n er _
ai nment
Forbidden Fun
One of Detroit's favorite holiday shows
— Forbidden Christmas — is back at the
Gem Theatre with a Jewish cast member.
Mark David Kaplan — whose induc-
tion into the Forbidden family of musi-
cal spoofs of well-known numbers from
Broadway and film dates back to the
award-winning Chicago production of
Forbidden Hollywood in 1995 — has
since directed and/or performed it and its
counterpart, Forbidden Broadway, across
the U.S. (including stops in Detroit), Japan,
Singapore and Australia. He also spent
a year in the Off Broadway production
Forbidden Broadway Cleans Up Its Act!
Kaplan regularly appears in shows
in Chicago and New York and recently
wrapped up a stint with the national tour-
ing company of The Lion King.
In Forbidden Christmas at the Gem,
Kaplan sings, "If I Were a Gentile:' in a
Fiddler spoof; plays the Grinch in a spoof
of Seussical the Musical, and the Plant in a
Mark David Kaplan
About
2110
Lappe and Goldman
takeoff on Little Shop
discuss and sign copies
of Horrors; and chan-
of Shooting War 12:30-2
nels Tony Bennett
p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29,
and Elvis Presley,
at Green Brain Comics,
among others.
13210 Michigan Ave.,
Forbidden
Gail Zimmerman
in Dearborn (313-582-
Christmas runs
Arts Editor
9444); and 7 p.m. on the
through New Year's
same day at Borders,
Eve at the Gem, 333
612 E. Liberty, in Ann Arbor (734-668-
Madison Ave., in Detroit. All tickets are
$39.50, except on New Year's Eve, when the 7652).
6 p.m. performance is $45 and the 9 p.m.
performance (including post-show party
Into The Diaspora
with entertainment and dancing, party
At the beginning of the 20th century,
favors and champagne toast) is $140.
Libya's ancient Sephardic Jewish com-
Call for show times and tickets: (313)
munity encompassed some 100 families;
963-9800 or www.gemtheatre.com .
by the end of the century, not a single
family remained. Libyan native Vivienne
Graphically Speaking
Roumani-Denn traces the dispersal of her
homeland's Jewry through the story of
Shooting War originated as a Web comic
her own family in her film, The Last Jews
that was hailed by Rolling Stone magazine
as "a scary-smart take on what the horrors of Libya, which makes its world television
premiere 10 p.m. Monday, Dec. 3, on the
of the future may hold." With more than 1
Sundance Channel.
million unique visitors a day at its peak,
The film, narrated by Isabella Rossellini,
it was nominated for a 2007 Eisner Award
is largely based on the diaries of the film-
for Best Digital Comic.
maker's late mother. When Vivienne was
Now a graphic novel by co-authors
12, her family immigrated to Boston from
Anthony Lappe, executive editor at
Benghazi, Libya, where they had lived for
Guerilla News Network, and writer-illus-
centuries.
trator-designer Dan Goldman, a founding
member of the daily comics anthology
ACT-I-VATE, Shooting War (Grand Central XM Chanukah
Publishing; $21.99), set in the near future,
is an irreverent spoof of network news, the Returning to XM Satellite radio this
season is Radio Hanukkah ()CM 108).
war in Iraq and the burgeoning "citizen
It will be available Dec. 4 at midnight
journalism" movement.
through Dec. 12 and feature eight days
of Chanukah music and Jewish culture,
including live performances; specials
focused on contemporary and traditional
Jewish music, film, children's program-
ming and more; and nightly broadcasts of
the traditional Chanukah blessings.
Complete schedule information is avail-
able at xmradio.com/holiday. Those who
do not have a subscription to XM Satellite
can log onto xmradio.com for a free, three-
day trial.
Birmingham Bargains
Those who love ceramics — and a great
deal — will want to head over to the
Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center for is
semi-annual Student Pottery Sale, running
10 a.m.-6 p.m. Nov. 30, Dec. 1 and Dec. 3
and noon-4 p.m. Dec. 2. No admission and
parking is free.
Hand-crafted and one-of-a-kind pieces
from 160-plus juried artists are avail-
able at the BBAC's Holiday Shop, running
10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays and
noon-4 p.m. Sundays, Nov. 30-Dec. 16.
Check out the one-of-a-kind pieces from
Aimee Kovan and Arlene Schreiber. The
duo, who met walking their dogs, re-imag-
ine vintage materials to create jewelry,
accessories and home items, also available
on their Web site, lelaandramble.com .
The BBAC is located at 1516 S.
Cranbrook, just north of 14 Mile,
in Birmingham. (248) 644-0866 or
BBArtCenter.org.
FYI: For Arts related events that you wish to have considered for Out & About, please send the item, with a detailed description of the event, times, dates, place, ticket prices and publishable phone number, to: Gail Zimmerman, JN Out &
About, The Jewish News, 29200 Northwestern Highway, Suite 110, Southfield, MI 48034; fax us at (248) 304-8885; or e-mail to qzimmerman@thejewishnews.com . Notice must be received at least three weeks before the scheduled event.
Photos are appreciated but cannot be returned. All events and dates listed in the Out & About column are subject to change.
Or r
Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News
:
Casting News
The Hollywood Reporter writes that
(1) teenager Alden Ehrenreich has
been cast as a co-star in Francis
Ford Coppola's new
film, Tetro. He'll play
a young man who
(11111)
journeys to Buenos
Aires to find his
brother. The movie
will start filming in
February, with a 2009
Elizabeth
release date.
Banks
Steven Spielberg
referred Ehrenreich to Coppola,
helping to seal the deal. The young
actor has only a couple of TV guest
GA
C24 November 29 s 2007
shots to his credit, but Spielberg was
impressed by the young man's tal-
ent after seeing a bat mitzvah video
Ehrenreich had done for a friend.
Seth Rogen, 25, star of Knocked
Up and co-writer of the hit flick
Superbad, and Elizabeth Banks,
33, have been cast to co-star in the
new Kevin Smith (Clerks) film, Zack
and Miri Make a Porno. Banks, who
converted to Judaism in 2003, co-
starred in The 40-Year-Old Virgin
and also has a recurring TV role on
Scrubs as Dr. Kim Briggs, the mother
of the baby fathered by John "J.D."
Dorian (Zach Braff).
Harvey and Bob Weinstein will
produce Zack and Miri. This prompt-
ed director Smith to say in the film's
publicity release: "I wrote the part
for Rogen because he's a funny com-
edy god and we're insanely lucky he
said 'yes' ... [It's) a total mitzvah.
And to show my appreciation, as well
as fit in better with Seth, Harvey
and Bob ... I will be converting to
Judaism. Invites are in the mail."
Going Home
Not resting on the laurels from
their current hit flick, No Country
for Old Men, filmmakers Ethan and
Joel Coen are getting ready to start
shooting A Serious Man, set in the
1960s in the Minneapolis area where
the Coens were born and raised.
Serious Man centers on a Jewish
college professor, Larry Gopnik, who
is going through a midlife crisis and
seeks answers from a succession of
rabbis. Although the Coens' parents
were both college professors, the
film is not based on specific events
in the Coen broth-
ers' childhood.
However, it does
draw on the Jewish
milieu the brothers
grew up in.
In the film, Gopnik
i
i and his Jewish fam-
The Coen
ily live in St. Louis
Brothers
Park, the heavily
Jewish Minnesota
suburb where the Coen brothers
spent their childhood. Location
shooting will probably include the
synagogue where the brothers went
to Hebrew school.