arts & life

Editor’s Picks

THE WHOLE
MEGILLAH
Six unemployed steel
workers from Buffalo
bare more than their
souls as the “Hot
Metal” dancers, their
answer to the touring
Chippendale danc-
ers who are thrilling
Lynne Konstantin the townswomen,
Arts & Life Editor
in The Full Monty.
Based on the hit
1997 British film, with
music and lyrics by David Yazbeck (his mom
is Jewish-Italian, his dad Lebanese) and book
by Terrence McNally, the musical is presented
by the Farmington Players, and features actors
Gary Weinstein and Tony Targan and co-
assistant director Keith Firstenberg. Ladies’

Night: Every Friday night during the run of the
show, each woman who purchases a ticket will
receive a raffle ticket for prizes from sponsors
including Weinstein Jewelers, Arbonne Skin
Care, LulaRoe Boutique and BrightlyTwisted.
Through May 21. $18-$20. Farmington Players
Barn, Farmington Hills. (248) 553-2955; farm-
ingtonplayers.org.

FILM FANS
Elliot Wilhelm — film aficionado extraordi-
naire, director of the Detroit Film Theatre at
the Detroit Institute of Arts since 1973 and
curator of film at the DIA since 1984 — has
said he watches an average of about 15 films
every week in his quest to inspire the audi-
ences who depend on him. In a series on
Wednesdays, May 4, 11, 18 and June 1, from
7:30-9 p.m., Wilhelm will tell his secrets dur-
ing Confessions of a Jewish Moviegoer,
“discussing what “[I’ve] learned about
the movies and myself during a half
The Full Monty
century of watching, exhibiting, writ-
ing and teaching about the cinema,
and how its impacted my own Jewish
identity.” $70. Berman Center for Jewish
Education at Congregation Shaarey
Zedek, Southfield. RSVP to FedEd,
(248) 205-2557.

BEAUTIFUL SONGS
On her 2015 album,
Beautiful Songs, Irish-
born, New York-based
chanteuse Maxine
Linehan “takes favorites
that you thought you
knew and infuses them
with an intensely person-
al point of view,” wrote
Maxine Linehan
the New York Times.
Among those songs are
Irving Berlin’s “What’ll I do?” U2’s “One” and
“I Think of You,” written by her husband,
music producer Andrew Koss (who also
co-produced the album with Ryan Shirar).
Shirar accompanies Linehan on piano when
she performs Maxine Linehan: Beautiful
Songs (a show created by cabaret pro-
ducer Scott Siegel), presented by Cabaret
313, in two performances (7 p.m. and 10
p.m.) at the Museum of
Contemporary Art Detroit
on May 7. $25-$155. Also
available: Cabaret and
Dinner packages ($90-
$125), with dinner at the
Whitney preceding the 10
p.m. performance. (313)
405-5061; cabaret313.org.

Jay Leno

A STAND-UP GUY
Jay Leno heads to Detroit’s Fox
Theatre for Forgotten Harvest’s
24th annual Comedy Night on
Saturday, May 7. In addition to
hosting The Tonight Show with
Jay Leno for more than two
decades, ending its run in 2014,
Leno is a bestselling children’s
author, pioneering car builder
and mechanic, stand-up come-
dian — and philanthropist. An
outspoken and dedicated sup-
porter of Israel, Leno has twice hosted the
Genesis Prize award ceremony in Israel, and
just last month headlined a benefit concert
for United Hatzalah of Israel at Lincoln
Center in New York City. Proceeds from
the Forgotten Harvest Comedy Night
featuring Jay Leno, the organization’s
biggest event of the year and co-chaired
by Ashley and K.C. Crain, Gretchen and
Ethan Davidson, and Kelle
and Christopher Ilitch, benefits
Forgotten Harvest’s network
of more than 280 agencies in
Wayne, Oakland and Macomb
counties (making it one of the
nation’s largest food-rescue
organizations) that provide fresh
food options to Metro Detroiters
in need. $28.50-$153.50.
(800) 745-3000;
olympiaentertainment.com.

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Celebrity Jews

Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News

AT THE MOVIES

Opening Friday, April 29: Patrick Stewart
is reportedly truly frightening in Green
Room as Darcy, a diabolical club owner. The
story: A raggedy punk band agrees to play
a run-down, backwoods club. When they
get there, they find out that the patrons
are Neo-Nazis, as is Darcy. They play the gig
and are ready to depart when one band
member realizes she left her cell phone
backstage in “the green room.” In the green
room, she and another band member
witness a murder by Darcy’s racist associ-
ates. Darcy orders the death of the band
members and the rest of the film consists of
cat-and-mouse combat between the band
and Darcy’s men. All the action is played out
in and around the backstage area, which
adds to the film’s intensity. Anton Yelchin,
27, co-stars as Pat, a member of the band
who proves to be Darcy’s most resourceful
enemy.
Mother’s Day is another “holiday film”
directed by Garry Marshall. Like his previous
flicks, New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day, it is

62 April 28 • 2016

ON DORIS
ROBERTS

Doris Roberts, best
known as Ray Romano’s
mother in Everybody
Loves Raymond, died
on April 17, age 90. Her
long career included a
major supporting role
that you have to see
or review. Hester Street
(1975) is arguably the
Yelchin
Hudson
Roberts in Hester Street
best film ever made
about the heyday of
a collection of shmaltzy inter-related stories
claimed to have secretly baptized him as
Eastern European Jewish immigration to
relevant to the title and featuring a huge
an infant. The Church stood fast against
America (1880-1920) and the complexity
cast. Kate Hudson, 37, co-stars as the best
demands by his parents that he be
of assimilation. Carol Kane, now 63, got
friend of a woman (Britt Robertson) who
returned. I give Spielberg great credit for
a best actress Oscar nomination for her
was adopted. Hudson encourages her to
making this film. However, I do question
starring role as a pious woman whose
seek out her birth mother (Julia Roberts).
his decision to cast Mark Rylance as the
immigrant husband settled on the Lower
Pope who was ultimately responsible for
East Side and became “very American”
CASTING NOTES
stealing the child. Rylance signed a public
before sending for her and their young
You might have heard that Steven
statement calling for a “cultural boycott”
son. Roberts co-stars as a neighbor who
Spielberg, 71, will direct The Kidnapping
of Israel. The signers said they “will not
becomes Kane’s invaluable guide to
of Edgardo Mortara. The shocking, true
accept any professional invitations from
America and a great friend. No premium
Mortara story still reflects terribly on
Israel.” Well, apparently you can star in
service is now streaming Hester Street, but
the Catholic Church: A 6-year-old Italian
a film about anti-Semitism and boycott
the entire film can be viewed on YouTube.
Jewish child was seized by Papal authori-
Israel, too. More on this subject in a later
It’s a high quality copy.
ties in 1857 because a Catholic housemaid
column.

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