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Come see what's new at the
Kevin Crewell: Sir
COURTYARD by MARRIOTT
Lancelot's second.
31525 W. 12 Mile • Farmington Hills, Michigan
248-553-0000
We have renovated all of our 203 guest rooms
and suites to better suit our guests.
EVERY roomn has received the following:
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New Carpeting
New Wall Treatment
New Art Work
New Window Treatments
New Bedding
Wireless Internet
We look forward to aeconmwdating you in our new and improved guest rooms!
www.marriott.com/DTWFM
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MARKET & BAKERY
• Middle Eastern Carry-Out • Catering
• Fresh Baked Sweets & Breads
GIFT CARDS
Now Available!!
Great Gifts for Everyone
HOURS:
Mon - Sat 9am — 9pm
Sun 9am — 8pm
248.538.7599
6263 Orchard Lake Rd. • Sugar Tree • West Bloomfield
58
December 7 2006
Muit Have Jews
Nominated for 14 Tony Awards for
the 2004-2005 Broadway season,
Spamalot came away with three at
the 2005 ceremony: Best Musical,
Best Direction of a Musical for
Jewish director Mike Nichols and
Best Featured Actress in a Musical
for Sara Ramirez for her role as Lady
of the Lake (Ramirez currently plays
orthopedic surgeon Dr. Callie Torrez
on ABC's Grey's Anatomy). The origi-
nal cast recording of Monty Python's
Spamalot won the 2006 Grammy
Award for Best Musical Show Album.
Spamalot continues among the top-
grossing shows on Broadway. Like the
film, the musical is a highly irreverent
parody of the Arthurian legend: It fol-
lows King Arthur and the Knights of
the Round Table on their travels in the
quest for the Holy Grail.
But the musical differs in many
ways. Using jokes, puns and songs,
it particularly pokes fun at other
Broadway shows and introduces a
slew of new wacky characters as the
cast doubles up in the roles they take
on stage.
One silly song is "You Won't Succeed
on Broadway (If You Don't Have Any
Jews)," in which the cast explains to
King Arthur the many reasons why
Jews are necessary for Broadway suc-
cess. It has lines like, "If it isn't kosher,
then no show, sir!"
"This song may offend some people
in the audience but, let's face it, it's
probably true actor Crewell points
out. "Many Broadway shows would
be failures without Jewish perform-
ers, directors or producers. The song
is just part of the zany antics in
Spamalot. There seems to be more
choreography backstage than on stage
because we're all hustling and bustling
around to change clothes to get into
other characters!'
Meet The Actors
Besides being the understudy for
Sir Lancelot (Sephardic Jewish actor
Hank Azaria originated the role on
Broadway), Crewell plays four charac-
ters and has one line of dialogue as a
French guard. In addition to under-
studying the Lady of the Lake, Karen,
33, is a tap-dancing nun, a Laker girl
and is part of the general ensemble.
"There are 25 people in the cast,
and we all have a great time at every
performance says Karen. "One night,
my wig came off on stage, and we had
to scramble around to cover up that
incident!'
"The Yom Kippur service in
Cleveland was a special time for
us," says Crewell, who was raised in
Camillus, N.Y., a Schenectady suburb.
"My mother is Jewish and my father is
Protestant, but my grandparents were
very religious Russian immigrants,
so we always observe the Jewish holi-
days. I still fondly remember my bar
mitzvah because the Torah portion
for the week was about skin dis-
eases. It sounds like something out of
Spamalot."