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CLASSICAL NOTES

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra's
Beethoven Festival, running Feb. 6 24
at the Max M. Fisher Music Center, will
immerse Metro Detroit audiences in works
that span Beethoven's entire genre-altering
career. Events include performances of all
nine symphonies, conducted by DSO Music
Director Leonard Slatkin at Orchestra Hall;
a keyboard conversation with renowned
pianist Jeffrey Siegel (7 p.m. Wednesday,
Feb. 6, in the Music Box); a marathon
performance by 33 young artists of all 32
piano sonatas (all day Thursday, Feb. 7, in
the Music Box); and preconcert chamber
music and lectures. "Perhaps the greatest
mountains to be climbed by any conductor
and orchestra are the nine symphonies by
Ludwig van Beethoven:' said DSO Music
Director Leonard Slatkin. "Each work shows
the composer in a different light, ranging
from Mozartian elegance to Wagnerian
drama. It seemed the right time for all of
us at the DSO to immerse ourselves in this
remarkable world, and, in turn, bring our
audiences along for the journey" For a com-
plete schedule and ticket information, call
(313) 576-5111 or go to dso.org.

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POP / ROCK / JAZZ / FOLK

An institution of alternative rock celebrating
almost 30 years, Yo La Tengo's sound palette
includes both sweet melodies and electronic
experiments. The trio from Hoboken, N.J.,
composed of guitarist Ira Kaplan, his wife
and drummer Georgia Hubley and bassist
James McNew, have, since 2001, played all
eight nights of Chanukah at Maxwell's, a
small Hoboken restaurant/music venue,
donating all profits to charity. Hear them
perform, presented by the Ark, in support
of Fade, their first new album in four years,
at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8, at the Michigan

Jews

Nate Bloom

Special to the Jewish News

TV Notes

Starting on Wednesday, Feb. 6, at 9 p.m.
is the four-part BBC America miniseries
Spies of Warsaw, based on the novel of
the same name by acclaimed histori-
cal spy-fiction writer Alan Furst, 71.
The series follows Col. Jean-Francois
Mercier (played by David Tennant), a
World War I hero, who, in the years
leading up to World War II, is drawn
into a world of abduction, betrayal and
intrigue in the diplomatic salons and
back alleys of Warsaw.
Mercier's bohemian sister has a
Jewish jazz-pianist boyfriend, and
Mercier takes under his protection two
Soviet Jews who have defected from
working for the Soviets (one is played
by English actor Allan Corduner, 62).

64 January 31 • 2013

Theater in Ann Arbor.
$27-$45. (734) 764-1451;
ticketmaster.com.

ON THE STAGE

approximately three-hour-
long program (taking place
before the Oscars are awarded
on Feb. 24) includes shorts in
the animated and live-action
categories, with an intermis-
sion in-between. Fans of
the Fox series The Simpsons
will want to see David
Silverman's animated short

Magenta Giraffe Theatre
Gail Zimmerman
Company of Detroit
A its Editor
presents the world
premiere of local play-
wright Kirsten Knisely's Soul Mates, helmed Maggie Simpson in the Longest Daycare,
by Executive Artistic Director Frannie
in which Maggie attends the Ayn Rand
Shepherd Bates, Feb. 1-23, at the Abreact
Daycare Center, finds a caterpillar and faces
Performance Space, 1301 W. Lafayette,
off against her nemesis. At 7 p.m. Thursday,
No. 113, in Detroit. The play explores the
Feb. 21, the DFT screens Academy Award
concept of soul mates through a series
Documentary Shorts, including Sari
of vignettes. Show times: 8 p.m. Fridays-
Gilman's short doc, King's Point, the stories
Saturdays, with a 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 17,
of five seniors — men and women who
matinee. $15-$18 (cash or check only), with
came to Florida decades ago with their
pay-what-you-can tickets available to all per- spouses by their sides and their health intact
formances. (313) 408-7269; magentagiraffe.
— who now find themselves grappling with
org.
love, loss and the universal desire for human
connection. $6.50-$7.50. (313) 833-4005;
DANCE FEVER
tickets.dia.org.
The Detroit film premiere of Of Two
After experiencing a major rebirth as a
Minds, a film offering a look at individuals
multicultural dance institution with an
and families struggling to cope with mental
extraordinary legacy, Dance Theatre of
illness, will be screened at 2, 2:45 and 3:30
Harlem returns to the Detroit Opera House
p.m. Sunday, Feb. 10, at the Maple Theater in
7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m.
Bloomfield Township. Proceeds will benefit
Sunday, Feb. 1-3. The company's Detroit rep- Kadima's Miya Jo Must home, which provides
ertory will include works choreographed by
young women struggling with mental illness
Alvin Ailey, George Balanchine and Robert
a safe and secure home environment. $20.
Garland to music from Tchaikovsky, Aretha
(248) 559-8235, ext. 118; kadimacenter.org .
Franklin and James Brown, among others.
$25-$80. (313) 237-7464; michiganopera.
FAMILY FUN
org.
Detroit Symphony Orchestra Assistant
THE BIG SCREEN
Director Teddy Abrams conducts A Young
Person's Guide to the Orchestra, a con-
The Detroit Film Theatre at the Detroit
cert for ages 6 and up in which the DSO's
Institute of Arts presents the 2013 Academy
instruments come to life in a presentation
Award Nominated Short Films at 7 p.m.
of Benjamin Britten's composition showcas-
Fridays and Saturdays and 1 and 6 p.m.
ing the different families of instruments in
Sundays, Feb. 1-3, 8-10 and 15-17. The
an orchestra, at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 2, in

