Arts & Entertainment Some Enchanted Evening Two of Broadway's greatest stars bring their critically acclaimed theater concert to the Fisher. Bill Carroll Special to the Jewish News S finger-actor Mandy Patinkin and Broadway diva Patti LuPone really know how to light up a stage. And they'll do it for seven perfor- mances April 14-19 when An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin comes to Detroit's Fisher Theatre. Patinkin, 56 and a Conservative Jew, and LuPone, 59 and of Italian-Sicilian heritage, have enjoyed very successful careers that traverse television, film, concerts and, of course, Broadway. They went their separate ways in 1983 after almost four years starring together in the original Broadway production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita, which produced career-making Tony wins for LuPone (as lead actress in the title role) and Patinkin (in the supporting role of Che). They came together once again in con- cert in 2002, when a coy promoter con- cocted a scheme to reunite them on stage, according to Staci Levine, Evening's execu- tive producer, who also has been Patinkin's manager since 1997. "The promoter had neither of them on board, but told each that the other already had agreed," she said. "That cinched the deal, starting with concerts in Texas and Philadelphia. "Of course, Mandy and Patti really had wanted to work together for a long time. But Mandy refused to do the concerts unless he could create an actual show, not just have each sing separately on stage while the other is in the wings:' The two of them are on stage together for 95 percent of Evening, through some of the greatest material ever written for the theater, both sung and spoken, as they tell the story of two people, from Mandy Patinkin their first encounter onward. The production coming to the Fisher is basically unchanged from last year's a dramatic context. The show also features tour of several cities, including Palm choreography by Tony Award winner Ann Desert, Calif., where this writer saw it at Reinking. Paul Ford, Patinkin's longtime the McCallum Theatre for the Performing pianist, is musical director. Arts. The show is a delightful two-hour- Richard Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim 10-minute musical chunk of Broadway are the show's principal composers. theater at its best. Lupone delivers a rapid-fire delivery of LuPone's strong Broadway voice and Company's "Getting Married Today" after Patinkin's distinctively sweet tenor con- Patinkin "proposes" with South Pacific's coct a perfect match. No melody is sung "Some Enchanted Evening." One of the for its own sake; everything seems to have highlights is a medley from Andrew Lloyd Twist Yeshivah vet aims to make King David must-see TV. Tom Tugend Jewish Telegraphic Agency Los Angeles M ichael Green was walking down a street in Jerusalem in late 2006 when the concept of the new television series Kings came into focus. "The idea had been roiling my brain for a while," he said. Green sat down to write the pilot for Kings while working as writer and co- executive producer for Heroes. Kings, which launched Sunday, March 15, on NBC with a two-hour premiere, transports the biblical drama of young David, Goliath, King Saul and the prophet Samuel and transports it to a contempo- rary city that looks a lot like a gleaming New York after a thorough scrubbing. Don't look for a 21st-century swords- and-sandals epic. The political intrigue and corporate power plays have a distinct- ly Washingtonian ring, and part of the fun is looking for parallels to the last year of President George W. Bush's administra- tion, the Cold War, Vietnam, Iraq, Middle East conflicts and even the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Green, 36, who attended a yeshivah in New York and whose mother is Israeli, is a B14 April 9 • 2009 bit coy about drawing direct biblical-con- temporary comparisons. "It's not for me to say what the parallels are he said. "That's up to each viewer:' However, the Jewish or Christian viewer who stayed awake in religious school should have no trouble identifying the TV protagonists with their biblical counter- parts. We meet King Silas Benjamin (King Saul of the tribe of Benjamin, first king of Israel), David Shepherd (David, the shepherd), the king's son Jack (Jonathan), the king's daughter Michelle (Michal) and the Rev. Ephraim Samuels (the Prophet Samuel). Actors in the two key roles are Ian McShane (Heroes) as the king and Australian actor Chris Egan as David. In the premiere episode, we found the king, in an expensive power suit, ruling over the prosperous Kingdom of Gilboa and ensconced with his queen in a mansion in the capital of Shiloh. He is also at war with neighboring Gath and when his son is kidnapped during a military skirmish, it is David, a fellow soldier, who frees Jack and earns the gratitude of the king. To free the hostage, David has to do bat- tle with Goliath — who appears in tank form. At home, David becomes an instant media favorite. Peace is made but soon broken, followed by new negotiations with prickly Gath officers, who look sus- piciously like Russian generals, with square faces and jackets full of medals. On a Christopher Egan as David Shepherd in NBC's Kings softer touch, David and Michelle (the beautiful Allison Miller) begin to fall in love. came to the United States after finishing Green, as creator and executive pro- her army service, met Green's father and ducer of Kings, makes it even tougher to "has visited ever since," Green said, add- define the precise genre of the series by ing, "Most of my extended family lives in introducing touches of sci-fi and fantasy. Israel." For instance, the emblem of Gilboa is the He is optimistic that Kings will be seen orange monarch butterfly; and when a eventually on Israeli and British television, successor to the king is anointed, a swarm which usually happens after the second or of butterflies form a crown around the third season of a series in the United States. chosen one's head. Green reinforced his boyhood yeshivah The show's crew shot a season's worth studies with a double major in human of 14 episodes — the premiere contained biology and religious studies at Stanford two — in and around New York, studios in University. After college, his interest Brooklyn's Greenpoint and in a mansion turned to story writing rather than reli- on Long Island. With a large cast, opulent gion or biology. palace scenes and shooting in New York, "I once created the character of a doctor it's an expensive production. in one of my shows:' he said, "but never Green wouldn't provide an exact budget became one myself — to the disappoint- figure, but he put the cost of an average ment of my parents." primetime TV episode between $2 million and $4.5 million, with Kings definitely on the high end. Kings airs 8 p.m. Sundays on NBC. Green, a native New Yorker, has close To view previous episodes, go to ties to Israel. His Tel Aviv-born mother www.nbc.com/kings.