s
Shor is a success in national 'Fiddler'
By MELISSA ROSE BERNARDO
Miriam Shor is a lucky woman. A
'93 graduate of the Department of The-
atre and Drama, she made the big move
to the Big Apple in April. She started
the audition cycle, and got her first job
-in the very first show for which she
auditioned.
"Of course, I didn't hear right
away," she notes. At any rate, she is a
member of the chorus of the national
tour of "Fiddler on the Roof," now at
Detroit's Fisher Theatre. She also un-
derstudies Hodel, the second eldest
daughter. But still - a job within a
measly few months of moving to New
York.
"I am very lucky to have gotten this
job. I know that," she says solemnly.
Landing the national tour of "Fiddler"
was not in Shor's plans.
"I expected to work for a couple of
years without getting a job. I thought,
I'll pay my dues ... I'll be this bohe-
mian actress wannabe. So it really dis-
rupted my plans when I got this job."
Detroit is the first stop on the tour,
the site of the show's world premiere in
1964. From here it will go onto Boston,
Philadelphia, Chicago, New Haven and
numerous cities in both California and
Florida. Shor believes that life on the
road is treating her well.
"I really like the people in the com-
pany, and I haven't seen a lot of the
country, so I'm pretty excited to go
traveling around and get paid for it."
In addition to seeing the country,
she is also working with some very
gifted actors, including Theodore Bikel,
who plays Tevye. "(Bikel) is wonder-
ful. I don't really interact with him a lot
on stage, but he has a lot of knowledge
of the show, obviously since he's done
it over 1000 times." She adds, "He's
very kind. You can go up and ask him
any question you want, and he's very
approachable, very personable."
Shor also has her own personal ties
totheshow. "I'mJewish, soI've known
these songs since I was born. 'Sunrise,
Sunset,' Sabbath Prayer,' 'Tradition,'
they're all songs I've been singing since
I was two feet tall," she says. "(Plus)
I'm of Russian-Jewish descent, so I
feel like I could be playing a distant
relatives of mine. The experiences
onstage actually happened, so I find
them doubly moving," she explains.
Shor is convinced that her experi-
ence at the University helped her land
thisjob, and will continue to help her in
the future. "I thought I would be totally
unprepared going to New York," she
recalls, "But at the auditions I felt fine.
I was open to whatever was thrown at
me."
And strangely enough, she found
the auditioning process to be easier in
New York than at the University. "(In
New York) not everyone knew who
you were, and if you didn't make it, it
wasn't a huge deal. To go to an audition
and hear 'thank you very much' and
never hear from them--that's normal
in New York."
While atthe U,Shor'sperformances
encompassed a wide variety of plays,
musicals, University productions, stu-
dent shows and original musicals --
MUSKET's "Cabaret," the Theatre
Department's "As You Like it" and
"The Butterfingers' Angel," and David
Kirshenbaum's "Better All the Time."
Though her degree was in straight
theater, Shor's interestinmusicals never
abated."Iwas always interested in MT,"
she says, "and even though I wasn't in
the program I still thought I could do it
anyway." Obviously, she has proven
that.
Nevertheless, Shor's first job as a
non-student actress has not thwarted
her ambitions. She is taking it all in
stride. "I don't particularly want to be
this huge diva star," she claims. "I just
want to make money enough to live and
not wait tables ever again. And I don't
mind ifI have a lapse and I have to wait
tables again. I'm 23 years old; I'm
young, I have time. And it's a part of
being an actress."
Being in New York, she has en-
countered "a ton" of actors from the
University. "Everyone's working,
making money, getting jobs, doing
what it is actors and actresses do," she
says gratefully.
As for all the actors still at the
University, she offers some encour-
agement. "Go for it. New York seems
like a very scary place, but it's like any
other place. It's very large. But you'll
be fine.
"When you audition, go in, have
fun and don't second guess yourself.
And don't second guess them. Just do
your bit, leave the room, and go on to
the next audition," she offers.
"Just trust yourself."
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF plays
through October 2 at the Fisher
Theater in Detroit. Performances
are Tuesday through Sunday, and
tickets range from $27.50 to $47.50,
with student discounts available for
select performances. Call (313)872-
1000.
e U alum Miriam Shor ('93) in "Fiddler on the Roof" at the Fisher Theatre
Oasis
Definitely Maybe
Epic/Creation
Hailing from the Manchester stock
that gave us the Smiths, Oasis' singer
*am Gallagher and his guitarist/song
writing brother Noel, have nurtured a
creative tension that, at its most intense
moments, has manifested in fist fights
and harsh verbal attacks against each
other, a la the Kinks' Davies brothers.
Along with their bandmates, they have
trashed enough hotel rooms to rank the
five-piece up with the likes of Keith
Moon. What's more, they have the
dacity to proclaim themselves "the
w Beatles."
So, we know that these rapscallion
lads have the aptitude for controversy
and the proper arrogance of a band
looking to become a mover and shaker
in the business, but what about the
music?
Fortunately, they've got something
here. Specifically, ten brash overdriven
fdes to love, youth and the excesses of
rock 'n' roll stardom, topped off by a
cynical but pleasant acoustic ballad
about the love-hate nature of relation-
ships.
Noel Gallagher's lyrics are always
straightforward, sometimes clever and
hardly ever dull. "I know a girl called
Elsa / She's into alka-seltzer I She
sniffs it through a cane on a supersonic
train / And she makes me laugh / I've
got her autograph ..." Liam sneers on
"Supersonic," evoking their chief in-
fluence and icon John Lennon at the
height of his White Album-era surreal-
ism.
Oasis's sound is as much MC5 as it
is the Beatles though, and despite the
fact that a good deal of the songs are
raucous all-out jams, the album draws
merit from its refusal to depreciate into
abatch of half-baked riff-rock-every
song really is a song, and the enthusi-
asm of the young band comes through
strong on nearly every track, particu-
larly "Rock 'n' Roll Star," "Live For-
ever," "Cigarettes and Alcohol" and
"Slide Away."
Of course, Oasis doesn't cut it as
the next Beatles; the five-piece has
neither the collective song-writing and
vocal abilities nor the multi-instrumen-
tal skills and abundance of unmined
recording and production techniques
ahead of them that the Fab Four did. No
sweat though - they have a passion-
ate, charismatic vocalist in Liam and a
capableguitaristand songwriterinNoel.
What's more, the band has a work ethic
uncharacteristic of modern music in
the past five years: Noel has already
written a wealth of new material and
Oasis has promised to release a new
single every three months. So, while
"Definitely Maybe" may notmean what
"Meet the Beatles" did in '64, it is an
impressive debut from a band that's
not likely to be forgotten.
- Thomas Crowley
Various Artists
The Acid Jazz Test
Moonshine Music
Acid Jazz is a hybridization ofjazz,
technosoul and rap, which when mixed
together correctly, raises all of the in-
cluded musical genres toan unexpected
level. Not concerned with pleasing any
one musical form, Acid Jazz juxta-
poses differing musical genres and cre-
ates a music that can be as complex as
it is danceable.
"The Acid Jazz Test Part I" is a
collection that gives a fairly represen-
tative view of what American Acid
Jazz is. Differing from its British coun-
terpart, American Acid Jazz is more
rap and soul oriented, hence making it
more accessible to an American dance
crowd. Acid Jazz's influences can be
seen in many rap groups such as Tribe
Called Quest, US3 and Digable Plan-
ets.
"All I Need" by Jhelisa success-
See RECORDS, Page 8
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