Arts & Entertainment

About

MLK Day

With the upcoming inauguration of our
first African-American president just
days away, a nice way to educate younger
children about its historical importance
— and the Jewish contribution to the
civil rights movement — is through a
new picture book for ages 6-10: As Good
As Anybody: Martin Luther King Jr. and
Abraham Joshua Heschel's Amazing March
Toward Freedom (Knopf Books for Young
Readers; $16.99) by author Richard
Michelson and illustrator Raul Colon.
Both King, a Baptist preacher born in
the seg-
regated
American
South, and
Heschel,
a rabbi
born in
a Europe
that did
not wel-
come Jews,
were raised
411
as young
children
"to believe
they were

Dolly and Mame. He
as good as anybody"
followed those with the
and carried forward
rarely performed Dear
a message of justice
World, which did not
and equality for all;
garner the same suc-
through their com-
cess; what was a small,
mon work, they
Gail Zimmerman
intimate musical at
developed a close
Arts Editor
heart had been staged
and dear friendship.
as a rather overblown
The book explores
musical.
their individual stories and their coming
Village Players of Birmingham will cor-
together to march for justice and social
rect that mistake Jan. 23-Feb. 8, says Oak
change.
Park's Jay Kaplan, who will direct (and
Also for the younger set, the University
take a role) in a production of the show
of Michigan's 23rd Annual MLK
"that is both a fantasy and an allegory"
Symposium hosts the "MLK Children &
and tells "the story of an eccentric elderly
Youth Program" 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday,
woman who has lived her life in a very
Jan. 19, on the first and second floors of
`specialized' cocoon and yet summons the
the Modern Languages Building, 812 E.
energy and resolve to save the world from
Washington, in Ann Arbor, during which
evil politicians and greedy businessmen"
parents can drop off kids ages 5-18 for
(what could be more timely?).
a day of stories, games, musical perfor-
"Our production is a small chamber-
mances and activities centered on Martin
sized musical — a cast of 11 and a script
Luther King. Meals and snacks provided.
that emphasizes the colorful individual
Free, but pre-registration is requested at
characters in the show and the message
umich.edu/—tauep/MLKDay.html. (734)
about beating a drum and having an
764-0567.
important stake in the world;' says Kaplan,
48,
by day an attorney for the LGBT Project
Double Dose Of Herman
of the ACLU in Michigan. "The musical
score," he adds, "is unlike anything Jerry
Composer-lyricist Jerry Herman made his
Herman ever wrote — passionate, roman
name on Broadway with mega-hits Hello

tic, funny, French and very character driven.
It's a beautiful score, and I'm happy it will
be rediscovered by audiences:'
Show times are 8 p.m. Fridays and
Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays at Village
Players Playhouse, 34660 Woodward, in
Birmingham. $17. (248) 644-2075 or www.
birminghamvillageplayers.com.
Herman fans have another opportunity
to catch what is a better-known musical of
his, the Tony Award-winning La Cage aux
Folles (with book by Harvey Fierstein),
about George and Albin, a gay couple
together for 20 years who run a drag
nightclub and masquerade as husband
and wife when George's son's ultra-conser-
vative soon-to-be in-laws pay a visit (the
Robin Williams-Nathan Lane hit comedy
The Birdcage is based on the musical).
Stagecrafters presents La Cage aux
Folles Jan. 16-Feb. 8, with show times 8
p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 2 p.m.
Sundays, at the Baldwin Theater, 415 S.
Lafayette, in Royal Oak. $14-$18. (248)
541-6430 or www.stagecrafters.org .

Restoration At The DFT

Bowing to economic challenges, the
Detroit Film Theater at the Detroit
Institute of Arts presents a more limited

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.

Vi ews

big TV hit The
sacks manage to perk each
search of one cousin who
Waltons will
other
up
and
just
click.
survived
the
Holocaust.
The
lam
be in stores on
Hoffman told PBS's Charlie
series is on the NBC sched-
Special to the Jewish News
DVD this month.
Rose that he and Thompson
ule, but a start date has not
The three-disc
noticed they had real chemistry
yet been announced.
The Big Screen
set includes a
when they had a few scenes
Dustin Hoffman, 71, and
Hotel for Dogs, opening Friday,
ft, ,ki few strong epi-
together in a film a couple of
Emma Thompson co-star in
Jan.16, is a family movie that
Ch merkovskiy & Smirnoff
sodes, includ-
years ago. So, they jumped
the romantic comedy Last
41) stars Emma Roberts and Jake
Lisa K udrow
ing one titled
at the chance to co-star in a
Chance Harvey. Hoffman
T. Austin as a pair of orphaned
"The
Unthinkable,"
in
which a Jewish
movie
together.
plays
a
jingle
writer
who
defies
his
teenagers
who
are
forbidden
to
take
(1111)
recruit joins Jason Walton's Army
in a stray dog by their foster parents,
boss (Richard Schiff of The West
platoon. He tells Jason he has just
The Small Screen
Wing) and goes to London for the
played by Lisa Kudrow and Kevin
received some news: The Nazis
Two of the professional dancers on
wedding of his daughter instead of
Dillon (Entourage). The kids then find
have killed his grandfather in the
the ABC mega-hit Dancing with the
finishing an assignment. Hoffman
an abandoned hotel and turn it into a
Warsaw Ghetto. The Waltons contact
Stars have announced their engage-
is deVastated when his daughter
marvelous paradise for "orphan" dogs.
their senator, who
ment after dating for six months.
(played by Canadian Jewish actress
Kudrow, 45, who played Phoebe on
assures the fam-
Karina Smirnoff, 30, and
Lilane Balaban) chooses to
Friends, recently spoke to Parade
ily that reports of
Maksim Chmerkovskiy, 28,
have her stepfather walk
magazine about her upcoming NBC
Nazi atrocities are
both are natives of Ukraine
her down the aisle. He then
documentary series, Who Do You
exaggerated. By the
and the children of Jewish
misses his plane back to
Think You Are? The series will trace
way, Jewish actor
fathers and non-Jewish moth-
America and is fired. Stuck
the ancestral roots of six celebrities,
Eric Scott, now 50,
ers. Maksim once said his
at the airport bar, he meets
including Kudrow's. It is based on a
played Ben Walton,
family was "more Jewish"
Thompson, a prickly woman
hit British series of the same name.
the youngest Walton
than Ukrainian.
with a dead-end job. But
Kudrow is co-producing the series
Eric Scott as
son.
The eighth season of the
somehow these two sad
and said she traveled to Belarus in
Ben Walton
Lilane B alaban

Nate Bloom

!

GO

C6 January 15 • 2009

JN

