1234.

Get my shoes in.

Out the door.

Five.

I'm lost.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Feels great.

I'm gonna shine.

After I do what I'm gonna do.

I do it again.

Yeah.

Look at the sky with the beautiful color.

But never just for me.

You gotta share it with another.

I got to show, to give.

Let I want singing show.

Take a look and say a beautiful morning that turns into a beautiful evening.

And together make beautiful art.

And if you wanna see that, come along with me.

That's right.

Welcome to Experience Michiana.

We're so glad you're here with us today.

We have a great lineup for you.

A lot of performing arts for you.

So you want to make sure to check them all out.

Right now I'm up on the stage at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

The Michiana Jewish Film Festival is happening once again for their 16th annual year.

You want to hear all about the fabulous films that they have coming up.

Also, we are heading over to the South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestra.

They're going to be doing a musical performance all about the music of Bon Jovi.

That's a really cool one for you to check out.

But first up, we're heading over to Premiere Arts over at The Learner in Elkhart with Frozen the musical.

Let it go.

For the first time in forever.

Frozen is coming here, right here to the stage at Premiere Arts.

I'm so excited to have my friend Aaron with me now.

Aaron, you and I have worked on some performances in the past, but this is an exciting opportunity for you because you have now become a puppet master.

Yes, definitely.

And tell us about your character.

I am playing Sven, the magical reindeer who travels along with Kristoff.

I don't have my own voice, but Kristoff gets to voice and make up his own voice for me.

Okay.

So do you make any like the.

I feel like, you know, when you go to Disney and you hear the little kisses, are you making any of the little grunts in there?

I'll be making lots of grunts because of the position I'll be in.

Yes.

So this is an entire outfit that you have created.

It really is a puppet.

Yes.

Yeah, I am inside of it.

It's kind of a mix between a puppet and a costume.

So I am inside of this costume.

But I'm also operating as a puppet.

Kind of.

Okay.

How did you get the ideas for this?

Because you created this from scratch, from scratch.

So I reached out to some of the Broadway kind of people or the traveling groups that do frozen, and I actually spoke to two of the different actors who played Sven on Broadway and traveling around the country, and a few different puppeteers, costume designers and makers for that made these costumes before and got kind of tips and tricks from them.

Lots of research and just made it.

And I seen some of it already too.

It reminds me of like, The Lion King on Broadway, right?

It's actually this.

The original Sven costume was designed by the exact same studio that did The Lion King.

Okay, that makes sense.

So that's.

Yeah.

So that studio is very good at making animals.

Why do you think it's, I would say particularly cool to have it as a puppet rather than a character who's just, you know, assigned to it or, you know, maybe something smaller, like a dog with antlers on it or something like that.

I like the fact that like, because the whole kind of little joke of it is Christoph pretending to talk like a reindeer, and he's so it not being a character, being just like an animal portrayed as an animal on stage, then he's like, he is more like an animal than an actor.

So that's that's why I felt like the puppet was better than just the costume.

Yeah.

And I have to ask, how heavy is it?

It probably weighs together.

Yes.

Altogether it probably weighs 20 to 30 pounds.

I'm guessing it's pretty light, I feel like.

What is the process been like to kind of become this character?

A lot of work.

So it's a lot of late nights because I just do this in the evenings for fun, to help out because I just, I love Premiere Arts and working with them.

So it's just a fun time for me to do so.

Yeah.

And you've been a part of premiere.

It's in many other capacities to.

Do you want to talk about that?

Sure.

My wife is the costumer.

She handles all the costumes for the people.

I just volunteer and help out with building sets.

I make puppets.

I help Brittany in the costume shop.

Just, you know, they're finding things and stuff like that.

I help on stage, backstage, pulling flies and doing stuff like that.

And I've been in a few of the productions a little bit.

Okay, so you are you were getting your way to the stage and now you are going to be as an animal.

Yes.

Can we get you in the costume?

Yes.

Can you show us a little bit about how that process goes to get into it?

Yes.

Okay.

It takes a little bit, but I'll have to call in my wife to help.

So you need to get it.

I do, I have a reindeer wrangler that's assigned to me.

And so she's going to be helping me do that.

But Brittany's going to step in and do that for me.

All right.

Brittany.

Okay.

Okay.

This is a complete transformation.

This is amazing.

Hi, my friend.

Can you see me or hear me in there?

Hi.

This is incredible.

And I know Erin has just done such a fabulous job in creating this.

It is so realistic.

And it is as tall as me.

