Arts & Entertainment

About

Playwright Dr. Ron Elisha: Wrongful Life.

Malpractice, Maybe

Israel-born Australian Jewish physician-
playwright Ron Elisha's Wrongful Life,
a play about a young woman who hates
her life so badly she wants revenge, makes
its U.S. premiere March 29-May 20 at
Detroit Repertory Theatre. In the produc-
tion, directed by Harry Wetzel, a character
named Gina sues the doctor who talked her
mother out of an abortion for irreparable
personal damage, because, she says, she
was given "a wrongful life." As the lawyers
take over, what began as a frivolous lawsuit
escalates into a classic battle between the
legal and medical professions.
The playwright, who graduated from
medical school in 1975 and has spent most
of his career in full-time general practice,
also is the author of the award-winning

Jews

Einstein; Two, about two
Jews trying to resolve their
tormented pasts; The Levine
Comedy; and The Goldberg
Variations.
The Detroit Repertory
Theatre is located at 13103 Woodrow
Wilson near the Lodge and Davison free-
ways. Performance times are 8:30 p.m.
Thursdays and Fridays, 3 and 8:30 p.m.
Saturdays and 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays.
Tickets are $17 in advance or $20 at the
door. For information, see the Web site
www.detroitreptheatre.com . Tickets: (313)
868-1347 or at Ticketmaster outlets.

My Lecture With Andrei

Jewish poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter
and art critic Andrei Codrescu is a colum-
nist on National Public Radio; editor of
Exquisite Corpse, a literary online journal
at www.corpse.org; and the MacCurdy
Distinguished Professor of English at
Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
Born in Sibiu, Romania, in 1946, he

Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News

In A Binder
Adam Sandler, 41, hasn't quite had
a hit in a dramatic film role. He tries
again in Reign Over Me, which opens
nationwide Friday,
March 23.
Sandler plays
Charlie Fineman, a
formerly successful
dentist who emotion-
ally shuts down fol-
lowing the death of
his wife and children
Mike Binder
on 9-11. A rekindled
friendship with his old college room-
mate (Don Cheadle) seems to be the
key to overcoming his profound grief
and restoring his mental stability.
Reign Over Me is directed and
written by ex-Detroiter Mike Binder.
Sandler and Binder were in town
over the weekend to promote the
film in an advance screening at the

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immigrated to Detroit in 1966 and
became a U.S. citizen in 1981.
He returns to Michigan, in
conjunction with Center Galleries'
Woodward Lecture Series and the
exhibition "Ann Mikolowski: Two
Ways of Looking in a Mirror," 7:30
p.m. Thursday, March 29, to dis-
cuss her painting and other work,
Detroit's cultural community in
the 1960s and '70s and his rela-
tionship to both. Free and open to the pub-
lic, the lecture takes place in the Wendell
W. Anderson Jr. Auditorium in the Walter
B. Ford II Building, at the corner of John R
and Frederick Douglass on the College for
Creative Studies campus.
In addition, Center Galleries hosts
Codrescu and other poets 8 p.m. Friday,
March 30, in a poetry reading.
Codrescu's observations are always
interesting. In a recent article, titled "Anne
Frank: Posthumous Scapegoat and New
Immigrant': which appeared in New
Orleans' weekly newspaper Gambit, he
wrote in response to a congressional bill
seeking honorary citizenship for Anne
Frank — presumably for the sin of refusing
her and her family entry to the U.S. when it
could have meant saving their lives.
"Making Anne Frank a U.S. citizen now
would mean stealing her from the world to
expiate American guilt. Instead of making
Frank a posthumous U.S. citizen, let's find
out who in Washington denied her a visa
and sentenced her to death, and then make

Birmingham Palladium.
You may remember Binder as the
writer and star of the 2001 HBO
series The Mind of the Married Man.
In 2003, Binder wrote and directed
the favorably reviewed The Upside of
Anger, in which Joan Allen starred
as a suburban (West Bloomfield)
mom who had to cope when her
husband suddenly disappears. Kevin
Costner played Allen's neighbor.

Ziering Steps Out

The hit ABC series Dancing with
the Stars began its
new season 8 p.m.
Monday, March 19.
This year's celeb-
rity dancers include
handsome actor Ian
Ziering, 42, who
co-starred on TV's
Ian Ziering
Beverly Hills 90210.
Ziering's career
has sputtered since 90210 ended.
The publicity from Dancing can't

hurt, and the actor does have a little
dance training. He told TV Guide that
when he was 12, "My mom felt that it
was important for me to be a triple
threat. So, to that end, I had singing,
dancing and acting lessons."
By the way, Ian was formerly mar-
ried to Playboy playmate and some-
times actress Nikki Ziering. She
converted to Judaism just before
marrying him. A couple of years ago,
Nikki told a reporter that despite the
divorce, she still very much identifies
as Jewish and celebrates the Jewish
holidays.
Returning as a Dancing judge
is Len Goodman, 62, a British
Jew who won the British Dancing
Championships when he was in his
late 20s and then retired from com-
petition to teach dance.

Comic Relief

The new NBC series Raines, starring
Jeff Goldblum as a police detec-
tive who can communicate with

him or her a non-citizen. Let's find out and
expose all the highly placed officials in
Washington who knew about the Holocaust
in Europe and did nothing. We could make
them posthumous non-citizens. Some may
even still be alive, decaying quietly amid
Nazi memorabilia!'

Charles & Lenny

When Annie composer Charles Strouse
appeared in West Bloomfield recently as
part of the Jewish Community Center's
MusicFest 2007, he spoke of his friendship
with "Lenny" — Bernstein, that is. He also
warbled some tunes from his hit shows,
including a medley from Bye Bye Birdie.
Fans of both Strouse and Bernstein can
see full-scale productions from these corn-
posers beginning this weekend.
Bloomfield Players Community Theatre
presents Bye Bye Birdie, recipient of the
1961 Tony Award for Best Musical, 7:30 p.m.
Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays,
March 23-25 and March 30-April 1, at Lahser
High SchoOl Auditorium, 3456 Lahser, in
Bloomfield Hills.
The plot revolves around rock 'n' roll super-
star Conrad Birdie and the complications that
arise when his agent stages a publicity stunt
on the Ed Sullivan Show in which he will
kiss one lucky girl from Sweet Apple, Ohio,
before being drafted into the Army.
With his longtime lyricist Lee Adams,
Strouse composed Broadway classics like
"The Telephone Hour,""How Lovely To Be a

dead crime victims to solve their
cases, airs on Thursdays at 9 p.m.
Playing Sgt. Remi Boyer, a member
of Goldblum's investigative team, is
Dov Davidoff.
A member of the tribe, Davidoff,
33, has long worked as a stand-up
comedian and even has had his own
Comedy Central special. His prior
acting gigs include a large support-
ing role in the movie Invincible, now
just out on DVD.
Davidoff says
Goldblum is just a
"terrific guy" and
that Sgt. Boyer now
and again makes a
funny remark that
.411111111 gives the show some
Dov Davidoff
comic relief.
The actor-come-
dian said he "grew up in a junkyard"
in a mostly non-Jewish New Jersey
town. Things were not easy for him
in grade school because of where
he lived and because he was one of