38 August 1 • 2019
jn
A
filmmaker brought together two
play makers who created very
different Tony Award-winning
musicals.
When filmmaker Alex Horwitz
was attending Wesleyan University in
Connecticut, he introduced a swing/jazz
enthusiast, his dad, to a
rap enthusiast, his room-
mate. Murray Horwitz,
a co-creator of Ain’
t
Misbehavin’
, and Lin-
Manuel Miranda, creator
of Hamilton, have reached
beyond generations to
hold a friendship of mutual professional
respect.
“My kids know the score to Ain’
t
Misbehavin’
as well as they know the
score to Hamilton,
” Murray Horwitz says.
“We’
ve known Lin over 20 years, and
he was very gracious in saying I was his
first mentor. It was very humbling, and I
don’
t know that I did that much.
”
Whatever he did, Alex Horwitz seems
to have reciprocated in a way by direct-
ing a PBS documentary, Hamilton’
s
America, that explores the founding of
America while delving into the Miranda
production.
Earlier this year, Metro Detroit
audiences got to see a touring ver-
sion of Hamilton. Starting in August,
they can see a local production of
Ain’
t Misbehavin’
staged by the Jewish
Ensemble Theatre (JET).
It stars Alvin Waddles
and Lauren LaStrada and
is directed by Harold
Jurkiewicz.
“Ain’
t Misbehavin’
is
a play written in notes
and lyrics and dance
steps and gestures,” says
Murray Horwitz, who
wrote the book with
Richard Maltby Jr.
“It’
s not a concert or
‘
jukebox musical.
’
There’
s
a through line to the
show, which is actually an
unconventional play.
“The main ingredient of the show’
s
success over 40 years is Fats Waller (a
pianist, singer, composer and comedic
entertainer). Audiences get to know a lot
more about him and the times in which
he lived.
”
An in-depth discussion of the enter-
tainment virtuoso at the heart of the
second JET production of the season will
be presented by Charles Troy, who has
established a multimedia series about
acclaimed musicals. “Fats Waller: The
Man Behind Ain’
t Misbehavin’
will begin
at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 12.
Among some 30 numbers performed
in the musical are “Mean to Me,
”
“Honeysuckle Rose,
” “I’
ve Got a Feeling
I’
m Falling,
” “Keepin’
Out of Mischief
Now” and “The Viper’
s Drag,
” the mari-
juana song of those times.
“Richard Maltby and I collaborated on
the lyrics for ‘
Handful of Keys,
’
” Horwitz
recalls about the tribute to the piano. “I
know Mandy Patinkin recorded it on an
album and, sometimes, I hear people do
it in nightclubs and cabarets.
”
Horwitz thinks his development of
this show has to do with Jewish prov-
enance.
An English and drama major at
Kenyon College in Ohio whose first
theatrical placement was as a clown with
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey
Circus, Horwitz moved to New York
and put together a one-man show about
Sholem Aleichem, which he still per-
forms.
“An Evening of Sholem Aleichem
attracted the interest of a producer, who
said I needed a director,
” recalls Horwitz,
77, who grew up in Ohio and made
many summer visits to family friends in
Detroit. “That led me to Richard Maltby
Jr. The show did really well, and Richard
became my mentor in lyric writing.
”
Horwitz, a devoted Fats Waller fan,
put a tape together of the late enter-
tainer’
s music to interest Maltby in
working on what would become Ain’
t
Misbehavin’
, and that began their
award-winning partnership.
“My blessing and curse at the same
time is that I find everything interesting,
”
says Horwitz, who has been a political
speech writer, soap opera director and
administrator for arts organizations,
including the National Endowment for
the Arts, American Film Institute and
National Public Radio.
“I’
m semi-retired with two part-time
jobs: artist-in-residence at Washington
Performing Arts and host of ‘
The Big
Broadcast,
’
a Sunday night old-time radio
show (recalling broadcasts from the
1930s-50s) on WAMU in Washington.
”
Horwitz and his wife, opera singer
Lisa Miller, have three grown children
and remain active in the Jewish commu-
nity. They attend High Holiday services
at the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue in
Washington, D.C.
He has done some work for the
Washington Jewish Museum and is
on the board of Yiddish of Greater
Washington. She has been a cantorial
soloist and teaches nursery school at Ohr
Kodesh Congregation in Maryland.
Horwitz, whose circus performances
have brought him to Cobo Hall and his
Sholem Aleichem show to Michigan
locales, also has been to Detroit on a
musical project with members of the
singing Winans family.
“It was inspiring to see Detroit
through Marvin Winans’
eyes,
” Horwitz
says, “and I’
m proud to be able to show
the world Fats Waller in all his glory.
” ■
SUZANNE CHESSLER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
theater
arts&life
JET brings the classic
Ain’
t Misbehavin’
to the stage.
Murray Horwitz
A Toe-Tapping
Good Time
Lauren
LaStrada
Alvin Waddles
Ashley Lyle as Charlaine,
Elizabeth Grey as Armela
and Jason Alan Briggs
as Andre
JET THEATRE
details
Ain’
t Misbehavin’
runs Aug. 2-25 at the
Jewish Ensemble Theatre in Walled Lake.
$16-$44. “Fats Waller: The Man Behind
Ain’
t Misbehavin’
” will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 12. $18. (248) 788-2900.
Jettheatre.org.
Tickets are on sale for this year’
s
JET fundraiser — “Back Home
Again: A Tribute to John Denver,”
which will be held Wednesday, Oct.
23, at Temple Israel. Patron ticket
with dinner, $180; show only, $75;
under 35 audience members, $35.