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The PBS series
Pioneers of Television
concludes its third
season on Tuesday,
Feb. 5, at 8 p.m.
with an episode
about groundbreak-
ing TV miniseries.
Corduner
Interviewees include
Ed Asner, 83, who
played a morally conflicted slave ship
captain in the 1977 blockbuster Roots,
and Peter Strauss, 65, who co-starred
in the enormously popular Rich Man,
Poor Man series (and its sequel), which
also aired in the 1970s. Strauss also
co-starred as the Jewish commander
of the Masada fortress who battled the
Romans in the 1981 miniseries Masada.

Film Openings

Opening on Friday, Feb.1, is Stand-Up

Guys, a comedy/drama
directed by Fisher
Stevens, 49. Al Pacino

plays Val, a "stand-up
guy" who spent 28
years in prison without
ratting out his crime
partners, including his
Stevens
crime boss (played
by Mark Margolis,
73). The boss isn't grateful, however,
because Val accidentally shot and killed
the boss' son during the same caper
that landed Val in jail. He plans to have
Val killed soon after his release.
Val is met at the prison gate by his
buddy Doc (Christopher Walken), and
they begin carousing. Too much Viagra
lands Val in the hospital. His nurse
(Julianna Margulies, 46) turns out to
be the daughter of Doc and Val's old
getaway driver, Hirsch (Alan Arkin, 78).

Orchestra Hall. $20-$40. (313) 576-5111;
dso.org.

THE ART SCENE

Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit pres-
ents When Attitudes Became Form Become
Attitudes, a sequel to, and a re-evaluation
of, the legendary 1969 Post-Minimalism
exhibition Live In Your Head: When Attitudes
Become Form, curated by Harald Szeemann
at Kunsthalle Bern in Switzerland. Running
Feb. 1-March 31, the MOCAD show high-
lights more than 80 international contempo-
rary artists working in relation to the history
of Conceptual art, including Dani Gal, a
Jerusalem-born video artist who currently
lives in Berlin. (313) 832-6622; mocadetroit.
org.
Detroit Contemporary presents Members
Cuts, an exhibition running Feb. 2-March 3
that includes the work of both established
and emerging artists and ranges from sculp-
ture and painting to photography and instal-
lation. Artists include Ray Katz of Pontiac,
a Mumford High grad who currently is a
professor of art at the Auburn Hills campus
of Oakland Community College, where
he teaches sculpture, drawing and design.
Opening reception: 6-10 p.m. Friday, Feb. 2.
Info: kt@detroitcontemporary.com.
Ferndale's Lawrence Street Galley presents
the juried exhibition The Body Eclectic,
featuring various forms of the human figure,
through Feb. 22. Opening reception: 6-9 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 1. (248) 544-0394;
lawrencestreetgallery.com .
Founders Junior Council (FJC), a young-
professionals auxiliary of the Detroit
Institute of Arts, hosts Cirque: City Lights
Dark Nights on Saturday, Feb. 9, from 8
p.m.-12:30 a.m. in the DIAs Kresge Court.
Proceeds go to the DIA. For tickets ($75) and
more info, call (313) 833-4005 or go to dia.
org/fjc.

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She tells them that Hirsch is in a nurs-
ing home, and they quickly get him out
of his pajamas and out of the home.
Hirsch, we quickly see, is still a mad-
man behind the wheel. Things get sticky
when Val begins to sense that Doc has
taken the boss' contract to kill him.

Speaking Frankly

Frank Langella is a highly respected
actor best known for his stage work. I
recently came across his 2012 mem-
oir, Dropped Names: Famous Men
and Women As I Knew Them. All are
deceased so Langella can be com-
pletely candid about the 60 people
who are the subject of his short pro-
files.
Famous Jewish subjects include

Marilyn Monroe, Lee Strasberg, Dinah
Shore, Elizabeth Taylor, Arthur Miller
and Paul Newman.

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