Arts & Entertainment
Director! Director' •
JCC Executive Director Mark Lit lights up JET with his stage
direction of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris.
Bill Carroll
Special to the Jewish News
Photo by YaEov Fayliin
I
n case anyone asks, Mark Lit is alive
and well and directing a musical for
the Jewish Ensemble Theatre in West
Bloomfield.
It's the same Mark Lit who was
appointed executive director of the Jewish
Community Center of Metropolitan
Detroit 16 months ago, putting him in
charge of 300 employees and an $11 mil-
lion annual budget for the not-for-profit
organization.
On his first tour of the West Bloomfield
location of his new domain, he discovered
the 18-year-old JET, the Detroit Jewish
community's premier theater group. It
didn't take long for Lit and JET Artistic
Director Evelyn Orbach to agree to have
Lit direct one of this season's shows.
The result is that Lit will helm the sec-
ond musical of JET's 2006-2007 season,
Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and
Living in Paris. The show runs Dec. 5-
Jan 6 in the Aaron DeRoy Theatre at the
JCC in West Bloomfield. "Jacques Brel is
another delightful musical, and theater-
goers will find it just as enjoyable as Hello
Muddah, Hello Fadduh!, which was so
popular with audiences when it opened
our season," said Orbach.
Appropriately, opening night — at $100
per ticket — will be a fundraiser for the
JCC and JET.
About Brel
Entertainer Brel (1929-1978) was a caba-
ret singer, musician, composer, writer,
poet, actor, director and all-around trou-
badour. A native of Belgium, he visited
Paris early in his career, fell in love with
France and settled there. He influenced
many singers around the world who
recorded his songs — often in transla-
tion — including Frank Sinatra, Marlene
Dietrich, Neil Diamond and the Kingston
Trio.
A couple of Jewish writers in New York,
poet Eric Blau and lyricist Mort Schuman,
thought enough of Brel's beautiful music
and lyrics to translate the words into
English and formulate a musical revue
around them in 1968. Jacques Brel Is
\\
JET's newest production features the
music of the late Jacques Brel
Alive and Well and Living in Paris had
a long run Off Broadway and has been
playing in regional theaters around the
world ever since.
Brel himself made some cameo appear-
ances in the early New York cast. A heavy
smoker, he died of lung cancer at the age
of 49. Lyricist Schuman, who also starred
in the original Brel, died at 55 in 1991,
and Blau now lives a reclusive life in New
York.
For 26 years, Lit, who now lives in
Commerce, has had a parallel career as a
JCC administrator and a director of musi-
cals, including Brel. He recalls first seeing
the show in a crowded hotel cabaret near
Fenway Park in Boston.
"It was the late 1960s, and four sing-
ers sat on stools doing Brel's music:' said
Lit. "Almost everyone was con something,
protesting for peace, wondering how we
ended up in a very controversial war,
with American boys being lost every day
— and swearing the world was coming to
an end.
"There really is no story to this show,
yet there are many stories. Each song is its
own little play. There are many themes and
emotions: fast-paced life, love, laughter,
the bright side of society and the seamy
Brel cast members include Michelle Stackpoole-Hooks, John DeMerell and Ellen
Sandweiss; Rusty Mewha (not pictured) completes the cast.
side, war, peace, old age, sorrow, death.
The lyrics are beautiful, and Blau and
Schuman added some of their own mate-
rial. The songs are enjoyable and make the
audience laugh, but they also make people
think"
JET'S Brel revue features four perform-
ers, four musicians, 26 songs and plenty
of choreographed movement, "plus some
slides, video and other special effects,"
Lit explained. There will be solos, duets
and a very fast-paced opening number
that takes the audience through most of
the 20th century. The music is a diverse
blend of ballads, tangos, boleros, rock and
classics. Probably the best-known song in
the show is "If We Only Have Love." Music
director is David Sherline.
Dual Career
The Boston-born Lit majored in theater
at Rockford College in Illinois and did
graduate work in theater and directing at
Arizona State University. He taught cours-
es in staging musical comedy and begin-
Director! Director! on page 58
Chrysler Chips In
Despite financial troubles and cutbacks, the domestic automobile manufactur-
ers continue their support of the arts in the Detroit area. DaimlerChrysler,
Ford Motor Co. and General Motors have donated millions to the Detroit
Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan Opera Theatre and
many.other arts organizations.
The latest gift is a $25,000 grant from the DaimlerChrysler Corporation
Fund to the Jewish Ensemble Theatre to sponsor the production of Jacques
Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, set for Dec. 5-Jan. 6.
"We're thrilled to make this production possible with the help of the
DaimlerChrysler Fund," said JET Artistic Director Evelyn Orbach. "The com-
pany's support of the arts, particularly in southeastern Michigan, exemplifies
their commitment to making our communities better for our citizens."
- Bill Carroll
3s
November 30 / 2006
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