written as narratives about marital
problems and other family trou-
bles, necessary to further a plot,
rather than aimed at making the
Hit Parade. So opening night's
early Saturday performance found
most of the audience subdued.
They seemed to perk up in a better
second half, after Director Harold
Jurkiewicz tweaked the sound sys-
tem during intermission.
—
The women's voices topped the
men's, with Edwards outshining
everyone in such numbers as
"Getting Married Today:'"Can
that Boy Fox Trot,""I Never Do
Anything Twice,"The Boy
From...,""Send in the Clowns" and
"I'm Still Here Her duets with
Locke sparkle, like "If Momma
Was Married" from Gypsy and "A
Boy Like That" from West Side
Story. But Locke's "Broadway
Baby" from Follies wasn't a show-
stopper and she's a bit out of
character attempting Gypsy's "You
Gotta Have a Gimmick."
•
Kevoian was delightful imper-
sonating one of the old-time
Andrews Sisters in "You Could
Drive a Person Crazy:' and in a
serene "Anyone Can Whistle"from
the show of the same name,
which was one of Sondheim's
flops.
The intimate setting of the
recently renovated 193-seat Aaron
DeRoy theatre benefits this revue
style, and, as JET Artistic Director
Evelyn Orbach reminded the
audience, "This is more of a show
than a play." She was added as a
narrator to give anecdotes about
Sondheim's life and the songs. She
does best when she's seated
behind a microphone as opposed
to roaming around the stage.
Pianists Randy Blouse and Rich
Alder provide subtle accompani-
ment on two rented Kimble
pianos valued at $65,000 each.
Two large speakers were insert-
ed during the $140,000 renova-
tion, which included new cur-
tains, carpets and lighting. The
"new" stage was dedicated after
this performance, with the hang-
ing of a mezuzah and unveiling of
Orbach's photograph to hang in
the lobby. ❑
JET's production of Side by
Side by Sondheim continues
through Jan. 8 at the Aaron
DeRoy Theatre in the Jewish
Community Center, 6600
West Maple Road in West
Bloomfield. Tickets: $27-$37;
discounts for seniors and stu-
dents, plus special New Year's
Eve packages. Information:
(248) 788-2900.