Arts & Entertainment
ON THE COVER
Festival
(mSound
Jewish Community Center
of Metropolitan Detroit brings
range of musical performers
to its two campuses.
Elizabeth Applebaum
Special to the Jewish News
W
hen Noa sings, the stage is magic.
The audience is mesmerized, and Noa herself feels something
almost indescribable.
"Performing drives you to your extremes," she says. "It demands everything you
have. It's difficult, challenging, frightening, and at the same time, so absolutely
thrilling and wonderful that I don't know what my life would be without it.
"I must say, though, that you have to be a little crazy to be able to do it. Like all
extreme sports, some nut or bolt in your brain is definitely missing if you decide
to subject yourself to a life of jumping off cliffs and believing you can fly, which is
what you do every time you step on stage."
Noa, one of Israel's most popular entertainers, will take flight on to center stage
when MusicFest, the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit's six-
event musical festival, takes place March 10-18.
The musical programs will feature Noa, Broadway composer Charles Strouse,
Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys, Elaine Serling, Ellen and Peter
Allard and a film tracing the history of Jewish music in America.
"Everyone loves music, and this festival is truly a community-wide musical
happening:' says MusicFest Director Elaine Schonberger. "We're also happy to
have the opportunity to honor Judith and Irwin Elson, outstanding and longtime
supporters of Detroit's Jewish community."
More than 50 people have volunteered for MusicFest, which took seven months
to produce.
Among those volunteers is Marty Hollander, who, along with Barbara Bloom, is
serving as co-chair of the festival.
It's tax season, of course, which means that everyone's heart is filled with song.
Hollander is a CPA, but that's not stopping him from MusicFest.
"I think that Jewish music in particular is what the community needs:' says
Hollander, a klezmer fan who has served as Detroit's MusicFest co-chairman
since its founding three years ago. "It uplifts everybody."
"It's an honor to be part of this:' Barbara Bloom adds.
Bloom, whose background is in the arts, says she has "a tremendous respect for
what the arts can do for people. Just hearing words to songs, and melodies, pro-
vokes memories and interests people in learning something new." 1 1
40
March I ‹, 2007
DATMLERCHRYSLER
MusicFest runs March 10-18 at the Jewish Community Center's Jimmy Prentis
Morris Building, 15110 W.10 Mile Road, in Oak Park, (248) 967-4030; and
at the Center's D. Dan & Betty Kahn Building, 6600 W. Maple Road, in West
Bloomfield, (248) 661-1000. A series pass is $50 for JCC members, $60 for
nonmembers. For individual ticket prices, see the schedule on this page. For
tickets, call the JPM Center, 248-967-4030; or the Kahn Center, 248-661-1000.
Musical profiles appear on pages 41-45.
Schedule
• Saturday, March 10, at 8 p.m. (Oak Park): Klezmer Fest with Margot
Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys. $12 JCC members advance; $15 non-
members and at the door.
• Sunday, March 11, at 7:30 p.m. (West Bloomfield): On Broadway! with
Charles Strouse. $12 JCC members advance; $15 nonmembers at the door.
• Wednesday, March 14, at 1 p.m. (Oak Park):
"A Bissel Yiddish" with Elaine Serling. Free, tickets required.
• Thursday, March 15, at 7:30 p.m. (Oak Park): Film Festival showing of From
Shtetl to Swing. $9 general admission.
• Saturday, March 17, at 8:30 p.m. (West Bloomfield): MusicFest Feature
Presentation: Noa. $25 JCC members advance; $30 nonmembers and at the
door.
• Sunday, March 18, at 2 p.m. (West Bloomfield): Family Passover concert
with Peter and Ellen Allard (appropriate for ages 2-7). $5 adult JCC members
advance; $8 adult nonmembers and at the door; $3 children 3 and older; free
under 3.