Well, that doesn't take much.

I have my high heels on today.

Craig, tell us about how this process.

I mean, what does this mean to you to have something like this?

Oh my gosh.

I mean, Erin really has taken it and just run with it.

Like I'm like, I'll be surprised.

Just like the audience.

I'm seeing it, really.

I'm actually seeing it for the first time with you right here today in.

Yeah, in its entirety.

So, I mean, what a huge undertaking and what amazing job.

And so to be able to create storytelling like frozen, when it goes from being an animated feature to a live stage, right?

Already there's a little like, oh, how are they going to do that?

This is how enter Erin and Fenn, right?

And so I think that this is going to be one of those moments.

I I've always said over the years, every show I like one moment where the audience goes.

And I think that this might be it.

I love it, I love it, and I've had a little sneak peek of the set too.

It is phenomenal.

Well, you know, we go big or go home and it's it's definitely big.

Not only does it have over 200 local people, people in the learner stage for this weekend, but also just the creativity that went into it.

And not to mention that we did all of this in like six weeks with spring break in the middle.

Yeah.

So that's been a little powered through.

It's been a little crazy.

And so yeah, it is going to be such a treat.

And, you know, I think so many special things the set, the lights, the costumes, the characters.

But you know, the thing I will love the most is all the littles that come to the show dressed like Elsa and Anna.

And when they come in their costumes and they just get so engaged and just love it so much.

And we're just really creating that next generation of theater goer and also participant.

you know, to be a new musical and to have the depth that it has.

You know, one of the things that Disney has just mastered is telling stories that appeal to kids and adults at different levels, and this totally does that.

The movie does that, but the musical takes it a step further, and it's different than a little different than the movie itself.

Many things you'll recognize.

Okay.

Right.

But some of it is, is you do a little deeper dive into their characters and, and the, the interweaving of their lives.

And so it's really a beautiful, beautiful story.

You know, Elsa's journey to being herself is kind of amazing.

And when you kind of put it into the context of how what's going on in the world today and watch it through that lens, it just becomes completely different.

You know, we had a history with frozen because we were the first to do the junior version years ago, but this is now the main stage version, the Broadway musical.

And so doing both at the same time, but will be the first in the region to do frozen.

And this is just amazing.

I just think we're setting the bar pretty high.

You guys are absolutely, absolutely.

And you know, bringing it to Michiana here is really so amazing.

So thank you guys for doing something like this.

I know my kids are both two of my kids are participating and our cast members to, and they have been patiently waiting for this moment to be a part of frozen because everybody wants you.

And I know you had like, record turnouts for auditions for nothing High School Musical, I think probably have we had that many people audition.

And so, you know, that's a great problem to have.

And you want to offer as much opportunity as possible.

And so we hope to continue to do that for the rest of our season.

Right.

Which is we've got guys and dolls coming up next, then Sister Act and then Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

So it really is a season filled with opportunity for the whole family, both on stage and in the audience.

I love that, and I know you guys are so great with family participation, so thank you for being here.

Yeah, we're going to see you again.

Well, see that we can people see frozen.

Yeah.

Oh, we first.

Yes.

May 1st, second and third.

Okay.

And so there's performances Friday, Saturday Sunday with all all youth production on Saturday afternoon.

And then Sunday evening.

That's an added new.

It is because it's so popular.

And with 165 children in the youth show, we wanted to give them not only the opportunity to do it more than just once, but also for their families to be able to make sure that they got to see it.

And it gave a really wonderful opportunity.

We have two Elsa's, so we have a Saturday, Sunday Elsa.

So it gave one more kid another opportunity to let it go and to to have that experience.

So we're really proud of that.

And to be able to put something like this on the stage, the community support, I mean, we have to give them a shout out to everyone who supports.

Absolutely.

Grand design stepped up.

They've been stepping up year after year to to underwrite a show this year.

They certainly have done frozen as well as J.J.

Osceola Design and Form Co.

So lots of help.

Like you said it takes a lot of hands and a lot of dollars to make to make this right.

And so we're really, really just so appreciative.

All right.

Are you ready for a carrot.

Yes I am.

Well.

On Sunday, May 3rd, there's a show coming to the Barlow.

That is something that is right up my street anyway.

And a good Notre Dame connection.

I'm here with Robert Boardman, who is the musical at the music director and conductor of the South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Rob, how are you?

I'm doing great.

Thanks for having me.

Yeah, of course I spoke to you.

I think it was last year at this stage now.

