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.”