arts & entertainment
Catching Up With Andrew Lippa
... composer of The Addams Family, coming to the Fox Theatre.
and music, he will star as the gay-rights pio-
neer in two performances, featuring the San
Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, June 27-28 at
San Francisco's Nourse Auditorium. The piece
will then travel the country, supported by
various choruses, and be made available for
choruses to perform nationwide.
Andrew Lippa
Lynne Konstantin
Contributing Writer
B
orn in Leeds, England, and raised
in Oak Park, Mich. (where he was a
bar mitzvah at Congregation B'nai
Moshe), Andrew Lippa's early passion for
musical theater, encouraged throughout per-
formances at Oak Park High School and the
University of Michigan, has brought him acco-
lades and success.
Composer, lyricist, book writer, performer,
producer, teacher and more, Lippa is a Grammy
Award nominee for the 1999 Off-Broadway
musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and
a Tony Award-nominee for his music and lyrics
for the 2010 Broadway musical The Addams
Family. With a story by Marshall Brickman and
Rick Elice (the team behind Jersey Boys), The
Addams Family comes to Detroit's Fox Theatre
for three performances June 14-15.
Meanwhile, Lippa currently is embarking
on a production unlike any he's ever taken on.
His new work, I Am Harvey Milk, is based
on the story of San Francisco's first openly gay
elected official, who was assassinated, along
with Mayor George Moscone, in 1978, after 11
months in office (Sean Penn won an Oscar for
his portrayal of Milk in the 2008 film Milk.)
Part-choral piece, part-theater, the
12-movement impressionistic oratorio, which
includes some of Milk's own words for text,
begins when Milk is 11 years old and ends
with a song sung from the point of view of the
bullet that killed Milk.
Lippa not only created the oratorio's words
44
June 6 • 2013
IN: How did I Am Harvey Milk come about?
AL: At the end of 2011, I received an email
from the artistic director of the San Francisco
Gay Men's Chorus. He asked if I would be
interested in writing a five-minute piece on
Harvey Milk to help celebrate the chorus' 35th
anniversary. I called him and said, "I don't
want to do a five-minute piece — I want to do
a 60-minute piece." And they agreed.
I have a lot in common with Harvey Milk,
and his story really speaks to me. We are both
Jewish, and he was 48, as I am now, when
he was assassinated. My husband was an
executive on the movie Milk, so I became very
familiar with his story. And he didn't become
involved in equal rights until his 40s, which I
feel was a turning point for myself. It's a great
pleasure to be able to focus on a gay icon. And
being able to perform, which I haven't gotten
to do in a while, is really the icing on the cake.
IN: What is Harvey Milk's legacy?
AL: It's very simple: Be true to yourself. It's
not about fixing the world, but about being
who you are. That's why he wanted people to
`come out' He thought if you come out, people
will see you as a person, and see that there's
nothing to be afraid of. Like most simple
ideas, it's a difficult one to achieve. But there
has been progress.
JN: What's up next?
AL: The Addams Family is my first full-
length musical on Broadway. It is based on
Charles Addams' original cartoons, sketches
and drawings, and it was very challenging
to get it right. We were so fortunate to have
Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth [in the origi-
nal production], and it's had great success
around the world. I've seen the production
that is coming to Detroit, and it's fantastic.
Also, Big Fish, based on the film and novel, is
scheduled to premiere on Broadway this fall.
JN: What do you miss about Detroit?
AL: I really miss Buddy's Pizza. That's one
thing they don't have in New York.
❑
The Addams Family takes the stage at
Detroit's Fox Theatre at 8 p.m. Friday
and 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, June 14-15.
Tickets: $15-$70. (313) 745-3000;
olympiaentertainment.com . The 8 p.m.
Friday show will be an autism-friendly
performance. Info and tickets: (313)
471-3099; olympiaentertainment.com/
autismspeaks.
Playing Pugsley
Sam and Allyson Primack
Jennifer Lovy
Special to the Jewish News
I
t is well after 10 p.m. on the first
night of Passover, and 12-year-old
Sam Primack and his mom, for-
mer Detroiter Allyson Ochs Primack,
are just beginning a three-hour seder.
Why is this seder different from
all other seders? Because rather than
celebrating at home with the rest of
his family (dad, brother and sister) in
Arizona, Sam is spending the holiday
in a hotel conference room with a
very different family — The Addams
Family.
Sam joined this creepy and kooky
bunch in January after landing the role
of Pugsley in the touring Broadway
musical. To say the last six months
have been a dream come true for the
soon-to-be seventh-grader would be an
understatement.
"This is the funniest show in the
world, and the cast is really great' said
Sam. "It's so much fun to be in the
show, and it is fun for the people who
come to see it."
Sam doesn't even mind all the hours
spent in "school." A tutor worked with
him and fellow Jewish cast member
Jeremy Shinder, with whom he rotates
in the role of Pugsley. Some of the
cast members even joined the boys
for a few Hebrew school classes led
by Jeremy's mom, a rabbi from New
Jersey.
Sam landed the role of Pugsley last
year after submitting a video audi-
tion and acing an in-person New
York audition a few weeks later.
When the U.S. tour ends later this
month, Sam will have been in 50 dif-
ferent theaters all over the country. He
and his mom are most excited about
coming to the Fox Theatre for three
shows this weekend.
"Detroit is my home," said Allyson
Primack, who moved to Arizona in
1997 to join her parents and sister,
Emily. "The fact that the show is com-
ing to the Fox is the most amazing
thing to me. I am so excited to come
home to Detroit, where I grew up see-
ing theater."
Primack's parents, Carole and Larry
Ochs, formerly of Farmington Hills,
and a number of friends and family
will be in the audience this weekend
supporting Sam. Primack does not
know how many of Sam's fans will be
there, but jokingly says the afterglow
they are hosting should double as Sam's
bar mitzvah party.
When mother and son began their
adventure together, she started writing
a blog (momontour.com) about her
experiences.
"It's been an incredible experience;
but for me, there was no one to talk
about what it would be like' said
Primack. "The hardest part is being
away from my husband and [other]
kids for so long. I couldn't have done
it without the support of family and
friends who have taken time to be
with Sam [during the tour] so I could
go home. It's the perfect scenario for
someone who has one child, not three.
But it's worth it to see Sam so happy. I
am so grateful that he loves what he is
doing."
❑