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Arts

ertainment

Everything's Coming
Up Ethel Merman

Actress channels famous singer in her one-
woman musical show at the Gem Theatre.

Suzanne Chessler

Special to the Jewish News

R

ita McKenzie thinks of herself as
"a good time."
That's especially so when she's
portraying musical theater legend Ethel
Merman.
McKenzie, who has traveled that role
for 20 years and has sung the Merman
hits with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra,
is coming to Motown in a one-woman
theatrical production, Ethel Merman's
Broadway, running Sept. 9-Nov. 21 at the
Gem Theatre in Detroit.
"It's a story with 23 great pieces of
music," says McKenzie, whose musical
director, David Snyder, selects seven local
musicians for the run.
"The most important element is that
it's a lot of fun, and I think people need
fun in their lives, especially now. When
people went to an Ethel Merman show,
they forgot their problems. During World
War II, people who saw her had their lives
enriched."
The show, conceived and directed by

Christopher Powich, is based on the idea
that a movie is going to be done about
Merman's life, and Merman decides that
she's going to tell the story the way she
wants it told.
As McKenzie tells about Merman's
experiences, supposedly from Merman's
point of view, she sings the hits of Irving
Berlin, Cole Porter, Jule Styne and Jerry
Herman."There's No Business Like Show
Business,""I Got Rhythm" and "I Get a
Kick Out of You" are among the selections.
"There are some similarities between
Ethel and me that I call to mind as I
look like Merman and feel like Merman,"
says McKenzie, who relates to the late
star's being a devoted daughter and
mother.
"One difference is that she faded people
fast, and that's not me. If somebody did
something to her, that person was gone.
I'm not that way."
McKenzie, sensitive to her own voice
recalling Merman's long before the show
ever was devised, reveals aspects of the
legend's personal life, which brings up
another similarity. Although both women

did not have
Jewish heritage,
Merman had
two Jewish
husbands and
McKenzie has a
long-term rela-
tionship with
Scott Stander,
Rita McKenzie as Ethel Merman (above) and sans the stage make-
a Jewish
up (opposite page)
Hollywood
agent.
"I'm an Italian Catholic girl, but I love
singing group when I was 12 and co-
the Jewish culture,' McKenzie says. "When wrote the songs. I thought I would be a
I met Scott's family, I felt at home. Scott
pop singer and chose a high school where
is Reform, and I have to figure out how to
they did two big productions a year."
observe holidays:'
McKenzie set aside her show-business
McKenzie, who met Stander during
dreams as she married and started a fam-
a Merman production at the American
ily but went on to get a master's degree
Jewish Theatre, began working in enter-
in fine arts from Connecticut College and
tainment after being employed as a
participate in community theater.
fourth-grade teacher and raising her two
After getting the part of Mama Rose in
children.
a University of Connecticut production of
"My mom thought a young lady needed
Gypsy, a Merman hit, McKenzie continued
to learn how to dance, sing and do gym-
studying theater in New York and started
nastics, so I had classes in all of that:'
working on the Merman show in 1986.
McKenzie recalls. "I put together a girls
Other stage credits include the female

Jews

4 Pkt
,11 Nate Bloom

OMR

Special to the Jewish News

j2 Breakthrough Role

Opening Friday, Aug. 28, is Spread.
al) It stars Ashton Kutcher as Nikki, a

was

ei

du

44

fun-loving, sexy guy who charms rich
women and casually accepts their
generosity. His latest conquest is
Samantha (Anne Heche), a wealthy
attorney who invites Nikki to stay in
her fabulous home.
Then Nikki meets
Heather, a gorgeous
waitress. Saman-
tha is out of town,
so Nikki invites
Heather over and
she gets the idea
Margarita
that Nikki is rich.
Levieva
What Nikki doesn't
know is that
Heather makes a nice side income
from being nice to rich men.
Playing Heather is Russian-born

August 27 2009

actress Margarita Levieva, 29. When
she was 11, she moved to Brooklyn
with her mother and twin brother.
She got into acting after finishing
college. Earlier this year, she had a
big supporting role in the indie hit
Adventureland. Spread may be a
career breakthrough role for her.

Face Of
Vengeance

Quentin Tarantino's
World War II action
film, Inglourious
Basterds, now in
theaters, co-stars
French actress
Melanie
Melanie Laurent,
Laurent
26, in the role of
Shosanna Dreyfus, a French Jewish
girl who hatches a clever plan to
attack the Nazis. Not long after the
movie opened, Laurent talked about
her own Jewish background.
She says: "When I read the script, I

was like, wow, it's been my dream to
kill Hitler since I was like 4 so I was
kind of like Shosanna already ... I'm
Jewish. I read the script together with
my grandfather and he told me, 'You
have to make that movie, please.'
"So it was not just for me, it was
for my family. And then [Tarantino]
picked me. I'm the face of the Jewish
vengeance. I'm sure my grandfather
will love the movie."

Call Her Esther

Rochester Hills-raised musical diva and
celebrity Kabbalah devotee Madonna
(she has adopted the Hebrew name of
Esther) has written a front-page arti-
cle about her spiritual journey for the
Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot. In
the story, Madonna writes about meet-
ing Jewish mystic Eitan Yardeni when
she was pregnant with her daughter,
Lourdes, 14 years ago.
"I suddenly realized that I spent my
entire life worrying only about myself

and soon I'll be responsible for the
life of another person," she writes.
"I started seeing that being rich and
famous is not the end of the road, but
only the beginning."
As reported by the Jewish Week
and jinsidercom, Madonna, who is
not Jewish, honors aspects of Jewish
practice, including
Shabbat (she forgoes
performances on the
Sabbath), holidays
(she has observed
important holidays
in Israel, tikkun olam
(she promotes mitz-
Madonna
vot through her chil-
dren's book series),
tzedakah (she contributes millions
to charities) and attention to Jewish
heritage (she has visited Rachel's
Tomb and the Western Wall.)
Madonna will wind up her "Sweet
and Sticky" world tour Sept. 1 in Tel
Aviv. 7