A scene from
50 Shades!
The Musical
A sexy musical romp, inspired by the Fifty Shades of Grey
phenomenon, comes to the Fisher Theatre.
I
Suzanne Chessler
Contributing Writer
A
lbert Samuels readily identifies
as half-Jewish — his funny half.
That's the half that will be get-
ting attention June 14-16 at Detroit's Fisher
Theatre as 50 Shades! The Musical makes its
local premiere.
Samuels, who is head writer and director
as well as a producer of the show, will be in
town to watch the parody of the best-selling
book-trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey.
"If a musical is done right, the audience
cares about the characters, and I think our
show really does that," says Samuels, 46, in
a phone interview from his home in Los
Angeles.
"We follow two story arcs. The first has
to do with book-club ladies coming into
their own through friendship and sexuality;
the other has to do with the love story of
Ana and Christian as funny versions of the
books' main characters.
"We want the two plotlines to give a
window into a world for people who haven't
read the books and also give the oppor-
tunity to make fun of and celebrate the
Jews
phenomenon surrounding the books — as
opposed to making fun of and celebrating
the books themselves"
The show, which is for those 18 and older
yet planned to avoid squirming by any gen-
eral audiences, opens with the book club
deciding to read Fifty Shades of Grey.
The comedy comes through their inter-
pretation of the erotica in the novel. By the
end, the two stories resolve and meet.
Filled with dance numbers, the musi-
cal has 11 original songs with a live band
backing the performances. Songs include
"They Get Nasty" "I Don't Make Love" and
"There's a Hole Inside of Me"
"We were asked to do this parody
because the books are such a big phe-
nomenon" says Samuels, who has worked
with five other writers to put the musical
together. "I wanted it to be accessible and
really funny.
"We open the musical by meeting the
book-club ladies trying to decide which
book to read that month. That becomes the
framing device that opens the rest of the
show to the book itself"
Samuels believes his career in comedy
was framed by his late father, Richard
Samuels, an Illinois judge who came home
each night with what the family considered
incredible courtroom stories.
"What I took away from that was not that
I should go into law, but that I should go
into comedy," Samuels says. "Also, growing
up around Chicago, I would go to Second
City, and it became a dream to perform on
stage or write my own material!'
Samuels started performing while attend-
ing Dartmouth College, but he went on to
Stanford Graduate School of Business.
"While I was in business school, my
mother (concert pianist Mitzie Kinnucan)
passed away, and I decided that after gradu-
ation, I would go back to Chicago and go
into writing and performing" says Samuels,
whose great-uncle was the late Pulitzer
Prize-winning biographer Ernest Samuels.
At Second City, Samuels was selected to
tour, co-write and perform for the com-
pany's main stage. He went on to co-create
and star in the NBC comedy Sports Action
Team.
Currently in development is The Venue,
submitted as a pilot for Comedy Central.
"The pilot plays in Ann Arbor, where
I love a music venue — the Blind Pie
64, Assembled Parties, a play
about a secular Jewish family; Best
Performance by a Featured Actor in
a Play: Danny Burstein, 48, Golden
Boy, and Richard Kind, 56, The Big
Ephron. Best Revival of a Play: Golden
Boy by the late Clifford Odets; and
Orphans by Lyle Kessler, 69.
Best New Musical: A Christmas
Story, music/lyrics by Benj Pasek
and Justin Paul, book by Joseph
Robinette; Kinky Boots, music/lyr-
ics by Cindi Lauper, book by Harvey
Fierstein; and Bring It On, music by
Lin-Manuel Miranda and Tom Kitt, 39,
lyrics by Miranda and Amanda Green,
book by Jeff Whitty.
Best Musical Revival: Annie, music
by Charles Strouse,
84, lyrics by Martin
Charnin, 78, book by
Thomas Meehan; The
mpg I Nate Bloom
• ∎ Special to the Jewish News
Tony Time
Broadway's The Tony Awards, for
41) excellence in theater, airs on CBS
8-11 p.m. Sunday, June 9. Once again,
(1) Neil Patrick Harris hosts. Presenters
include Jesse Eisenberg, 29, and
Scarlett Johansson, 28. Playwright
and AIDS activist Larry Kramer, 77,
will receive the Isabelle Stevenson
humanitarian award for his work as
co-founder of Gay Men's Health Crisis.
Here are the Jewish nominees in
all but the technical categories. In
the categories of Best Play/Musical
(new or revival), I've listed the works'
author or composer/lyricist but not
the producers who actually get a
statuette.
Best Performance by a Featured
Actress in a Play: Judith Light,
U
42
June 6 • 2013
Knife.
Best Book of a Musical: Harvey
Fierstein, 60, Kinky Boots; Best
Original Score: A Christmas Story:
The Musical, music/lyrics by Benj
Pasek, 26, and Justin Paul, who
met at University of Michigan and
began collaborating on shows while
students; and Hands on a Hardbody,
music by Trey Anastasio of Phish
fame and music/lyrics by Amanda
Green, 48, the daughter of the late,
great Broadway lyricist/book writer
Adolph Green and Tony-winning musi-
cal actress Phyllis Newman, 80.
Best New Play: Assembled Parties,
by Richard Greenberg, 55, and Lucky
Guy, the last work by the late Nora
Mystery of Edwin
Drood,
ics/book by Rupert
Holmes, 66; Pippin,
music/lyrics by
Green
Stephen Schwartz,
explains Samuels, whose experiences in
Michigan involve summer vacations and vis-
its with his brother, John, who lived in Fraser.
"Our comedy show takes place in our
own version of that music venue, called the
Whistling Pig"
Samuels, who has presented improvised
musicals, stays close to work even at home.
He is married to Emily Dorezas, one of the
writers and producers for 50 Shades! who
as a standup comedian also was part of
Second City.
"There was a scene we did with Second
City about an older dad wanting to go back
to Israel, and that was the one Jewish con-
nection in my work," says Samuels, who has
celebrated Jewish holidays with his dad's
side of the family.
"I played that Jewish father who wanted
to go back to Israel and fight for the country
despite his age"
When Samuels is not thinking about proj-
ects for stage or television, he can be found
in outdoor activities, at the movies or look-
ing into pop culture — the last ultimately
taking him back to performance ideas.
"Being in entertainment is by definition
entertaining" says Samuels, working on a
new musical and a film. "When I'm creat-
ing or hanging out with people I'm working
with, I'm having fun and laughing all the
time. I don't feel I need as much of a break
as I would from another line of work!'
❑
Performances for 50 Shades!
The Musical, running June 14-16
at Detroit's Fisher Theatre, are
at 8 p.m. Friday, 4:30 and 8 p.m.
Saturday, and 3 p.m. Sunday.
$49; dinner and show packages
also available. (313) 872-1000;
broadwayindetroit.com .
65, book by Roger 0. Hirson;
and Rodgers and Hammerstein's
Cinderella, music by the late Richard
Rodgers, lyrics/book by the late
Oscar Hammerstein II.
At The Movies
Opening on Friday, June 7, is The
Purge, a speculative sci-fi thriller
that posits a future America in which
crime is legalized for a 12-hour period
each year. Ethan Hawke plays a nice
guy who must decide to let a stranger
into his secure, bun-
ker-like home, which
also harbors his wife
and two kids. Max
Burkholder ("Max
Braverman" on TV's
Parenthood), 15,
plays one of Hawke's
children.
❑
Burkholder