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Arts & Entertainment

About

California Conductor

The University Musical Society presents
the San Francisco Symphony, perform-
ing under the baton of Michael Tilson
Thomas, 8 p.m. Friday, March 14, in Ann
Arbor's Hill Auditorium. The orchestra will
perform Sibelius'
Symphony No. 7
and Beethoven's
Symphony No. 3
("Eroica").
California-born
Tilson Thomas
became the
symphony's 11th
Michael Tilson
music
director in
Thomas
September 1995. He
also serves as artis-
tic director of the New World Symphony,
a national training orchestra for the most
gifted graduates of America's conservato-
ries, and as principal guest conductor of
the London Symphony Orchestra.
Tilson Thomas' compositions and career
often have reflected his Jewish heritage. In
1991, the New World Symphony presented
a series of benefit concerts for UNICEF
that featured Audrey Hepburn as narrator
of From the Diary of Anne Frank, com-
posed by Tilson Thomas. In June 2005,
Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco
Symphony broke new musical ground

producer David 0.
with "Of Thee I Sing:
Selznick, with whom
Yiddish Theater,
Hecht tangles over the
Broadway and the
acceptance of Jews in
American Voice a
America; and director
two-week explora-
Victor Fleming.
tion of 20th century
Gail Zimmerman
If you didn't catch it
Jewish American
Arts Editor
during its December
music and its impact
run at Lansing's
on the American
Boarshead Theatre, you can see Moonlight
theater. The festival included an evening
March 19-April 13 in a production at
celebrating the conductor's grandparents,
Meadow Brook Theatre in Rochester. Call
Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky, pioneers
for show times. $22-$38. (248) 377-3300
of the American Yiddish Theater.
or www.meadowbrooktheatre.org .
Tickets are $10-$75. (734) 764-2538 or
www.ums.org.

From Her Mouth

Tara Tale

Following its Broadway run in 2005, the
play Moonlight and Magnolias has been
making the rounds of theaters in the U.S.
and Canada.
Written by Ron Hutchinson, the comedy
about the making of Gone With the Wind
in 1939 is based on a true story as three
icons of the film industry shut themselves
in a room to do battle over how to save
what became one of the greatest movies
ever made.
They include the writer Ben Hecht, a
cynical yet idealistic ex-journalist deeply
committed to Jewish causes who has been
hired to rewrite the screenplay; Jewish

From Boca Raton to Long island, from
the dentist's office to the synagogue, from
a retirement complex to a Montana farm
— these are the places inhabited by the
people who populate the five short stories
and one novella penned by Ann Arbor res-
ident Eileen Pollack, director of the MFA
program at the University of Michigan,
in a new fiction collection: In the Mouth:
Stories and Novellas (Four Way Books;
$18.95).
One of the stories, "The Bris," was
selected for Best American Short Stories
2007; like the rest of Pollack's work, it is
about the hidden connections and secret
interior worlds that underlie every fam-

ily unit. Pollack's other published fiction
includes The Rabbi in the Attic and Other
Stories and the novel Paradise, New York.
Hear her read from In The Mouth 7
p.m. Wednesday, March 19, in the History
Room of the Michigan League, located
at the corner of North University and
Fletcher streets, in Ann Arbor. She also
will sign books. Free. (734) 662-7407.

Psychic Connections

Spend an afternoon with spiritual
medium Rebecca Rosen, as she reads as
many audience members as possible, 1-3
p.m. Saturday and Sunday, March 29-30,
at the William Costick Activities Center,
28600 11 Mile Rd., in Farmington Hills.
$40 advance/$50 at the door. Rosen also
will host two three-hour seminars (limited
to 200 people) — on exploring the spirit
world, acknowledging and working with
the spirit world and awakening your spiri-
tual power — 1-4 p.m. Saturday-Sunday,
July 19-20, at the Costick Center. Tickets,
at $150 for both sessions, are available
through the end of May (after that, tickets,
at $90, will be made available for single
sessions). For all tickets and more infor-
mation, including details about ordering
Rosen's new meditation CDs, go to www.
rebeccarosen.com .

❑

Gail Zimmerman, JN Out &
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:
About, The Jewish News, 29200 Northwestern Highway, Suite 110, Southfield, MI 48034; fax us at (248) 304-8885; or e-mail to gzimmerman@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.

Nate Bloom

ali
._

Special to the Jewish News

11 12

Foxy TV
Unhitched, a Family brothers-produced
comedy-drama about the dating misad-
ventures of a group of thirtysomething
(1) friends who find themselves single
again, premiered on
IL)
FOX on March 2. New
episodes air Sundays at
9:30 p.m. The show co-
stars Rashida Jones,
32, who most recently
had a regular role on
The Office as Karen
Rashida
Filippelli.
Jones
Jones is the daugh-
ter of Jewish actress Peggy Lipton of
1960s Mod Squad fame and African-
American music producer Quincy Jones.
Her parents are long divorced.
Rashida, a Harvard graduate, did a long

C12

March 13 • 2008

interview last year about her Jewish back-
ground. She said, "We always celebrated
the High Holidays. I did fast in high
school for Yom Kippur and attended ser-
vices. We always went
to seder for Passover. I
really liked the cultural
and the familial side of
Judaism. It was always
the most comfortable
place for me, making
time for family and
community. Most of
Amy
my boyfriends have
Sherman-
been Jewish and prac-
Palladino
ticing!'
Premiering 8 p.m. Friday, March 14,
on FOX is The Return of Jezebel Jones,
a comedy-drama created by Amy
Sherman-Palladino (The Gilmore
Girls). Parker Posey plays Sarah, an
unmarried, high-powered business-
woman who convinces her drifter sister

(Lauren Ambrose of Six Feet Under
fame) to be a surrogate mother for
Sarah's sperm-donor-conceived child.
Oscar-winner Diane Wiest, currently
seen as therapist Gina on HBO's hit
series In Treatment, plays the sisters'
mother. Scott Cohen plays Marcus
Sontini, a successful businessman who
has "a perfect no-strings-attached rela-
tionship" with Sarah.

CNN Jews
A couple of weeks ago, this column
reported that CNN Washington Bureau
Chief John King was studying to convert
to Judaism in advance of his May wed-
ding to CNN correspondent Dana Bash.
Joining him on the list of CNN converts
is CNN anchor Campbell Brown, 39,
who converted to Judaism around the
time of her April 2006 marriage to
Dan Senor, 36. A Republican political
consultant, Senor was an adviser to the

Romney campaign and also works as a
FOX News commentator.
Brown, who was raised Catholic, is
the daughter of a formerly prominent
Louisiana Democratic
politician. She spent
most of her career with
NBC News and met
her husband while on
assignment in Iraq in
2004. In June 2007,
Brown gave birth to
Campbell
their
first child, a son.
Brown
The Cleveland Jewish
News caught up with Brown and Senor
last October when they both spoke at a
Cleveland Jewish Federation meeting.
Senor said of his wife's conversion: "It
was great — in large measure because
both of our parents were so supportive
and enthusiastic!' Senor's mother is a
Holocaust survivor. ❑