arts & entertainment

Pop/Jazz Princess

Canadian singer-songwriter makes area debut.

Marvin Glassman
Special to the Jewish News

C

anadian Jewish pop/jazz singer
Nikki Yanofsky, famous for sing-
ing "I Believe" before millions of
viewers to open the 2010 Winter Olympics
in Vancouver, will make her Detroit-area
debut May 18, opening for Il Divo at the
Colosseum at Caesars Windsor as part of a
four-month North American tour.
Yanofsky, now 17, has received praise
from other musicians and critics for her
four-octave range and vocal style, which
has been compared to a cross between Ella
Fitzgerald and Judy Garland.
Although the classical and opera reper-
toire of Il Divo is different from Yanofsky's
preference for jazz and popular music,
Yanofsky hopes her fans will come to the
Windsor concert.
"It's a wonderful opportunity to open for
Il Divo, and there will be an opportunity for
fans to enjoy the best of what we both do','
said Yanofsky in a phone conversation from
her hometown of Montreal.
Yanofsky will perform many songs at
the Windsor concert in tribute to Ella
Fitzgerald, taken from the young vocalist's

Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News

*MI

ISM

bestselling 2008 live recording, Ella . . . of
Thee I Swing. That CD, like 2010's studio-
produced Nikki, propelled the young singer-
songwriter to Juno Award nominations (the
Canadian equivalent of the Grammy).
Young Nikki knew she wanted to be a
professional singer at age 11, ever since she
sang with her father Richard's jazz band in
Montreal for a Jewish hospital fundraiser.
"There is nothing better I could think of
doing in my life than singing and immers-
ing myself into my songs',' she said.
Yanofsky's dream began to take shape at
age 13, when she headlined the Montreal
International Jazz Festival. She made her
American television debut starring in the
PBS special Nikki: Live In Montreal in 2010.
Her second studio CD will be released later
this year.
Along the way, Yanofsky has been men-
tored by many other artists, including
Marvin Hamlisch, who featured her at age
14 at a Carnegie Hall performance in New
York.
Along with her performances at the
Winter Olympics, another memorable
night for Yanofsky took place when she
performed "On A Clear Day" and "Lazy
Afternoon" in honor of her idol Barbra

New Flicks

‘112 Four films with a Jewish connection

(11) open in the Detroit area on Friday, May
18.
(10 First Position is a documentary
about the Youth America Grand Prix.
Thousands of aspiring ballet dancers,
ages 8-19, perform in this competi-
tion, but only a handful of the very
best win prized scholarships and
contracts. Jewish filmmaker Bess
Kargman focuses on
six dance competi-
tors from very diverse
backgrounds. One
of them is Michela,
who was adopted
from an orphanage
in the African nation
Bess Kargman of Sierra Leone by an
elderly Jewish couple.
A very different documentary,
Mansome, by filmmaker Morgan
Spurlock (Super Size Me), is, in the
words of the film's publicity release,
"a hilarious look at men's identity in
the 21st century." Famous people and
not-famous people weigh in with their
definition of masculinity, with special
attention to men's grooming habits. The
always very witty actor Paul Rudd, 43,
is among those giving their views.

40

May 17 • 2012

Darling Companion, directed by U-M
grad Lawrence Kasdan, 63, and co-
written by Kasdan and his wife, Detroit
native Meg Goldman Kasdan, stars
Diane Keaton as Beth, a woman who
suffers from empty-nest syndrome
when her youngest daughter (Mad
Men's Elisabeth Moss) is on the cusp
of leaving home. Her husband, Joseph
(Kevin Kline), is a busy physician who
isn't super-sensitive to Beth's needs.
Beth finds a stray dog, and for a time
that makes her happy. But the dog
goes missing, and Beth blames Joseph.
Finally, they enlist a
gypsy psychic (Israeli
actress Ayelet Zurer,
42) to help find the
dog. The strong cast
includes Richard
Jenkins and Diane
Wiest in supporting
roles.
Ayelet Zurer

