Arts & Entertainment

About

Allee Willis in her North Hollywood studio

The Amazing Allee

The first North American tour of the
Broadway musical The Color Purple,
presented by Oprah Winfrey, heads to
Detroit's Fox Theatre May 20-June 1 for
16 performances. Nominated for 11 Tony
Awards, the production, with a book by
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Marsha
Norman, is based on the Pulitzer Prize-
winning novel of the same name by Alice
Walker and the Steven Spielberg film
based on the novel.

The story of an
African-American
woman named
Celie, who finds the
strength to triumph
over diversity and
discover her unique
voice in the world,
is ultimately about
hope and healing.
Its Tony-nominated score features gospel,
jazz, pop and the blues, and boasts a spe-
cial connection to Detroit's Jewish com-
munity.
Born and raised in Detroit, Allee Willis,
a Mumford High School graduate who
attended Hebrew school at Congregation
Beth Aaron, co-wrote the score for The
Color Purple with African-American
songwriters Stephen Bray (who also is
from Detroit) and Brenda Russell. Willis
also written for the likes of Earth Wind &
Fire, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Herbie
Hancock, Patti LaBelle and Tina Turner,
among others.
"Soul" is at the heart of Willis' life and
career. She was greatly influenced by
Motown songwriting legends Holland-
Dozier-Holland, crediting them with
instilling in her a love of music. Lamont
Dozier eventually became one of Willis'
favorite collaborators.
She also cites WJLB disc jockey
Martha Jean the Queen. "It's because
of listening to this woman when I was

growing up that my
career took the path it
did:' Willis says.
In 2006, Willis — a
Grammy winner for
the soundtrack of
Beverly Hills Cop and
an Emmy nominee for
the theme song for the
TV series Friends —
made Broadway history by becoming the
first woman ever to have written music
for two shows opening on the Great
White Way in the same season (Purple
and the Earth, Wind & Fire inspired
musical Hot Feet), a feat achieved by only
four other people: Irving Berlin, George
M. Cohan, George Gershwin and Marvin
Hamlisch.
The Los Angeles-based Willis, also
renowned as a prolific artist (paintings,
sculptures, motorized work and furni-
ture), cyberspace guru (virtual worlds and
Web narratives) and collector of kitsch, is
slated to speak to Mumford High School
students and to receive a special commen-
dation from the Detroit City Council when
she returns to Michigan for the Detroit
opening of The Color Purple.
Show times are 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays,
Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m.
Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 1 and
6:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $39.50,
$55 and $65. Tickets: (248) 433-1515.
Information: (313) 471-6611.

In Brief

• Canadian-based pop group Barenaked
Ladies, featuring Jewish lead singer
Steven Page, will perform a sampling
of songs from the band's new CD,
Snacktime (aimed at children but pleas-
ing to adults as well), 3:30 p.m. Friday,
May 9, at Borders, 34300 Woodward, in
Birmingham. A meet-and-greet and CD
autograph signing will follow. (248) 203-
0005.
• Two Jewish composers are on the
program for Detroit Symphony Orchestra
concerts 10:45 a.m. Friday and 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 9-10, at Orchestra Hall in
the Max M. Fisher Music Center. American
conductor and pianist Andrew Litton
joins the orchestra in George Gershwin's
Rhapsody in Blue and conducts Richard
Danielpour's Celestial Night. Rounding out
the program is Tchaikovsky's Symphony
No. 5. (313) 576-5111 or www.detroitsym-
phony.com .
• To gear up for the arrival of the exhibit
"Chocolate: The Exhibition:' the Henry
Ford is hosting a chocolate cake bake-off
contest, with the winner's recipe to be
featured in the Henry Ford Museum's
Chocolate Cafe for the run of the May 31-
Sept. 7 exhibition. Enter your best choco-
late cake recipe by May 15 by e-mailing
publicrelations@thehenryford.com . Rules
and information can be found at www.
thehenryford.com .

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 &
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Photos are appreciated but cannot be returned. All events and dates listed in the Out & About column are subject to change.

Nate Bloom

Special to the Jewish News

Cable News Jews

The hot race for the Democratic presi-
dential nomination has had most of us
watching a lot of cable news, and sev-
eral readers have asked who is Jewish
among the cable news journalists.
At CNN, there's talk show host Larry
King and news anchors Campbell
Brown and Wolf Blitzer. Brown, born
a Catholic, converted to Judaism
around the time of her 2006 marriage
to Republican political consultant Dan
Senor. Also, as I recently reported,
CNN Chief National Correspondent
John King is studying to convert to
Judaism in advance of his May wed-
ding to CNN reporter Dana Bash.

B10

May 8 2008

MSNBC has anchor Dan Abrams
(the son of famous attorney Floyd
Abrams); correspondent Andrea
Mitchell (who is married to Alan
Greenspan); and Hardball correspon-
dent David Shuster,
who is married to
Bloomberg News cor-
respondent Juliana
Goldman. Also, Today
show co-host Matt
Lauer, whose late
father was Jewish,
often appears on
David Gregory
MSNBC.
NBC Chief White House
Correspondent David Gregory is also
a member of the tribe. Last month,
Gregory was given his own weekday
MSNBC show, Race for the White

House. In March, Gregory appeared at
a United Jewish Communities panel
discussion on Jewish
identity and said
that he recently has
become more reli-
giously observant.
Over at Fox News,
there's Geraldo
Rivera, the host of
Alan Colmes
Geraldo at Large.
Rivera's late mother
was Jewish, and he was raised Jewish
and identifies as Jewish. Also: Alan
Colmes, the co-host of Hannity and
Colmes; anchor Chris Wallace, the
son of Mike Wallace and Mike's first
(Jewish) wife; and regular contributors
Dr. Michael Baden, Bernard Goldberg,
Charles Krauthammer, William Kristol

and Mara Liasson.

'Found' On Film

Opening May 2 in Detroit is Then She
Found Me, based on the novel of the
same name by Elinor Lipman. The film
was co-written and directed by Oscar-
winner Helen Hunt (Mad About You),
who also stars in the comedy-drama,
Hunt plays April Epner, a Jewish
high-school teacher, whose adoptive
mother dies. April is then contacted
by her biological mother, a somewhat
vulgar talk-show host (Bette Midler).
Eventually, we find out that beneath
her bluster, Midler's character has a
good heart, and Midler provides much
of the film's comic relief.
The heart of the film is about April's
desire to have a child and her relation-