Arts & Entertainment
&About
On The Stage
Musical Notes
Detroit's Gem Theatre hosts an encore run
of The Rat Pack is Back, a Las Vegas-
style tribute to Frank Sinatra, Sammy
Davis Jr., Dean Martin and Jewish come-
dian Joey Bishop, Nov. 19-Jan. 4. $39.50.
Show times and info: (313) 963-9800;
www.gemtheatre.com. Tickets: (248) 645-
6666; ticketmaster.com.
Wayne State University's Hilberry
Theatre in Detroit will stage, using the
same actors and set, Shakespeare's Hamlet
(through Jan. 24) and Jewish playwright
Tom Stoppard's modern take, Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern Are Dead (through
March 14), in rotating repertory. $10-$30.
(313) 577-2972 or wwwhilberry.com .
Many classic songs of Jewish composer
Irving Berlin are featured in the return
engagement of Irving Berlin's White
Christmas, based on the classic film
musical and running Nov. 19-Dec. 28
at Detroit's Fox Theatre. $20-$100 with
special discounts. Info: (313) 471-3099;
tickets: (248) 433-1515.
Pontiac Theatre IV, located in Lincoln
Middle School, 131 Hillside, in Pontiac,
mounts a production of Peter Stone and
Sherman Edwards' 1776, starring local
thespians Steve Sussman as John Adams
and Udi Kapen as John Livingston, 8 p.m.
Fridays and Saturdays, Nov. 14-15, 21-22.
$7-$10. www.pontiactheatreiv.org.
The Detroit
Symphony Orchestra
Detroit Public Television-
1 . fr'
presents a Pops
Channel 56 broadcasts
Gail Zimmerman
Series concert,
The Bible's Buried
Arts Editor
Classic Broadway,
Secrets, a documentary
featuring beloved
that investigates the ori-
songs from musicals by many Jewish
gins of the ancient Israelites, the evolution
composers and lyricists including Leonard of their belief in one God and the creation of
Bernstein, the Gershwin brothers and
the Bible, 8-10 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18.
Lerner and Loewe, 10:45 a.m. and 8
p.m. Thursday, 8:30 p.m. Friday and
The Art Scene
Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13-16, at
Orchestra Hall in the Max M. Fisher Music From Nov. 15 (opening reception) to Jan.
Center. $19-$70. (313) 576-5111 or www.
20, Robert Kidd Gallery, 107 Townsend
detroitsymphony.com .
St., in Birmingham, hosts "Politics and
Israeli-French harpist Primor Sluchin,
Religion:' an exhibition of recent works on
one of the only women to play in the
canvas and on paper by native Detroiter
famed Berlin Philharmonic. will perform
Robert Schefman. The artists' technically
Handel's Harp Concerto and Debussy's
superb seductive narrative paintings are
Danses Sacree et Profane with the Ann
a mix of anatomy, color and spatial form
Arbor Symphony Orchestra under Maestro merged with insightful, satirical and often
Arie Lipsky (Sluchin's uncle) 8 p.m.
humorous commentaries on the human
Saturday, Nov. 15, in the Michigan Theater condition. (248) 642-3909;
in Ann Arbor. $10-$47. (734) 994-4801;
www.robertkiddgallery.com.
www.a2so.com.
The Ark in Ann Arbor hosts Saffire the
Laugh Lines
Uppity Blueswomen, featuring Jewish
pianist Ann Rabson, 8 p.m. Friday, Nov.
Hosted by the Congregation Shaarey Zedek
14, $20; and Four Bitchin' Babes, with
Sisterhood, comedian Marc Weiner,
Jewish singer-songwriter Sally Fingerett, probably best known for his Nickelodeon
in the humorous musical revue Hormonal children's television show Weinerville
Imbalance! 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16, $22.
(1993-1997) and now providing the voices
(734) 761-1451; www.theark.org .
of several characters on the Nick Jr. show
On The Tube
Dora the Explorer, presents his comedy
show Kiddush: The Ultimate Battlefield 8
p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15, at CSZ B'nai Israel
Center in West Bloomfield. $36, includes
afterglow. (248) 357-5544, ext. 48.
Featuring five nights of comedy each
week, Detroit's newest professional theater,
Go Comedy! Improv Theatre, 261 East
Nine Mile Road, in Ferndale, has opened
its doors to the public. Anchoring the
weekly schedule is the Go Comedy! All
Star Showdown, premiering 8 p.m. Friday,
Nov. 14. Running 8 and 10 p.m. Fridays
and Saturdays, it features two teams of
Detroit's best improvisers as they go head
to head in an improv game-show format
competition. $15. For additional shows
and information: (248) 327-0575; www.
gocomedy.net.
Author! Author!
Detroit native Todd Hasak-Lowy's
mordantly comic debut novel, Captives
(Spiegel & Grau; $24.95), tells the story
of a Hollywood screenwriter, disgruntled
with both his family life and the state of
the world, who creates a revenge fantasy
that threatens to take over his life. He'll
read from and sign copies of his book 7
p.m. Monday, Nov. 17, at Shaman Drum
bookshop, 315 S. State in Ann Arbor, (734)
662-7407; and 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18, at
Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Township,
(248) 851-1100. ❑
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 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.
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I Nate Bloom
*nor
Special to the Jewish News
lar
Bad Guys
Opening Frida y, Nov.14, is the new
James Bond film,
Quantum of Solace.
Bond (Daniel Craig)
battles Dominic
Greene (Mathieu
Amalric), a member
of an evil organiza-
tion that intends
to take control of
Mathieu
Bolivia's water sup-
Amalric
ply.
Amalric, 43, is a star of the French
cinema and also has directed some
films. His mother, a Jew of Polish
origin, was a literary critic for Le
B14
November 13 a 2008
Monde; his father, a journalist, is not
Jewish. Amalric identifies as Jewish,
although he is secular.
Joseph Wiseman was the first of
several Jewish actors who've co-
starred as the main villain in a Bond
film. Wiseman, now 90, had the title
role in the very first Bond flick, Dr.
No (1962).
Field Of Dreams
Former Major Leaguer Ruben Amaro
Jr., 43, has just been named the
general manager of the world cham-
pion Philadelphia Phillies. In an
article published just before the Nov.
4 election, sportswriter Bill Conlin
pointed out the many similarities
between Amaro and President-elect
Barack Obama.
Ruben's paternal grandfather,
Santos Amaro, was
a great Cuban base-
ball player; but he
was dark-skinned,
so no American
Major League
team would sign
him. Santos' son,
Ruben Amaro
shortstop Ruben
Jr.
Amaro Sr., did make
the Majors in 1958
and played until 1969. But he had
to endure some racial abuse — and
was not hired to coach an American
team when his playing career ended;
instead, he coached in Mexico and
Venezuela.
Ruben Jr. has enjoyed advantages
his grandfather and father could only
dream about. Ruben Sr. married a
white Jewish-American woman from
a middle-class family. Although the
marriage did not endure, the couple
made sure Ruben Jr. got a first-
class education at a fancy private
school, topped off with a biology
degree from Stanford. Ruben Jr. was
raised Jewish and had a bar mitzvah.
An outfielder, Ruben Jr. made the
majors in 1991; and while he certain-
ly wasn't a superstar, he impressed
management with his grit and intel-
ligence.
The Phillies were the last National
League team to put a black player
on its roster. However, by the time
Ruben Jr. retired in 1998, the team's
former owner was long gone; and the
team's new owners offered Ruben Jr.
a job as assistant general manager.
Now, like Obama, he has the top spot
in his chosen field. ❑