Arts & hntertainment Poking Fun The show features JET's next production, The Big Bang, is a humorous musical take on show business and the history of the world. Suzanne Chessler The idea for the musical came up dur- ing a conversation the two creators had in the 1990s. It started out with regrets about he theater in the lower level of the the lackluster reaction to their previous Jewish Community Center in West play, Eating Raoul. Feuer suggested they Bloomfield will seem a bit more move on by working on a piece they could intimate during the month-long run of perform, and Graham devised the audi- The Big Bang. tion scenario. Audience members should feel as if they For this production, director Mary entered the threshold of a luxurious New Bremer is working with actors Greg York apartment while watching a parody Trzaskoma and Brian Thibault. Paul of a backers' audition with two performers Abbott will be at the piano in a set trying to sell a musical. designed by Monika Essen. The comedy, presented Dec. 8-Jan. 3, "I grew up in a musical family, but the originally starred composer Jed Feuer show doesn't have anything to do directly along with book and lyrics writer Boyd with my experiences," says Feuer, whose Graham. Their many vignettes, coming father, Cy Feuer, was a Broadway and together as a staged history of the world, Hollywood producer, director and writer. include humorous takes on Adam and Eve, "It does [have to do with] something Columbus and Tokyo Rose. that happens. There are lavish apartments There's even a segment portraying the where producers will bring investors and mother of Jesus as a stereotypical Jewish have the composers sing or actors per- mother. form. I've been to some backers' auditions "Because the show encompasses the at venues of one sort or another." whole history of the world, it allowed us to Feuer, who grew up around show busi- write songs in every conceivable style with ness icons friendly with his father, never operatic, Latin and Broadway included," thought of doing anything but being in the says Feuer, 61, whose current performance entertainment industry. interests place him on trumpet with his "My father's father, Herman Feuer, was a jazz quintet, Bipolar. manager of a Yiddish theater in New York "There are about 15 different styles of at the turn of the century," Feuer says. "My music represented. I was allowed to run father grew up playing the trumpet, went hog wild, and it took us two or three years to Juilliard and produced a lot of the really to get it up to speed. Although Boyd was great Broadway shows — Guys and Dolls, primarily focused on the words and I was Where's Charley? and Silk Stockings. primarily focused on the music, we influ- "In that environment, I was a very enced each other on a daily basis" musical kid. I played the trumpet a lot. Special to the Jewish News T 41111° I Nate Bloom ems Special to the Jewish News 1 1:2 New Flicks eh Now in theaters for W lama W 72 the Thanksgiving weekend are Fantastic Mr. Fox and Old Dogs. The former is a stop-action animated Jason film directed by Schwartzman Wes Anderson and co-written by Anderson and Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale), 40. George Clooney and Meryl Streep star as the voices of a married pair of November 26 = 2009 foxes (yes, the animals), who are called Mr. and Mrs. Fox. Jason Schwartzman, 29, voices their son, Ash Fox. Old Dogs, a comedy, stars John Travolta (Charlie) and Robin Williams (Dan) as best friends and co-workers. Dan's ex-wife shows up one day and reveals that she and Dan have six- year-old twins: a boy and a girl. Dan is forced to take care of the kids and enlists Charlie's help. He also is aided by another co-worker, who is played by Seth Green, 35. Tube Notes The magazine The Week recently pub- lished a list of the "top 10 most con- troversial moments" in the 40-year- 18 musical numbers in every conceivable style. That led to piano, and that led to music composition. For a time, I got very involved doing sculpture, but I went back to music in my 20s." Feuer, a dropout before completing high school, started his first band when he was 12. While that effort focused on Dixieland, his later interests turned to jazz with some numbers drawing from pieces that pre- cede the 20th century. Euphrates, Me Jane is Bipolar's new CD. "My father and I got along very well, and his influence on me was more uncon- scious than verbal," Feuer says. "I would watch him work with all the composers and writers. He wrote the music for about 150 movies, and I also wound up doing some of that. Feuer, who helped score the film Someone Like You, also has composed many independent pieces, such as Rhapsodic Incident, 4 A.M. and A Brief Life. "I hope to enjoy what I'm working on so much that I'm eager to get to the piano," he says. "If I'm having problems, I'm less than eager and I procrastinate. I don't have a routine. If I'm excited, I get to it any hour of the day or night." Feuer, who thinks of his Judaism in cul- tural terms, has worked on projects with Jewish themes. He wrote The Scoundral "D" as an operatic drama for stage depict- ing the Dreyfus Affair. He served as a musical consultant for the PBS documen- tary The Power of Conscience: The Danish Resistance and the Rescue of the Jews. history of Sesame Street. Making the list was the "Death of Mr. Hooper," a gruff grocer with a warm heart (and an original character on the show). Brooklyn-raised actor Will Lee played Hooper, one of the many Jewish roles he played during his long career. Lee died in December 1982, at age 74. Some months later, Sesame Street aired a special episode that sensitively dealt with the issue of death in a way most, if not all, parents found appropriate for young children. Super Dave Osborne, the dare- devil/comedic character created and played by Bob Einstein, 67, the older brother of comedian Albert Brooks, returned to TV this month on cable "I'm very involved with animal issues and welfare," he says. "I write music for the Humane Society of the United States." While Feuer is deciding whether to attend a local performance of The Big Bang, he looks back on his many years-ago visits to see friends attending the University of Michigan. Albert Ahronheim, who was a drum major while attending the univer- sity, is an arranger-conductor-pianist who works with Feuer on every project. Feuer, in a long-term relationship with editor Jennifer Josephy, relaxes by playing tennis. "There's a long-held tradition that we tried to re-create in The Big Bang," he says. "The idea is that wealthy people come to these backers' auditions with their check- books at the ready" I 1 The Big Bang runs Dec. 8-Jan. 3 in the Aaron DeRoy Theatre in the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield. Performances: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 8; Wednesdays, Dec. 9,16 and 23; and Thursdays, Dec. 10,17 and 24. Saturday shows are at 5 and 8:30 p.m. Dec.12,19 and 26 and Jan. 2. Matinees begin at 2 p.m. Sundays, Dec.13, 20 and 27 and Jan. 3, and Wednesday, Dec. 23. New Year's Eve performances are at 6 and 9 p.m. with special celebrations. $15-$36; $50 and $75 New Year's Eve. (248) 788-2900; jettheatre.org . channel Spike TV, which is running a series of four Super Dave specials on successive Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. The last two episodes pre- miere on Dec.1 and Bob Einstein Dec. 8. (Check the network's Web site for encore showings of all four shows.) Among other stunts, Super Dave goes to a NASCAR track and races a Mini- Cooper. Einstein also has a recurring role as Larry David's friend "Marty Funkhouser" on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm.