'If We Are Women'
'Mission: Impossible'
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he theme of Joanna McClel- thusiasm and intelligence, at- these women need room to flex
land Glass' play If We Are tractive.
their emotional muscles.)
Women (rounding off the De-
In fact, as much as they tell us
As Ruth MacMillan, the ma-
troit Repertory's "Year of the of their regrets in their own lives, triarch from Saskatchewan, Dee
Woman") is like Hammerstein's sometimes almost whin-
Andrus is well cast, oh
lyric for "Getting to Know You." ing, they are likable. Im-
so in touch with her
THEATER
And like that jaunty, chin-up mensely. If you know
memories; Shirley
song, its cheeriness belies its se- women, you'll smell the
Benyas as Rachel Co-
riousness.
truth in Glass' play.
hen, the bluestocking,
If We Are Women is a funny You'll just fill in the
is believable as an in-
play that skims the cream off the blanks when you get to
tellectual and as a
milk of pain. Glass has a real "reminds me of ..."
heimish hausfrau.
knack for language, not just the
And so, Yolanda Fleis-
(Both were working
rhythms of spoken speech, but cher has directed them
hard at getting their
its inherent beauties, capacity to naturally; they're as
lines on opening night,
MICH AEL H.
deceive and to hurt.
comfortable and real as
which hampers the
MAR GOLIN
Glass writes about four a discarded piece of
flow a bit.) As Jessica
SPECIA L TO THE
women: Jessica MacMillan Co- clothing draped across a
JEWIS H NEWS
MacMillan Cohen,
hen is a successful writer from chair back, all the
Loretta Higgins has
Canada who's divorced from her essence of the occupant still lin- quite an edge of hysteria. She
Jewish husband. Her mother-in- gering there. I would like to have closes in on her character. Re-
law, Rachel Cohen, is a Jewish seen a bit more of the rhythm cently bereaved (the man she
intellectual who sticks to her ex- pumped up: pauses and real has lived with for years has sud-
denly died just before the
play begins) and fretting
over her daughter's way-
wardness, she gives a
strong, memorable perfor-
mance.
As Polly, Catherine
Worth is marvelous as the
least-sympathetic charac-
ter. One wants to slap her.
Hard. But Glass keeps our
sympathies. At play's end,
Polly has gone to greet her
boyfriend of one night (and
the man responsible for her
de-flowering) for whom she
is insistent on giving up
Yale in the fall so she can
move to a farm with a guy
who has been kicked out of
school for selling dope.
We know he's going to
drop her hard. The two
grandmothers, backs to the
audience, prepare to meet,
smile and hide their feel-
ings. Their backs tell the
story, braced against bad
memories, ready to catch
Polly when she falls. Stage
lights out. Then the two
move to the elaborately set
table and each blows out
one of the candles. Total
darkness. Yolanda Fleisch-
er and Joanna McClelland
Glass — two women, one
mind. Lovely.
daughter-in-law with If We Are Women's
time are still a great
fervor. Jessica's moth- Shirley Benyas and
part of the good acting
er, Ruth MacMillan, is Dee Andrus, two
and direction.
an illiterate, no-non- grandmothers in an
Four terrific women
sense farm woman intergenerational
are on the stage at the
down from the plains of story.
Detroit Rep show, run-
Canada on her first air-
ning through June 23.
plane flight. And finally, Polly (It is a nice set by Richard Smith
Cohen, the newest generation: and Bruce Milan, but the stage
18, snotty, intractable, insuffer- is too small to contain some of
able and still, because of her en- the histrionic exits called for —
Bagel Barometer
c ;: t) . 40. __Outstanding
Good
„
Rated PG-13
Business Cruise got a lot of
mileage just by dancing around
es, it's got that throbbing, un- in his BVDs? Now he's been
mistakable Lalo Schifrin stripped of his Impossible Mis-
theme. And superstar Tom sion Force and left hanging out
Cruise. Yes, it's got stunts — to dry in a chaotic world full of
bullet-train racing (150 mph) suddenly out of work, cold-war
through the Chunnel (England to espionage agents all out for them-
France), plus choo-choos vs.
selves. Sure, there's plenty of
copters, and spies vs. counterspies, high-tech surveillance (who's that
and agents vs. double-agents, and behind those nifty Foster Grant-
treachery and traitors. You know, cams?), top-flight breaking and
same old, same old. But basically entering (CIA headquarters, no
it's a near-miss on ... Mis-
less) and the requisite
sion Impossible, the new
high-speed pursuit. But
MOVIES
improbable spy thriller di-
whom can you trust?
rected by Brian De Palma
One of the top secrets be-
(The Untouchables). If it only had hind the Mission Impossible Force
a heart.
is at last revealed — the team's
Look for daredevil action sim- salaries. It seems that 60 grand a
il sr to the mistaken-identity high year doesn't cut it anymore for
jinx of the overlooked thriller If Phelps (Jon Voight). Then, the
Looks Could Kill with Richard film's initial mission goes down
Grieco. In big-budgeted Mission: the tubes, and Ethan Hunt
Impossible, you will be necessar- (Cruise) is framed; seems his par-
ily confused by the intricacy of its ents' bank account has mysteri-
plot, and amazed by De Palma's ously expanded by $100,000. To
ability to juggle all the physical avenge his friends and vindicate
stunts and technical intrigue.
himself, he must steal or recover
You will, however, miss subtle the top-secret list which contains
interactions between characters the identities of U.S. secret agents
which would allow you to devel- all over the world. If Hunt were
op loyalties with any of the really smart, he'd turn his hack-
agents, although Vanessa Red- ing talents toward developing an
grave, as Max, provides a Internet WEB server, then go
sparklingly sinister performance public and make millions
which lingers beyond the last overnight. Why risk your neck for
frame. And, Ving James, from a measly 60 grand?
1/
Pulp Fiction, has a fresh smile
,®.= /2
that radiates intelligence.
Remember when in Risky
—Dick Rockwell
y
'Cold Comfort Farm'
Rated PG-13
ravishingly pleasant time is to be had by
MOVIES
all in Cold Comfort Farm, a charming Eng-
lish comedy of manners — well, make that
Miss Manners.
It's London in the 1930s, and newly orphaned Flora Poste
(Kate Beckinsale), a stylish 20-something, must choose between
three sets of relatives offering to take her under their wings: a
goody two-shoes scoutmaster, an ailing Scottish bird watcher,
or the doom-laden Starkadders of Cold Comfort Farm.
Fortunately, Flora has career plans to become a writer (some
30 years hence), and, therefore, she selects the "appalling and
interesting" family that will provide the most grist for her liter-
ary mill. "I want to learn about real life," she opines. "What for?"
inquires her ardent suitor. "So I can put it on paper," she coyly
chimes.
Shortly after, Flora is carted off to the decrepit and gloomy
Cold Comfort Farm. The farm is run, or should I say overrun,
by the Starkadder clan who, upon first glance, might be mis-
taken as British counterparts of the "close-knit" family in De-
liverance. Nonetheless, Flora takes her new surroundings in
stride — the dusty pillowcases; the grimy drapes; the dark, dank
and dreary ambiance of the entire Starkadder domain.
As just one of several delightful running gags that befit this
A