Must have been when there was a queen show on.

So at this time, it's the music of Bon Jovi.

So what kind of motivated that?

Well, Wind Borne Music, which is the company that we've been collaborating with or the nation's leading symphonic rock collaborative outfit, their professional rock band, professional lead singer Brant Havens, their founder, owner, arranger.

He he's created all the he's kind of the brain of of wind borne music.

And so he agreed to collaborate with us on the music of Queen.

That was the first time he ever worked with a youth orchestra was, incidentally, also the largest orchestra that he had ever worked with because we had 95 people on stage.

Usually when Wind Borne performs with a pro orchestra, it's in the neighborhood of 50 people.

So it was really kind of a monster, and he was totally impressed at our level of preparation.

And we rocked the house with music of Queen.

And after that, it was so successful that we started a series of conversations about what might it look like if we were to do this again, but to do something different?

And it was it was just at that point where it was the end of our three year grant for our summer camp, and we were looking to renew our application for grant status through the Community Foundation to extend our summer camp for another three years at Saint Mary's College.

And so we came up with this unique initiative where we were going to partner with Wind Borne Music and also the Music Village, and start to encourage young rock artists to actually front our concert orchestra, the younger orchestra.

That initiative has been pushed off to next summer, but this is the first.

This is the first project which we are bringing something completely brand new into the world.

We we commissioned the show The Music of Bon Jovi.

This is a professional show.

This is not a kiddy concert.

This is not a recital.

This is not an interpretation of Bon Jovi's music.

People should expect a full arena rock concert experience.

the song that I was stuck with me from the song that I was stuck with me from them was always, I know, no pun intended.

Oh, yeah.

That's such a good song.

It's such a good song.

And unfortunately, that's not one of the songs that that's okay are performing.

Yeah, but I wanted us to.

But, you know, maybe when the show.

So I mean, what's unique about this show is this is just the launch.

This is just the first, the first of what will be many symphonic Bon Jovi rock shows.

So we're doing the world premiere.

But when Bourne music will take this show out into the world and perform it with other professional orchestras across the country.

So yeah, because I remember last year with Queen, it was they were already established and you were, you know, you were one of the venues.

But now this time, as you mentioned, you commissioned it, it's starting with you and then it's going to go to other places.

And I know there is, it's the same frontman and that's performing from last year who's a very talented guy.

And I remember talking to him on the on the show last year.

Can you tell me a little bit about him?

Sure, yeah.

MiG Aisa megastar is just such a character, such a charismatic, you know, sort of generational talent.

Anybody who was at the concert will remember him.

His voice, his persona.

He has an incredible physicality about him on stage, the way that he the way that he moves and the way that he works, the audience.

I'm so happy that we're working with him again.

I mean, people, the members of the orchestra will remember him.

Families will remember him, people in the community.

You you want to see a real rock show?

This is this is definitely it.

Yeah.

And it's happening on Sunday, May 3rd.

It's 4:00 right in the afternoon.

Obviously not in the morning, but before in the afternoon at the DeBartolo.

What made you choose the DeBartolo.

We haven't we have a good long running, warm partnership with the folks at Deepak.

And every year we perform there at least once, sometimes twice.

It's a really special venue.

If anybody who's been in there, you know, it's it's beautiful on the inside.

We love working with their production staff.

They have they importantly, they have all of the sort of in-house sound support and tech stuff that needs to be wired up for a show.

This, this, this kind of capacity.

It's also our annual, our annual gala concert.

So there'll be like a brief fundraiser preceding the concert itself.

Nice.

And as you mentioned, yeah, you need you definitely need tech support when you have 95 musicians playing on stage, but it really sounds like it's going to be a really fun show.

And of course, you know, Bon Jovi has been to a lot of Notre Dame games.

He has family members that have gone to the college as well.

So well Jon Bon Jovi and not Bon Jovi, that's the whole band.

But yeah, so it just sounds like it's going to be a great day on Sunday, May 3rd, as I mentioned at 4:00.

So where can people get tickets for this?

Well, they can go to the DeBartolo Performing Arts website and just click on, you know, look for SB.

So Bon Jovi, you'll easily find it or, you know, just do a web search for s South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestra and Bon Jovi.

You'll you'll find it immediately.

And yeah, we're going to we're going to rock the house.

This is a one night only experience.

It will not be recorded.

It will not be rebroadcast.

So if you're not there, you're going to miss it.

And before we go.

