26 | MARCH 24 • 2022
OUR COMMUNITY
T
he pandemic placed a hold on staging
musicals at Frankel Jewish Academy
for the last two years, but students
are finally ready to sing and dance as they
prepare to perform Alice in Wonderland (Prince
Street Player’s Version) March 30-31 at the
Berman Center for the Performing Arts in
West Bloomfield.
The show is under the guidance of Mitch
Master, director of the Performing and Visual
Arts Department, who has been with FJA
since the school was founded in 2000. “We’re
going down a rabbit hole,
” Master said. “It’s
so exciting to be doing live musical theater
again.
”
According to Master, the production is a
classic celebration of freeform for anyone
who has ever wanted to poke fun at the
“grown up” world of enlightenment. “We’ve
done it in the past with 40 actors. For this
production, we have 10 talented actors, who
will be playing multiple roles with quick
costume changes. It’s a fast-moving musical
with whimsical dance numbers and flashy
costumes,
” he says.
One of those 10 actors is sophomore Eliyah
Fradkin of Farmington Hills, who plays five
roles in the production, including the March
Hare. Fradkin has plenty of experience on
stage, appearing in Willy Wonka, Annie and The
Odd Couple. In Alice in Wonderland, he’ll have
several solos.
“I’ve been interested in theater since sixth
grade,
” says the self-described math and
engineering guy. “
Acting is one of my favorite
parts of school. It’s so much fun.
”
Also appearing in Alice in Wonderland is
junior Katelyn Winkelman of Birmingham,
who plays only one role, but a big one: the
White Rabbit. “He’s everywhere during this
play,
” says Winkelman, who has appeared in
Peter Pan Junior and The Lion King Junior, among
others.
She says the cast has been working hard
for hours every day after school memorizing
songs and dances. “Once you get to opening
night, it’s all worth it,
” she says. “This produc-
tion is amazing, crazy and kooky. It’s really
fun to watch.
”
The musical unfolds alongside Alice as she
falls into a rabbit hole and emerges intact,
but imbalanced. Have a front row seat as
Alice crosses paths with crazy doors and an
unstable table, a silly flock of birds, an opin-
ionated French mouse, a grinning Cheshire
Cat, a chilled Caterpillar, a zany Duchess and
a Nutty Cook, a dancing Butterfly, the Mad
Hatter’s unusual Tea Party, an emotional
Mock Turtle and Gryphon, and a royal family
of hearts.
Performances are Wednesday, March 30,
at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, March 31, at 7:30
p.m. Tickets are $15 each and can be pur-
chased at The Berman’s Virtual Box Office:
theberman.org or call/text (248) 248-406-
6677. Masks are required for audience mem-
bers.
Alice in Wonderland will be staged
at The Berman March 30-31.
FJA Returns
to Live Musical Theater
JN STAFF
B’nai Moshe Celebrates Refugee Shabbat
On March 5, Congregation B’nai
Moshe in West Bloomfield took
part in a community wide HIAS
refugee awareness Shabbat.
Attendees heard the story of
Jennie Mizrahi Lieberman, who
as a young girl and a Cuban refu-
gee, was helped by HIAS to settle
with her family in the US.
To help the refugee cause, B’nai
Moshe launched, with the help
of Jewish Family Services of Ann
Arbor, a project to fill 55 new
backpacks with school supplies
for refugee children being settled
in Washtenaw County. Through
a registry set up on Amazon as
well as monetary donations, the
entranceway to B’nai Moshe
began to fill up with over $4,000
worth of school supplies.
On Sunday, March 13, vol-
unteers came together to sort
and pack the backpacks with
supplies and a few treats. These
backpacks will be delivered to
JFS in Ann Arbor where they
will make their way into the
hands of refugee children from
kindergarten to high school.
“While these backpacks can-
not address all the challenges of
being a refugee, perhaps they will
lighten someone’s load a little and
put a smile on the face of a child.
We also hope this will not be the
end of our support for refugees
as we look for more ways to have
a positive impact,
” said Executive
Director Steve Fine.
The number of families leaving
everything familiar behind and
starting a completely new life
will only continue to rise for the
foreseeable future. Settling these
families and helping them to
transition takes a village. Reach
out to HIAS, JFS or any other
organizations to help those arriv-
ing to a place they hope to call
home.
B’nai Moshe
volunteers
pack
backpacks
for refugee
children.
Katelyn Winkelman
and Genny Aronov.