What to Expect
When You're Expecting is a romantic

comedy about five couples with inter-
twined lives; all of them are facing the
challenges of impending parenthood.
Fourteen actors and actresses are
given co-star billing, including Jennifer
Lopez, Chris Rock and Dennis Quaid.
The only Jewish thespian in the bunch
is Elizabeth Banks, 38. The title, of
course, is familiar: First published in
1984, the pregnancy guide (and its

Streisand at the 2011 Grammy
Awards.
"To perform for Barbra Streisand,
well that is a dream come true,' said
Yanofsky. "My mother and I saw all
her films, from Funny Girl to Yentl,
and to share the stage in her honor
with Herbie Hancock, Barry Manilow
and Stevie Wonder was a special
moment for me. There is no singer
alive than can be as perfect as Barbra
Streisand:'
Yanofsky comes close to perfection Nikki Yanofsky: Tony Bennett called her "the
best singer to come along since Judy Garland."
herself. Tony Bennett called her "the
best singer to come along since Judy
Garland" after seeing her in concert.
She has helped raise money for the Israel
Yanofsky's star power has blossomed
Cancer Research Fund and the Montreal
beyond Canada and the U.S. She has per-
Children's Hospital, among other not-for-
formed in Europe and Asia, with the Red
profit organizations. ❑
Sea Jazz Festival in Eilat, Israel, in 2010
remaining a highlight.
"Performing in Israel was so moving','
Nikki Yanofsky opens for II Divo
said Yanofsky. "How can anyone — Jewish
at 9 p.m. Friday, May 18, at the
or not Jewish — not feel connected to the
Colosseum at Caesars Windsor, 377
people there? I enjoyed not only performing
Riverside Drive East, in Windsor,
there but also seeing all the landmarks in
Canada. For ticket information,
Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. I definitely want to
call 800-991-7777 or go to www.
come back to Israel as often as possible'
caesarswindsor.com .
Yanofsky has a heart as big as her voice.

updated editions) of the same name
consistently tops the New York Times
paperback best-seller list and has sold
more than 15 million copies. The guide's
co-authors, Heidi Murkoff and Sharon
Mazel are executive producers of the
film, as is Erik Murkoff, Heidi's husband
since 1982 and the father of their two
children. The reality-show star Whitney
Port (The Hills), 27, a fashion designer
and author, has a cameo in the flick as
herself.

a corrupt town councilman.
Rubinek was born in 1947 in a refu-
gee camp in Allied-occupied Germany.
He grew up in Toronto. His parents
survived the Holocaust because a fam-
ily of Polish Catholic farmers hid them
for more two years. Rubinek's 1987
book, So Many Miracles, and the PBS/
CBC documentary of the same name,
chronicled his parents' reunion with
their saviors.

Jesse/Hasty Return

"I'm pretty Jewish.... When I'm in
New York, I become super-Jew. When
I'm in LA, I'm like a
California surfer girl."
So said actress
Mila Kunis, 27, in an
interview she gave, a
decade ago, to JVibe,
a now-defunct Jewish
young people's maga-
Mila Kunis
zine.
This quote and other
parts from the JVibe interview (includ-
ing Kunis talking about anti-Semitism in
the Ukraine, where she was born) were
published in the Brit tabloid the Sun last
week. The Sun didn't credit JVibe and
made the Kunis quotes look brand-new.
The Sun's article was a sidebar to a
recent poll of Sun readers in which they
voted Kunis "the hottest woman in the
world." ❑

The Robert B. Parker mystery novels
featuring Police Chief Jesse Stone (Tom
Selleck) have been turned into eight
CBS television movies since 2006. The
newest one, Jesse Stone: Benefit of the
Doubt, airs 9 p.m. Sunday, May 20, on
CBS.
In this one, Stone finds himself strug-
gling to get his police chief job back.
He's also attempting to work through
a thicket of clues to solve a shocking
mob-related double homicide.
Veteran actor Saul
Rubinek returns as
Hastings (Hasty)
Hathaway, a charac-
ter he has played in
five Stone movies.
Hathaway is Stone's
unlikely friend: a car
dealer who once was
Saul Rubinek

A Non - Interview