66 | JULY 13 • 2023
T
wenty-seven years
before he converted
to Judaism, Detroit
native Curtis Armstrong was
already acquainted with how
small a shtiebel is.
That is because when he
made his off-Broadway debut
in 1980, the 1975 graduate
of the Academy of Dramatic
Art (ADA) at Oakland
University in Rochester was
cast as a young Irish revo-
lutionary who was hiding
in an old Jewish merchant’s
room upstairs (If you didn’t
know, shtiebels are places
used for communal Jewish
prayers).
The Jewish merchant
gives the Irish Republican
Army boy shelter because,
as he tells him, “the hunted
are all on the same side.”
Titled The Irish Hebrew
Lesson, the show, which was
performed at the Colonnades
Theatre, only ran for 88 per-
formances, but was nominat-
ed for a Drama Desk Award
for Outstanding Play, accord-
ing to a published account.
“I am often asked a
lot of questions about the
messages contained in some
of the things I’ve appeared
in,” Armstrong says. “But
the truth is, that [The Irish
Hebrew Lesson] was just
a job. Its message, per se,
wasn’t what registered with
me. I was just hoping it
would be a step-up to a
Broadway career for myself.”
If he wasn’t exactly the
talk of the town during the
early stages of his career,
during the run of The Irish
Hebrew Lesson, Armstrong
says he was the toast of the
town at a lot of Irish pubs
and taverns. “I couldn’t go
to any real Irish bar in New
York City without getting a
drink bought for me,” he says
with a laugh.
“I had already done
a young Irishman when
I appeared in a national
touring company of Da,” he
continues, “so I was used to
doing that kind of role and
effecting an Irish accent.”
He credits the training he
received at Oakland’s ADA
“for requiring that we were
at least capable of doing
different dialects.
“And if you weren’t,” he
adds,“you were taught.”
The Irish Hebrew
Lesson helped Armstrong
land an audition with Peter
Schaffer, who needed an
actor to replace Tim Curry
in the Broadway production
of Amadeus. Though he
didn’t get the part, he says he
“didn’t care. It was just great.
It was one of the biggest
auditions I had ever had up
to that point.”
Armstrong would also
audition before Milos
Forman when the director
was later casting the film
version of Amadeus, but he
didn’t get that part, either.
“But you know what?” he
said during a recent tele-
phone call. “At least I was
considered. How many peo-
ple can say that?”
THE SILVER SCREEN
Because his work was being
noticed, in the summer of
1982 Armstrong headed to
Chicago to appear in his
first-ever film. It was a fea-
tured role in a high school
coming-of-age comedy. At
the time, he was 28 years old.
Released the next year, the
movie would become a cre-
ative and cultural touchstone,
according to Variety. Fact
is, not only would Risky
Oakland University
Grad Comes Home
ARTS&LIFE
FILM
PHOTO BY GRADIMAGES FOR OAKLAND UNIVERSITY
Curtis Armstrong, star of Risky Business and
Revenge of the Nerds, gets honorary doctorate
from his alma mater.
DOUG GLADSTONE SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
At Oakland University’s
commencement exercises in April,
Curtis Armstrong received an
honorary doctorate from University
President Ora Hirsch Pescovitz.