arts & entertainment
"Much-heralded Star Deli
slow-cooks its own
tender temptations"
— Danny Raskin
Order your
Holiday Trays &
Specialties today!
ELI
Danny Gurwin
returns home for
JCC concert.
COMPARE OUR LOW PRICES WITH ANY DELICATESSEN IN TOWN!
MEAT TRAY
DAIRY TRAY
SALAD TRAY
$10.49/x.—
SALAD TRAY W/ LOX & CREAM CHEESE
$21.49 person
$11.49 person
$14.99
HOURS: MON-SAT 7AM-9PM • SUN 7AM-8PM
24555 W. 12 MILE ROAD
Just west of Telegraph Road • Southfield
248-352-7377
pe son
OFF
Potato Latkes * Handcut Lox
Our Regular Tuna & Fat-Free Tuna Can't Be Beat!
Vegetarian Chopped Liver
Homemade Potato Salad & Coleslaw
On Star's beautiful already
low-priced trays
Expires 6/5/14. One Per Order. Not Good Holidays. I
I
10 Person Minimum. With this coupon.
www.stardeli.net
DELIVERY AVAILABLE
1918750
www.zoespancakes.com
Receive
10%
OFF
Total Bill
$2 OFF
The Total Bill Over $20
Receive
2 OFF
',The Total Bill Over $20
Not valid with
any other offer.
With Coupon
Expires 6/4/14
Not valid with
any other offer.
With Coupon
Expires 6/4/14
Three Locations to Serve You
NOW OPEN!!
Commerce Township
40290 West 14 Mile Rd.
248.669.2131
Livonia
17398 Haggerty Rd.
West Bloomfield
6339 Orchard Lake Rd
(inside the Orchard Mall)
(6 Mile and Haggerty)
248.795.5595
Hours: Monday-Sunday 8AM-3PM
734.464.3484
Hours: Monday-Saturday 7AM-9PM
Sunday 8AM-4PM
Hours: Monday-Saturday 7AM-9PM
Sunday 8AM-4PM
Over 35 years of Chinese Food Experience.
65 Freshest and
High Quality Ingredients!!
(GRAND OPENING
MI
...... —.4
11011
,......._ ,
TOTAL FOOD BILL
11r—
E1.•
1 10 OFF
%
, .4
.
*cannot combine with other
offers. Expires 6/30/14.
:
"WE HAVE
GLUTEN FREE
& VEGETARIAN
DISHES"
Order online: www.ChinaTownMl.com
248-683-5566 • W. Bloomfield • 4276 Orchard Lake Rd. (Between Lone Pine & Pontiac Trail)
2nd location Commerce Township • 248-669-1133
40
May 15 • 2014
JN
Elizabeth Applebaum
Special to the Jewish News
D
etroit native Danny Gurwin
will be a guest of the Jewish
Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit's Stephen Gottlieb
Music Series, appearing at 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 17, at the Berman Center
for the Performing Arts.
His concert, titled Sail Me Away,
will include selections from the Great
American Songbook, Broadway and folk
hits.
Gurwin, 41 and a graduate of the
University of Michigan's musical theater
program, has appeared in both Broadway
and Off-Broadway productions, includ-
ing A Little Night Music, Urinetown, Little
Women, Forbidden Broadway 2001, The
Scarlet Pimpernel and A New Brain.
Here, we catch up with Danny Gurwin.
JN: Did you love theater and music
Not valid with any
other offer.
With Coupon
Expires 6/4/14
Receive
Sailing
Into Song
1909280
when you were growing up in Detroit?
What was your first big role while you
were here?
DG: It was always in the family. My
mother, Nancy Gurwin, had various
production companies around the city,
and I was always a part of them from
my earliest memories.
I sang in my room 24/7, was in choir
at Southfield-Lathrup High School and
all the vocal competitions. I was also an
original member of the Peanut Butter
Players, along with pals (and fellow
Broadway performers) Sutton Foster,
Erin Dilly, Celia Keenan-Bolger — we
had a lot of fun.
The first show I remember playing
in was as "Little Jake at the age of 6,
opposite my mother's "Annie" in Annie
Get Your Gun. But I did at least five or
six shows downstairs in the JCC's Studio
Theatre growing up.
JN: What do you think are the most
important qualities for a singer/actor
today? Can someone find success
solely based on talent, or does luck
play a part?
DG: The industry today is so differ-
ent even from when I was coming up in
my 20s. Gosh, a clear sense of self and a
tough skin will always be needed, but I
think young musical-theater actors today
have to be incredibly flexible within the
pop genre.
You still need real acting and singing
technique, but stylistically you have to be
able to sing any style, at any time, espe-
cially a true rock/alternative color for
most new works.
I've included some of my favorite
soft-pop and folk pieces in my new JCC
concert on May 17. Ten years ago, I never
would have had a chance to do them.
Luck is tricky. I do believe that every-
thing happens for a reason. And while
you may not book a particular job, the
one you get instead always seems to
lead to the right place.
JN: How do you prepare for your roles?
Do you like to really lose yourself in
the character, and are you able to do so
equally for all the parts you play?
DG: For me, rehearsal is a big time of
investing and transforming. I never really
lose myself totally in any specific Meisner/
Method technique. Some actors love it. I
do try to personalize all of the work I do.
You can create intense emotional connec-
tions to roles and still be able to shake it
all off when the curtain comes down. It
has to be a healthy balance for me.
JN: What's your favorite song to per-
form and why?
I have so many. Having had a chance
to work with Stephen Sondheim three
times, I suppose I'd have to say anything
of his. But I love the standards; several
of the pieces in Sail Me Away are some
of my favorites: "My Romance," "I'm
Old-Fashioned," "When in Rome" —
they're always so fun to do and perfectly
written, to me.
JN: What roles or concerts are coming
up for you?
DG: I just finished up my second year
as assistant professor of musical theater
at the University of Arizona, so that's
been keeping me wonderfully busy.
This summer, I'll be play "Sir
Galahad" in Spamalot at the Moonlight
Amphitheatre, a gorgeous outdoor
space in San Diego, and then a night of
new Broadway music under the stars
at the Ford's Theatre in Los Angeles in
August.
❑
Elizabeth Applebaum is marketing director
at the Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit.
Danny Gurwin performs Sail Me
Away, his concert at the Berman
Center for the Performing Arts, at
8:30 p.m. Saturday, May 17. $32
JCC members/$42 nonmembers.
(248) 661-1900; theberman.org ; or
available at the box office.