Celebrity News

Max Falls and Hannah McEvilly rehearse a scene.

Fancy is directed by Travis Walter, MBT artistic director. Zachary Ryan is music director and pianist.

“Dan and Susan (show developers) wondered what happened to that girl in the famous song,” Walter said. “They decided to write a show, using music everyone knows, to tell her story. We’re thrilled they’ve chosen MBT as the theater for the world premiere.”

McEvilly, raised in Austin, did not anticipate theater participation until it was recommended early on by a soccer coach, who thought the stage would be more in keeping with her athletic skills and abilities relating to others. Besides attending McCallum High School, a performing arts center, she was active with the ZACH Theatre, a professional company that also offers classes.

Musical theater studies and participation, which brought her into the world of dance, also brought her into Jewish community activities. She entered dance competition in the Maccabi Games and was cast in a young people’s production of Children of Eden at her local Jewish Community Center.

McEvilly’s bachelor’s degree in musical theater performance was realized in 2020 at the University of Oklahoma. Along the way, she accepted summer stock roles in Annie Get Your Gun, Footloose and Spamalot.

“I moved to New York last September, appeared in a talent showcase and signed with my agent,” she said. “That’s how I came to find Meadow Brook and be a part of this production.”

Because of COVID and the stopping of live shows, she continues to keep working remotely for a marketing firm in Texas, which assigned her to developing brand strategies. After sharing 900 square feet of apartment space with three roommates, she is able to move into a space with only one other person when the run of Fancy is completed.

McEvilly is proud to have her working mom, Deborah Gabor, as a role model who encouraged her daughter, an only child, in seeking a stage career.

“My mom taught me to never give up and always honor my commitments,” McEvilly said. “I find my experience in theater has helped [the marketing work] come along because it’s all about storytelling through different mediums.”

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ASNER; TRUST ME: A GOOD HOLIDAY MOVIE

I feel I have to note the passing of Ed Asner, age 91, even though there are good “Jewish-themed” obits in many sources, including the JTA and the Forward newspaper. I enjoyed his acting, admired his activism, and was in awe as decade-after-decade he stayed busy in film, TV and stage roles. Every year, I mentioned Asner in this column several times because he was always in something new — and I knew he would be good in it.

I can suggest you read two (free, online) articles for a better sense of the man. On Aug. 26, the Hollywood Reporter posted an interview they did with Asner on Aug. 16, just 13 days before his death. Simply search for “Ed Asner Reflects on the Golden Age” and “Hollywood Reporter” and you’ll find it.

The questions are good, and each stage of his life is covered (youth, college, time in the army, career milestones). It reads like a mini-autobiography, and you can “hear” Asner’s voice as you read it. His wry sense of humor is on display from the first question on. That first question is about how his birth name, Itzhak, “morphed” into Edward — and Asner makes a slightly risqué Yiddish joke about his name.

Later in the interview, Asner relates how he got the Lou Grant role. The Mary Tyler Moore Show co-creator, James L. Brooks, didn’t like the way Asner read his audition lines. He told Asner, “We want you to read it all-out, like a crazy, wild, meshuga, nutso.” Asner did it that way and got the part.

Also check out the Variety article titled “James L. Brooks Pays Tribute to Ed Asner.” Brooks, a three-time Oscar winner, described Asner as a team player who helped set a harmonious and respectful tone for the work environment and always kept his eye on what was good for the show. “He was a beautiful actor,” Brooks, now 81, said. “He was just as deeply a good guy as everybody sensed he was.” (For more, see the obituary on page 61.)

Arrangement (2007) is a little-known film that I just watched and enjoyed a great deal. It’s a feel-good, very Jewish story that fits in, I think, with the joyful spirit of the High Holidays. Zoe Lister-Jones, now 38, stars as a 22-year-old Orthodox woman who has just begun teaching at a Brooklyn public school. She becomes friends with another teacher, a religious American-born Muslim woman about her age. Both accept that their marriages will be arranged, but they want the right guy. Necessary spoiler: the ending is happy and that’s nice for the Holidays. Neither woman breaks with their community. Available on Amazon Prime.

Ed Asner