48 | FEBRUARY 24 • 2022
early spiritual influence. “I listened to
doo-wop with my dad and to Broadway
music with my mom. She would play the
piano, and I would sing.
“Music has always been a focus of my
true heart. I wanted to be a singer,
but I wasn’t meant for the stage. I was
meant for behind the scenes. There
are people who are going to win Tony
Awards, and there are people who are
going to help people win Tony Awards.
I’m that helper person. As long as I
can still be a part of it in some way, I’m
truly happy.”
One of this marketing manager’s
favorite experiences was bringing
some showbiz happiness into the life
of her late mother through a favorite
Jewish stage star — Mandy Patinkin.
Davis invited her mom to an opening
night party while marketing Patinkin’s
Boston run of a musical tour.
“The party was packed, and
it was going great,” recalled
Davis, a University of Hartford
communications and advertising
graduate who has held a number of
entertainment marketing jobs out of
Boston and New York.
“I could see my mother just in awe
that he was there, and Mandy noticed,
too. He came right up to me and my
mother, gave her a huge hug, signed her
program and took several photos with
her. Those pictures are in my home.”
Davis, at home in between work hours,
is carrying out her daughter’s wishes
for the girl’s upcoming bat mitzvah.
Davis is proud and moved that her
daughter, missing grandma’s presence, is
remembering the woman through a bat
mitzvah project that raises money to
fight Alzheimer’s disease, which had so
affected the woman.
The bat mitzvah will be small in
keeping with the mood of family and
friends gradually drifting away from
pandemic constraints. Party-themed
masks will be provided for guests who
want to wear them.
Pandemic cautions observed
by theaters visited on the tour are
respected by Davis.
“I get to work with a great team over
at the Fisher Theatre,” Davis said. “We
encourage people to come back to the
theater [partly] because music and
theater connect people. I love that.
“Although you and I could see
Summer and take two different things
away from it, the beauty of all of
this is the community of enjoying being
together. I think that Broadway
music, theater and the arts bring us
together.”
continued from page 47
ARTS&LIFE
THEATER
Details
Summer: The Donna Summer Musical
runs March 8-20 at the Fisher Theatre
in Detroit. Tickets start at $39.
ticketmaster.com. (313) 871-1000, ext.0.
broadwayindetroit.com.
Brittny Smith, Charis Gullage,
Amahri Edward-Jones.
Charis Gullage (“Disco
Donna”) and the ensemble
of Summer during the song
“Hot Stuff.”