t ert 1 1, 111 C " t 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: • • • • • • 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 .... N i tl. 0 g 248.553.0000 2 ■ LA KE RD. O RC HAR D thio ad ,reteive 10% off,„(A. Knights Of Fun from page 54 ext tweelai event O FARMI NGTON RD. • C g g. W. 12 MILE RD. 1181130 WO 0 qk, 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."