arts & entertainment

From Bon Jovi To Broadway

A founding member of the rock band is the man behind the music of Memphis.

Curt Schleier
Special to the Jewish News

M

"I went to Temple Emanu-El, [a liberal
Reform congregation in Edison], and my
rabbi, Rabbi [Alfred] Landsberg, was a huge
influence on me. When I was 7 and went to
kindergarten, there he was, a young rabbi
who didn't wear a yarmulke and rode a
motorcycle. He used to say, 'Every man and
woman walks down the road of life: He defi-
nitely made me the person I am"
The rabbi's impact on young David was
obviously great. They still stay in touch, and
at least once a year, Bryan visits the shul
where the rabbi is now rabbi emeritus and
"performs"
"When I come back off tour, I visit with
him, and we talk. He was
at my [twin] daughters' bat
mitzvah. [I belong to a dif-
ferent synagogue now], but
I always come back for Rosh
Hashanah and blow the sho-
far."
Here, Bryan answers our
questions about the making
of Memphis:

emphis, the Tony-award-winning
musical that runs April 9-21 at
Detroit's Fisher Theatre, is about a
Tennessee disc jockey who introduces "race"
music to white audiences. It was written by
Joe DiPietro (book and lyrics) and David
Bryan (music). That would be David Bryan
Rashbaum, who, in another life, is the key-
boardist and founding member of the iconic
rock band Bon Jovi.
The move from rock to Broadway was easy
because the moment Bryan read the script
he "got it"
"The story rang true to me"
said Bryan in a telephone inter-
view. "It's an epic American
tale about the birth of rock 'n'
roll. I just love that we not only
portray one of the first white
DJs to integrate the radio, but
we also dramatize an inter-
racial love story [when it was
against the law in many states
David Bryan: Winner of
to have an interracial marriage].
Q: How did you and Joe
three Tony Awards.
Ultimately, it's a story about
DiPietro meet and begin
how music helped bring about
collaborating on Memphis?
social change and how this
A: I got Joe's script from
music helped bring people together.
an agent, and when I read it, I immediately
"I'm a white, Jewish kid from Edison,
loved the story and heard all the music in
[N.J.], and I know racism and hatred" said
my head. I know that last part sounds a little
Bryan, who studied pre-med at Rutgers
crazy, but what's there now on stage is what I
before applying to Juilliard and giving up
heard. I called up Joe and introduced myself,
his acceptance when his childhood pal and
and when we got together, it was magic. We
musical collaborator, Jon Bon Jovi, sum-
work very well together. Joe is a great col-
moned him to join a new band.
laborator.
"When you see [racism] in the show
onstage, you see how ugly it looks. Hopefully, Q: During all the years it took for Memphis
it will teach you a little bit that that's not the
to get to Broadway, what compelled you to
way people should be treating one another."
continue with the process?
Tolerance is something Bryan learned in
A: It's not a sprint but a marathon! Every
synagogue.
time we did a production, we worked on the

show and learned where it was and where we
had to take it. A musical is very complicated.
You have to create story, songs and dance,
and they all have to work together. The fine-
tuning process happens in front of an audi-
ence, and that takes many, many hours to
get right. But it was easy to persist because I
always believed that Memphis is a show that
entertains and tells an important American
story.

Q: How is writing songs for a rock
band different from writing songs for a
Broadway musical?
A: In a rock band, you're just writing for
the voice of the lead singer. In a musical, you
have many different characters you have to
make sing. Still, ultimately a good song is a
good song.

Q: How did you get involved with writ-
ing the music for the Off-Broadway rock
'n' roll comedy hit The Toxic Avenger,
based on the 1984 film of the same name?
A: Joe called me up with the idea. We were
on a break from Memphis so we started to
write The Toxic Avenger. We began it as a
bit of a lark, but it kept getting funnier and
better, and we wound up writing a show that
audiences really seem to love.

Q: Who were your influences in writing
the rock score for Memphis?
Q: I grew up playing in clubs with bands
that played those Memphis-influenced songs
so it was in my blood. It was a very special
time in music.

music was at the forefront.

