MARCH 2 • 2023 | 49

H

e followed the Yellow 
Brick Road and 
never looked back.
Jeffrey Weiner will tell 
you that his musical theater 
journey started when he was 
8 years old in the choir at 
Temple Emanu-El in Oak 
Park. His voice sparked an 
invitation to sing with the 
prestigious Vienna Boys 
Choir, though he wasn’t able 
to participate at the time. 
He spent three summers 
at Camp Tamarack in 
Ortonville followed by 
another three at Camp 
Tamakwa in Ontario. 
When Weiner heard about 
auditions for the Wizard of 
Oz at Tamakwa, he thought 
he’d take a stab at acting. 
“You’ll never get the part 

of Scarecrow because the 
campers who always get the 
leads are planning to go for 
it,” warned Weiner’s bunk- 
mates.
“So, I took the challenge, 
and I got the part. It was a 
big upset,” says Weiner of 
Royal Oak who plays the 
Bellhop in Ken Ludwig’s 
popular farce Lend Me a 
Tenor at Birmingham Village 
Players (BVP), March 10-26.
Weiner played the 
Scarecrow professionally 
another time while on a 
national tour following 
graduation from Michigan 
State University, where he 
earned a degree in theater. 
But the third time truly was 
a charm when Weiner was 
in the Wizard of Oz at the 

Bonstelle Theatre in Detroit. 
It was while earning his 
master’s in theater at Wayne 
State University in 1994 that 
Weiner first met Russell 
Boyle, who plays the world-
renowned Italian tenor, Tito 
Merelli, in BVP’s upcoming 
production.
The comedy Lend Me 
a Tenor spotlights the 
Cleveland Grand Opera 
Company in 1934, who 
hires Merelli to perform in 
a special one-night-only 
fundraiser. Through a series 
of unfortunate mishaps, 
Merelli takes a double-dose 
of tranquilizers and everyone 
thinks he’s dead. The 
hilarious farce takes place in 
the tenor’s Cleveland hotel 
suite.

“My character, the Bellhop, 
is a huge fan of the tenor, so 
I keep popping up when the 
audience least expects it to 
get the tenor’s autograph and 
picture,” Weiner says.
At Wayne State, Boyle 
understudied the Cowardly 
Lion, and Weiner was in the 
ensemble of Wizard of Oz. 
“We had a riotous good 
time playing munchkins, 
winged monkeys and Kansas 
farm hands. But nothing 
compares to playing opposite 
Jeffrey in Lend Me a Tenor,” 
reminisces Boyle, a Detroit 
resident. “Even though we 
have limited interaction on 
stage together, Jeffrey steals 
the show with his creative 
take on the character, and 
I feel very fortunate to be 
sharing the stage with him 
again. It’s been an amazing 
opportunity to be able to 
bond in theatrical art-
making more than 20 years 
later. Jeff is a mensch.”
And while Weiner’s forte 
is comedy, he’s only been in 
a handful of plays — a stark 
contrast to the more than 
55 musicals that he’s been 
in over the years including 
as Carmen Ghia in The 
Producers, Barnaby in Hello, 
Dolly, Bud Frump in How to 
Succeed in Business Without 
Really Trying, Zangara in 
Assassins and Nicely-Nicely 
Johnson in Guys and Dolls.

Jeffrey Weiner plays the bellhop in Lend Me A Tenor. 

 Starting the 
 Year on a 
 High Note 

continued on page 50

JULIE SMITH YOLLES CONTRIBUTING WRITER

ARTS&LIFE
THEATER

PHOTOS BY PAUL MANOIAN

Bellhop Jeffrey Weiner 
of Royal Oak is eager 
to please the famous 
Italian tenor and his 
feisty Italian wife, 
played by Russell Boyle 
of Detroit and Sonja 
Rasmussen Distefano of 
Clinton Township. Lend 
Me a Tenor runs March 
10-26 at Birmingham 
Village Players. 