Can you tell me a little bit just about the South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestra and what exactly it is and is a part of the South Bend Symphony Orchestra, or is it a completely separate.

We are totally independent.

We've been around for 58 years and serving Michiana.

We're a ten county youth orchestra, sort of kind of an all star youth orchestra organization for passionate, talented young musicians across the region.

Right now, we serve about 160 students and families.

And yeah, I mean, I'm glad that you asked that.

We have something else really exciting coming up will be for our summer camp, June 15th to 19th.

We're going to be giving the world premiere performance of the soundtrack to the HBO Tom Hanks produced series, John Adams episodes one and two, so we will project the episodes on a screen, and then the orchestra will perform the soundtrack perfectly with the sound and dialog for episodes one and two.

This is in part to commemorate the 250th anniversary of America.

And of course, we have auditions for students who are interested and want to join in the fall.

We have big plans.

The Lord of the rings film score is happening next year.

John Williams Clarinet Concerto, Mahler Second Symphony, which is massive.

So a lot of exciting things happening with SB, so all righty.

Well hopefully people go online, get those tickets and Sunday will be a great day.

I actually know a couple of priests and I text them earlier and said they should go, since they're always living on a prayer and they didn't appreciate my joke.

That's a true story.

I really did do that.

So.

But well, they might just say back to you, it's my life, you know?

So always.

Yeah.

So yeah, I can keep going.

If you want to do this.

But.

Well, you know, let's not give love a bad name.

You know, I think we should stop, though.

Better roses.

That might just get a bit weird, though.

All right.

Thanks so much, Rob.

Thanks, David.

Well here at Notre Dame.

The school year is coming to an end, but we are not quite done with our films here and I'm so excited to have my friends with you.

It's good to see you again, Steve and Ricky, of course.

Good to see you.

You guys have a few more things to kind of wrap up this season before everyone has out the door.

We do.

We're on the last day of classes, but it's not the last day of films.

We got some still in the tank.

And just for the upcoming weekend, two that are of interest.

Professor Finkel, funder finally has summer break coming.

But before that, showing the surfing documentary from the 1960s, The Endless Summer, which has inspired hundreds and thousands of not only surfing surfers but fans of sports documentaries.

Oh, interesting.

And then we're closing with a very odd film, which we like to do at the end of the year, which was described as David Lynch's Eraserhead, Meet Zelda, and that's called Elba.

Okay.

And that's called opex.

It's about a guy getting sucked into like, a 1980s Mac computer game.

Are you serious?

I am like a Jumanji, like the new age Jumanji.

But like, think of King's Quest or like the old Atari games.

Okay?

Those are old stuff.

You know those?

That's a good one.

And when are those happening?

Because I know we're at the end of the season.

So Finkel funders still Sunday afternoons and then the rest are screens are at night.

All right.

Now this is big, you guys.

Last year we were together for the 15th anniversary, 16 years now of the Michigan, a Jewish film festival.

This is an exciting time.

Tell me about how last year's went.

Just like every year, it was very well received by the audiences that attended.

Lots of dialog happening after the films between films.

People stay to chat and we love to see that happen.

We're grateful to the Barlow for partnering with us, offering their space, being very gracious with their space, and we're excited to move forward into our 16th season.

We have another great lineup.

I love it.

What was the intention, I think back 16 years ago?

What's the intention behind the film festival and bringing it here to South Bend?

We want to make our Jewish culture and history and these cinematic treasures available to the broader community.

That was the intent.

That was very intentional to partner with Notre Dame, to make this successful by the whole community.

Of course, our Jewish community loves coming on to campus and and the warmth of the theater and being among friends.

It's really about sharing and making sure that these stories are heard, and that we honor the filmmakers who are telling these stories.

And again, these are open to everyone.

So everyone is welcome here to come to the film festival, which is just wonderful.

And I know we've talked about this before too, but it's so reasonably priced for the tickets themselves to so you can come and enjoy the festival.

And it's multiple days we're talking.

Right.

Okay.

So when is the festival happening.

Because I know it's coming up soon, May 11th through the 14th.

This is the week after Mother's Day, Monday through Thursday.

There will be two films each night, so a double feature each night.

And again, guests are welcome to stick around in between films.

Enjoy if they prefer to bring some food along with them.

I know we're open to, you know, giving people every, every minute that they can they can have together to talk about the films, enjoy some some food and then stick around for the final.

I love it.

So if you forgot about your mom for Mother's Day, this is a great post Mother's Day.

Or maybe you give her tickets to it.

That's right.

And bring her.