Q: You have won many honors as a rock
musician, including winning a Grammy.
How was winning your Tony Awards (Best
Musical, Best Score, Best Orchestrations)
different?
A: The three Tony Awards I won are
unbelievably special. It was a long road
with Memphis, but I always believed in our
show. To be honored and welcomed by the
Broadway community for my work feels
great. And it is just the start. Joe and I have
a new show in the works called Chasing the
Song (about American songwriters from
1962-1964). We'll continue to create new
works for a long time.

Q: Have you always been a fan of
Broadway musicals? If so, what's your
favorite musical?
A: I didn't see a lot of musicals growing up.
I saw Fiddler on the Roof and really liked it.
The songs and the stories were interwoven
perfectly.

Q: You have been with the rock group Bon
Jovi for more than 25 years. What do you
think is the key to the band's continued
popularity, including your newest release,
What About Now, topping the Billboard
charts?
A: Writing good songs, making good
records and always giving your all at every
live concert.

❑

Memphis runs at Detroit's Fisher

Q: Name some of your favorite '50s
songs and why they are your favorites?
A: There are too many songs to name, but
I am always struck by how much joy and
hope there is in that music. It was the begin-
ning of social change in America — and

Theatre April 9-21 with performances
at 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 2 and 8
p.m. Saturdays, and 2 and 7:30 p.m.
Sundays. $34-$84. (800) 982-2787;
www.broadwayindetroit.com .

Jews

Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News

New Flicks

Opening on Friday, April 5, is a 3-D
version of Steven Spielberg's 1993
sci-fi blockbuster, Jurassic Park, star-
ring Jeff Goldblum, now 60; Laura
Dern, now 46; and British actor Sir
Richard Attenborough, now 89, whose
parents took in and later adopted two
German Jewish refugee girls whose
parents died in the Holocaust.

TV News
How to Live with Your Parents (For
the Rest of Your Life) premiered

on ABC on Wednesday, April 3; see

40

April 4 • 2013

an encore showing at 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 6. The sitcom stars
Sarah Chalke (Scrubs) as a recently
divorced single mom who moves in
with her eccentric parents (Elizabeth
Perkins and Brad Garrett, 52).
The FX cable series The Americans,
airing at 10 p.m. Wednesdays, pre-
miered in late January and already
has been renewed for a second
season; watch already-aired epi-
sodes online. The premise: In the
early 1980s, the Soviet Union plants
two KGB agents (Keri Russell and
Matthew Rhys), an "arranged-mar-
riage" couple, in the Washington,
D.C., area; the spies' lives are compli-
cated when a FBI counterintelligence

expert moves in across the street.
He's played by Noah Emmerich, 48,
a Yale grad who is the son of the late
famed NYC art gallery owner Andre
Emmerich.
The series was created by Joe
Weisberg, 46, who, in 1989, smuggled
in goods to Soviet Jewish refuseniks.
In 1990, he joined the CIA and worked
for the agency until 1994.
The hit Fox TV series Raising Hope
ended its third season with a Jewish-
themed one-hour episode ("Burt
Mitzvah") that aired on April 4 (see it
online at the Fox TV website). Burt's
parents (Shirley Jones, 78, and Lee
Majors, 73) come to town with sur-
prising news that because his mom

is Jewish, Burt is, too. He takes a
musical crash course in his newfound
heritage to prepare for the bar mitz-
vah he never had. Jones has been
married to Jewish comedian Marty
Ingels, 77, since 1977.
This month, Torontonian Jorel
Hoffert is scheduled to have his
bar mitzvah. To see his truly mind-
blowing bar mitzvah video invitation
– including a performance of Queen's
"Bohemian Rhapsody," a Gangnam-
style finale and lyrics like, "I'm half
a Jew/Learned Hebrew/I'm half
Asian and proud of that too" – go to
YouTube (where it has received more
than 500,000 views), and search for
"Jorel Rocks."

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