4100 arts & entertainment From the Yiddish stage and Leonard Bernstein to Simon E(Garfunkel and Debbie Friedman, a Jewish musical revue hits the high notes. ib. I Suzanne Chessler Contributing Writer 0 ne hurdle confronted planners of Hitting the High Notes, a concert to be presented Monday evening, June 23, at the Berman Center for the Performing Arts in West Bloomfield. With all the available material from talented 20th-century Jewish composers, it took con- siderable discussion to whittle down choices into a cohesive program. Final decisions were made by the performers: Teddy Abrams Teddy Abrams, conduct- ing a chamber group of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and singers Michael Smolash and Neil Michaels, the can- torial team at Temple Israel. The audience will hear Michael selections as diverse Smolash as "Ikh Hob Dikh Tsi Fil Lib" ("I Love You Much Too Much") by Alexander Oshanetsky from the Yiddish stage and "A Lot of Livin' to Do" by Charles Strouse and Lee Adams from the Broadway musical Bye Neil Michaels Bye Birdie. "We wanted to repre- sent Jewish music in its most pure form, which is klezmer," says Abrams, DSO assis- tant conductor soon to be music director of Kentucky's Louisville Orchestra. "That morphs into Yiddish theater, which has become almost extinct because of the lan- guage barrier. "Yiddish theater has morphed into traditional musical theater in the United States. To close the circle is varied music by American Jewish composers not neces- sarily working in a Jewish genre but hav- ing some connection or affinity to Jewish music:' One person whose music helps complete that circle is Aaron Copland, who will be represented by his piece Music for the Theatre. The idea for the con- cert came from Howard Lupovitch, director of the Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic Studies at Wayne State University. Lupovitch thought Howard the concert would be an Lupovitch entertaining outgrowth of his lecture series, "Jewish Musical Tradition in America: for the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. He linked his idea with the annual John M. Haddow Memorial Program in Jewish Culture. As the director of Cohn-Haddow, I'm trying to partner with other Jewish orga- nizations:' Lupovitch says. "I wanted to do something with the DSO, Temple Israel and the Berman, which is such a great space. "I contacted the cantorial singers and a representative of the symphony and told them what I was doing with the lecture series, but I deferred to the others regard- ing what would be performed. Cantor Smolash worked toward spot- lighting songs of favorite composers, such as "Liza" (George and Ira Gershwin and Gus Kahn), "Maria" (Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim) and "Alexander's Ragtime Band" (Irving Berlin). "I think `Papirosn' (Herman Yablokoff) is one of the most touching Yiddish songs:' Smolash says. "It's about an orphan trying to sell cigarettes in wartime to get a bit of money for food. I sing it a lot in different concerts and contexts, and it speaks to me in different ways." In yet another direction, he likes Simon and Garfunkel's "Feelin' Groovy:' which also is on the program. "When people learn about music, it's best to pair that with experiencing the Smolash says. "I hope this cements everything learned in the lectures and provides a beautiful evening of music for everyone who attends:' Smolash and Michaels will be present- ing solos and duets. "We narrowed down our list of songs in part based on the repertoire the symphony orchestra already had in its library and songs that Cantor Smolash and I have in our repertoire says Michaels, a cantorial soloist who lists one of his favorite songs in the program as "All the Things You Are" (Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein). "I'm very proud of the things we have going on Jewishly in this community. We're close-knit, and that becomes stron- ger when we pool our resources. I'd like to see these collaborations happen more often:' To heighten the presentation, Abrams called upon New Yorker Lev "Ljova" Zhurbin to work on arrangements. "I chose a smaller ensemble of musi- cians to replicate the ensembles that would have played the Jewish-influenced music in its original forms:' Abrams says. "The ensemble closely matches what would be found in a pit orchestra for Yiddish theater or a Broadway musical. Abrams, who has played klezmer clarinet with the Sixth Floor Trio, feels a passion for music of the Yiddish theater because of his mentor, Michael Tilson Thomas, music director of the San Francisco Symphony. Thomas' parents, Bessie and Boris Thomashefsky, helped found Yiddish theater in America. Abrams points out that the Jewish com- posers merged many styles, including clas- sical elements and jazz, to create distinc- tive popular music. As Abrams leaves his work in Michigan to take up his new post in Kentucky, he is deepening his own work as a Jewish American composer. He has written Overture for his first concert with the orchestra he will be leading. "I hope our program at the Berman can create a living history, which music can do as no other art form because we all live inside sound:' says Abrams, impressed with how devoted the Jewish community has been to the DSO. "People listening to a live performance are participants in the musical process. They're time-traveling, experiencing cul- ture as it changed and grew. "The program won't feel like little seg- ments of music. It will feel like one big picture, an overwhelming view of what this music is like. I actually feel close to all this music:' ❑ Hitting the High Notes will be performed at 7 p.m. Monday, June 23, at the Berman Center for Performing Arts, 6600 W. Maple Road, in West Bloomfield. $25. (248) 661-1900; www.theberman.org . Jews Nate Bloom Special to the Jewish News At The Movies tl a) 46 The film version of the hit stage musi- cal Jersey Boys, about the lives and careers of the members of the famous '60s singing group the Four Seasons, opens on Friday, June 20. Like the stage musical, the film features the many hits of the Four Seasons. But what helped make the stage musical so special was its great script, co- written by Marshall Brickman, now June 19 • 2014 79, and Rick Elice, now 57. They extensively interviewed the band members and crafted a truly dramatic story that earned the duo a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. They also wrote the film's screenplay. None of the original four band members were Jewish. However, Erich Bergen, 28, who played band member and principal songwriter Bob Gaudio in a touring version of the stage musical, reprises this role in the film. This is the first big screen role for the tall, dark and handsome thespian. His parents met at a New York acting class. Bergen's father is Jewish while his moth- er is a lapsed Catholic. In 2011, the Jewish Journal of Greater L.A. reported that Erich strongly identified as Jewish. It then quoted him as he explained how the drama of the Passover seder was like a classic theater play: "We're all in one room together witnessing something that people for many years have done before us. We are not new to this story, but we are experiencing it for the first time together. To me, that's what I've found in the Jewish religion: that the tradition of keeping the story going is what's most important — of mak- ing sure that everyone knows and is affected by the story." The film Ida, originally scheduled to open at the Maple Theater in Bloomfield Township on June 20, has been moved to June 27. ❑