So let's talk about the lineup for this year.

So we have eight different films showing this year.

Is that right?

Yeah, we have three documentaries.

We have a couple comedies, some really great drama features and a couple of short films as well.

Monday night begins with Maintenance Artists at 530.

This is a documentary about a New York artist from the 1970s, Merrill Youkilis, who combined art and action.

So her performance art was capturing everyday routine maintenance tasks.

Like.

Like the garbage truck.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

Or just cleaning house making, taking care of your kids.

She wanted to express these everyday actions as art, and it tells the story of her, her life and her life's work.

And it's really interesting.

And then what is the double feature portion of this one for Monday night?

So while I do want to mention that after the film, we have our opening night reception, which is being sponsored by the Simon Foundation of Temple Beth El.

So friends are welcome to stick around, have a little snack, have a little noche, and again discuss the film and love it and hopefully stick around for the second film, which, speaking of Mother's Day, this is a tribute to mothers.

It's called Once Upon My Mother, based on a true life story of a mother who took care of her son, who had clubfoot and gave him a life with dignity as he was growing up with this disability, her her testament to her child, making sure that he was treated no differently than the other kids in school.

Yeah.

It's a wonderful drama film, a French film, and we're just pleased to share it.

And I know some of the films are in French, but there are subtitles available to.

Right?

That's right.

Okay, okay.

As always.

All right.

Let's head into Tuesday.

The 4530 begins on Tuesday, May 12th with the road between us.

The ultimate rescue.

Which?

And this one's really interesting.

This is a documentary.

Yeah.

It's almost it's almost a thriller.

The way it's told about a rescue of one man's children and grandchildren.

On October 7th in Israel, during the Hamas invasion of the kibbutz in Israel.

And it's told, like, minute by minute, a recreation of of okay, of that entire day and almost like take in vibes from just going to say, yeah, it really helps give you a different perception of how events happen, especially when you can dive in from their perspective.

And we felt it was a very important story to share.

Again, a universal themes of of the human experience.

And what would you do in this situation if it was your family?

And that's what we want people to take away is, you know, put yourself in their shoes and experience that.

Okay, great.

And then what do we have coming up after that?

The second film on Tuesday is The Soundman, The Soundman, which is a Belgian film, just a great a true tribute to the power of of radio, the power of love.

It happens just on the the cusp of World War two and tells the story of a young actress, a young soundman in the iconic slate.

Is it the flag building in Belgium during World War Two?

This radio tower, as they are putting on performances overhead, the war planes are flying over and it's it's again, as as we look at different periods of time over, over the decades, this being World War two, it gives you an idea that there were personal, there were people experiencing love and heartbreak at the same time, that the world felt like it was crumbling around them.

And it's just a beautifully told film with just a wonderful sound design that I think will be a true experience in the DeBartolo and the Browning cinema, especially being able to do it here, I love that.

All right, let's head into Wednesday.

I'm really excited about the Ethan Bloom film because that really it combined the community right here on campus, right here on campus, a young Jewish boy who's just months away from his bar mitzvah has somewhat of a crisis of faith in that he is he wants to explore the Catholic faith in his community.

The floaters is another one that's coming up on Wednesday for the second part of the day.

That's right.

Yeah, that is a bit edgier for among among our variety of films, this one being a bit of an edgier comedy about Jewish summer camp, and one former camper who returns as a as a counselor, let's say.

I love that now I know where we're almost running out of time, but Thursday is really special because for one of those features, you actually have the director who's going to be coming in to chat as well.

We do.

We're lucky we have.

So we have the two films.

We're going to start with the most Precious of cargoes, which is Michel Hazanavicius film.

People might know him.

He made the artist that won Best Picture of Olga, he won Best director.

So it's an animated film again, very gorgeous and just a very compelling story about children and their and their kind of inherent virtues, as well as a hybrid documentary.

So a documentary with some magical realism notes, which sounds very intriguing.

Yeah.

Which is the second film called The Neighbors.

And the director, Yoav Potash, will be zooming in and being in conversation.

So it's great to hear someone who not only knows the story inside and out, it's about murders that are occurring after World War Two in Poland.

Where can people get their tickets at Performing Arts?

You.

If you google Michiana Jewish Film Festival, you will find everything you need online.

All right.

Perfect.

Thank you guys so much.

Thank you.

We know there are so many things here to do in Michiana, so please be sure to share them with us on our Facebook page.

We'd love to check them out and share them with everyone.

We'll see you next week.

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