and I'm really having a great time
with it. The play uses comedy in a dar-
ing way to address racist issues, and
1 think that using humor to make a
point stronger is something I've seen
growing up in the Jewish community."
The musical, based on the play
Purlie Victorious written by the late
actor Ossie Davis, was produced on
Broadway by Phil Rose, who has lec-
tured on theater arts at the University
of Michigan.
"I had worked on Purlie Victorious
and found it very hard to get an
audience, but the musical caught
on," recalls Rose, 85, whose father
encouraged him to relate his Jewish
background to other groups fighting
bigotry.
"I liked the play because it says
some very important things about
civil rights while the audience is
laughing at people who are doing
wrong?'
Rose recalls that Davis did not want
to work on the musical but liked the
production, which did.not change
his script. Rose picked Gary Geld to
compose the music and Peter Udell to
write the lyrics. Songs include "New
Fangled Preacher Man,""The Harder
Take Two Tablets
David Wain, best known as one-
third of the comic trio known as
Stella, is about to start making
Ten, a satire that spoofs- the Ten
Commandments. This indie film is
directed and co-written by Wain,
37. The big cast of Ten includes
kosher thespians Ron Silver, Liev
Schreiber, Winona Ryder, Paul
Rudd and Adam Brody.
I hope Wain's script takes
advantage of this strong cast. He
and his Stella buddies, Michael
Showalter and
Michael Ian
Black, have
a cool aura,
but they write
material that
I rarely find to
be funny, out-
side of short
sound bites.
What's funny is subjective, but
I agree with most critics who
found Wain's 2001 film, Wet Hot
American Summer, to be dis-
jointed, with only a few amusing
scenes. The same criticism was
made of the trio's 2005 Comedy
They Fall" and "I Got Love."
"We brought rhythm and blues
to Broadway with this show?' Udell
recalls. "I mapped out where the songs
should be and wrote the lyrics before
the music. The whole play has to do
with my feelings because my Jewish
background makes me understand
persecution?'
Udell, 72, who feels that his songs
are timeless since persecution still
goes on, is pleased that theater compa-
nies around the country are still stag-
ing Purlie. He has seen recent produc-
tions but will not be in the Motor City.
"I directed Purlie in a different
summer program sponsored by the
city of Detroit?' Sperling says. "Now it's
providing me with a great change of
pace from what I usually do." ❑
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Purlie will be presented 8 p.m.
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4 p.m. Sundays, Aug.18-20
and 25-27, at the Detroit Film
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Central TV show, called Stella. It
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In 2003, Style.com described
Bloomfield Hills native Selma
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men of beauty who's neither tall
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