Arts & Entertainment ews 40/ OMR vAQ ai I 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.