Arts & Entertainmen
About
Choreographer King
The son of an immigrant deli owner,
director-choreographer Jerome Robbins
— born Jerome Rabinowitz — first
forged a career in ballet before trans-
forming Broadway with shows like West
Side Story, Gypsy and Fiddler on the Roof
Known for his often-ruthless perfection-
ism and dogged by his decision, in 1953,
to name names in his House Committee
on Un-American Activities testimony, he
nevertheless was universally admired for
his unparalleled artistry and impact on
American culture.
A portrait of Robbins emerges in Jerome
Robbins: Something
to Dance About,
a new American
Masters documen-
tary on PBS airing 9
p.m. Wednesday, Feb.
18, on Detroit Public
Television-Channel
56. The two-hour
film, produced and
directed by Judy Kinberg and written
by Robbins biographer Amanda Vaill,
features excerpts from Robbins' work,
never-before-seen rehearsal footage and
interviews with some 40 of his colleagues
from ballet and Broadway, including
Mikhail Baryshnikov, Suzanne Farrell,
Arthur Laurents, Chita Rivera, Jerry Bock
and Stephen Sondheim.
Classical Mystery Tour
Jerome Robbins
You never had the chance to see the
Beatles live in concert? Celebrate
Valentine's Day weekend with the
next best thing with a little help from
our friends at the Detroit Symphony
Orchestra.
Tribute concerts
to the Beatles, titled
"All You Need Is Love:'
come to Orchestra Hall
10:45 a.m. and 8 p.m.
Thursday, 8:30 p.m.
Friday and Saturday
and 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb.
12-15, at Orchestra Hall
in the Max M. Fisher Music Center.
The DTE Energy Foundation Pops
concerts feature the Beatles' hit songs
performed with the full sound of the
DSO and Beatle doppelgangers Jim
Owen (John Lennon), Tony Kishman
(Paul McCartney), Tom Teeley (George
Harrison) and Carmine Grippo (Ringo
Starr), three of whom have appeared in
various productions of Beatlemania.
Led by conductor-composer-arranger
Martin Herman, who provided the orches-
tral transcriptions exactly as they were
written for the album cuts, the program
offers songs never performed live in
concert by the Beatles, many of which
featured both small and large classical
ensembles.
Tickets are $19-$105. (313) 576-5111 or
www.detroitsymphony.com .
Author Sesquicentennial
Feb. 18, 2009, marks the 150th anniversary
of the birth of the great Yiddish humor-
ist Sholem Aleichem, who died in New
York in 1916 (10,000 people attended his
funeral).
To mark the occasion, two new editions
of some of his most renowned works have
been newly published: the first complete
English translation of Wandering Stars
(Viking; $29.95), a novel of thwarted love
spanning 10 years and two continents and
set in the colorful world of Yiddish theater;
and new translations of two of Aleichem's
most famous books, Tevye the Dairyman
and Motl the Cantor's Son (Penguin
Classics Original; $16).
Tevye, of course, inspired the lead
character in the beloved musical Fiddler
on the Roof which comes to the Detroit
Opera House March 3-8, starring the film
version's Tevye, Israeli actor Topol.
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.
Docs On Stage
Loren Levy, and two teen-age chil-
dren join him.
"My musical activities also pro-
vide a good way for me to stay tied
to the community,' Mandell says. "I
get to meet people from different
backgrounds as we share a craft!'
introduce its folk music
London, whose guitar-only trio
style and some parody
includes orthopedic surgeon Dr.
numbers Saturday eve-
Tom Ditkoff and graphic designer
ning, Feb. 21, at the Art
Mike Mullen, also grew up in a
House in Northville.
music-focused family. His mother
Andrew Markowitz, a
played piano.
West Bloomfield obste-
"I took guitar lessons at the
trician-gynecologist, is
Jewish Community Center when
a singer-guitarist with
Almost Famous: back row, Dr.
Dr. Steve Mandell, kneeling,
I was 14 and performed at AZA-
the four-member Almost Andy Markowitz, Gary Bertoli,
with members of the Choral
BBG parties:' recalls London, 60,
Famous rock band.
Ted Farquar; front, Dave Wilk.
Connection
who rehearses frequently with his
His next show will be
trio though their bookings are
Saturday evening, Feb.
tions and had the lead in The Music Man.
limited. "I met my wife, Leslie, who also
After taking dance classes at Joe Cornell
28, at the Library Sports Pub and Grill in
plays guitar, at one of those parties.
Entertainment, he worked as an emcee
West Bloomfield.
"I continued playing through my
and DJ.
"Performing is a fun way for me to stay
Mandell's student years at the University years at Mumford High School and the
active physically, stimulate my brain away
University of Michigan, and I kept up with
from work and relieve stress:' says Mandell, of Michigan also found him participating
it through activities at Temple Israel and
a
cappella
in musical groups, including an
who believes everyone is well served when
private
get-togethers?'
choir and a lampoon troupe.
making time for recreational interests.
London,
60 and the father of three,
Affiliated
with
the
Ann
Arbor
Jewish
Mandell, 47, invited into the troupe
particularly
likes writing songs. "My Two
Cultural
Society,
the
pathologist
has
four years ago, has a strong musical back-
Little
Guys"
describes conflicts between
appeared
with
the
Choral
Connection
at
a
ground. While growing up in Southfield,
good and bad tendencies. His takeoff on
he joined in as family members played the private event at Adat Shalom Synagogue
"The Times They Are A-Changing" deals
in Farmington Hills. In another affilia-
piano and sang just for fun.
with challenges faced by baby boomers,
tion, the University of Michigan Ballroom
As a student at Southfield High School,
his peer group.
Dance Club, his wife, anesthesiologist
Mandell participated in theater produc-
Healers find making music is
a healthy way to stay healthy.
Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News
T
hree doctors, specializing in very
different medical fields, regularly
step on stage to spotlight their
personal ways of enhancing good health.
Each one, in his own style, moonlights as
an entertainer and soon can be seen in
public performances.
Dr. Steven Mandell, an Ann Arbor
pathologist, performs with the Choral
Connection, a group of 20 men and
women paying tribute to the pop music of
the 1960s and earlier by presenting songs,
dance routines and comic vignettes.
The group's next show — The Joint Is
Jumpin'! — comes to the Riverside Arts
Center in Ypsilanti Friday and Saturday
evenings, Feb. 20-21. The troupe will fea-
ture jazz numbers, a tribute to the stars
of small-screen television and musical
theater hits by George Gershwin, Richard
Rodgers and Irving Berlin among others.
Dr. Jeffrey London, a Troy child and
adolescent psychiatrist, sings and plays
guitar with the Pairadocs Trio, which will
B16
February 12 2009