arts&life

Darling
Daring
Duo

TOP: In Annie,
their first show
together, in 2011.
ABOVE: Oliver,
2012.
LEFT: The Music
Man, 2015.

JUSTIN MUNTER

theater

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

A local mother and

daughter brave the

stage together.

details

Hairspray will have five
performances Feb. 15-19 at the
Berman Center for Performing Arts
at the JCC in West Bloomfield.
Tickets start at $13.
(248) 611-1900; theberman.org.

34

February 9 • 2017

L

eigh and Estee Moss like to
play “pretend.”
The pair connect while
acting together — which helps
strengthen their connection as
mother and daughter.
The two are doing that right
now as they prepare to appear
in Hairspray, the first play sched-
uled by Performing Arts in the
J (PAIJ), the community theater
group being established with
the help of stage professionals
at the Berman Center for the
Performing Arts.
Mom is playing Velma von
Tussle, a prejudiced producer
who runs a teen dance party
television show in 1960s
Baltimore, the setting for the
musical about young people try-
ing to realize their music-filled
dreams. Estee appears as part of
the ensemble, singing and danc-
ing throughout the show.
The play, which debuted on
Broadway in 2002 and won eight

jn

Tony Awards, has music by Marc
Shaiman and lyrics by Scott
Wittman. The script, by Mark
O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan,
is based on the 1988 John Waters
film.
As mother and daughter
prepare to go on stage Feb.
15-19, they spend hours at their
Bloomfield Hills home going
over lines, vocalizing the songs
and practicing dance steps.
Reality issues leave the spotlight
of their attention during these
experiences of entering a fic-
tional world.
“I’m lucky that my character
comes out on the right side of
integration,” says Leigh, who
moves Velma through personal-
ity changes that integrate the
dance show that had set only
one day a month for the partici-
pation of “Negro” teens.
“I think this play is very rel-
evant for these times as we see
groups of people experiencing

prejudice. We gain insight into
what it was like to be African
American in the 1960s.”
Leigh, 47, a lawyer who has tri-
umphed over stage fright, joined
in productions because of Estee’s
interest in theater performance
and encouragement for mom to
join in. Their first show together
was a 2011 production of Annie
for the Bloomfield Players
Community Theatre.
“I’ve always loved music,
dancing and acting and tried
out for Annie when I was 7½,”
says Estee, an eighth grader at
Bloomfield Hills Middle School
who recently celebrated her
bat mitzvah at Congregation
Shaarey Zedek in Southfield.
“I love musical theater, being
onstage and wearing the cos-
tumes and makeup. I believe
in myself, and that has given
me the confidence to audition,
which I think is the hardest part
of theater.”

Mom is catching up.
“It’s supposed to be the moth-
er encouraging the child, but
she has boosted my confidence,”
Leigh says. “She encourages me
all the time.”
Estee has gone to theater
camps, had private singing
lessons and studied dance at
Shanon’s Dance Academy in
Keego Harbor. In Hairspray, she
adds her voice to a number of
songs, including “Good Morning,
Baltimore,” “Welcome to the
’60s” and “You Can’t Stop the
Beat.”
“This is my favorite show,”
Estee says. “It’s a lot of fun with
an important message about
fighting for equality. The ideas
were important then and are
now.”
Leigh likes to talk about how
she unintentionally stepped into
community theater. When tak-
ing Estee to audition for Annie,
she was told adults were needed

