An Evening with Jeff Daniels May 3, 2008

Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 4:00 PM and 8:00 PM

An All-American looking leading man of the movies, Jeff Daniels first registered with the public with his performances as a mostly self-involved semi-intellectual who cheats on his cancer-stricken wife in "Terms of Endearment" (1983). Two years later, he solidified his status as the smug actor in Woody Allen's "The Purple Rose of Cairo" (1985). But Daniels' defining role came as the feckless hero in Jonathan Demme's offbeat comedy-thriller, "Something Wild" (1986). Other films include "Ragtime" (1981). "Heartburn" (1986), "The Butcher's Wife" (1991), "Arachnophobia" (1990), "Speed" and "Dumb and Dumber" (both 1994), "The Five People You Meet In Heaven" (2004), “Because of Winn-Dixie” (2005), "Good Night and Good Luck" (2005), and "The Squid and the Whale" (2005), RV (2006), and “The Lookout” (2007). In the late 80s, Daniels retreated to his hometown of Chelsea, Michigan, where he founded the Purple Rose Theater Company. Since its inception, the company has produced several of Daniels' own plays. Daniels made his feature directorial debut with the locally themed comedy "Escanaba in da Moonlight" (2001), adapted from his stage play about a hunting trip gone slightly awry.

It was for the Purple Rose Theatre that Daniels brought out his guitar and began performing as a singer/songwriter/humorist. What follows is his own words: “A few years ago, I was in New York finishing up the final mix of ESCANABA IN DA MOONLIGHT. For those of you who’ve never mixed a film, it makes watching paint dry interesting. So while Steve Curran was slaving over every single sound in our epic tale of deer hunting in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, I sat in the back of the room typing three decades of my musical life into my computer. Like the teacher you never saw coming, I looked up and suddenly he was there. Through weary eyes, he asked me what I thought I was doing. I told him I was organizing my songs, getting ready for this little fundraiser at the Purple Rose Theatre in a couple months. It seems someone had suggested that if I were pushed out onstage with a guitar, people might actually pay money to see what happened. In the non-profit world of fundraising, this is known as a ‘good idea.’ Steve stared down at me with the stress of an eighteen hour day and no end in sight oozing from his pores, and he said, ‘You really should record the shows.’ He asked me what I was afraid of. I told him that in case he’d forgotten, I make my living as an actor, not an actor who sings. I said if I put out a CD there’s a very good chance I’d be compared to William Shatner, to which Steve replied, ‘Sounds like a song to me.’ ” Jeff returns after two sellout shows in 2006.

Tickets- $18-$38

Official Website: http://www.grandoperahouse.org/events/tas/0708/14jeffdaniels.html