'Striptease'

iss Saigon, running delegates and acrobats with con-
through the end of the summate skill).
As Thom Sesma proves in the
month at the Mason-
ic Temple, is a proven role of the Engineer, Joel Grey and
hit product: extraordinary sets, a Cabaret cast a long shadow. As the
well-composed score and a second seedy pimp who runs clubs for ser-
act that any Broadway production vicemen and American men in
would envy for its spectacle and Saigon and then Bangkok, Sesma
is oily, snide, funny, creepy, mean
dramatic impact.
Well, of course, it's blatantly and cynical. He moves like an an-
gel and sings like the dev-
based on Madame But-
il.
terfly, which was based
His young protégé, Kim,
on a play by David Be-
is played by Deedee Lynn
lasco. If you don't know
Magno. Her bio doesn't tell
already, Miss Saigon is a
us how this slight young
tearjerker. This time out,
woman turns into this
the lady who's loved and
young star, but it's there in
been left (by an Ameri-
a stunning performance
MICHAE L H.
can) is Vietnamese. The
MARGO LIN
which grows from naïf to
time spans the period
SPECIAL T 0 THE
tragic Butterfly. Her amour,
around the fall of Saigon
JEWISH N EWS
the troubled Chris, is played
to a few years later.
by Will Chase. His perfor-
Miss Saigon has the
hardest working set around, a di- mance is taut: a callow guy just on
rector and production designer who the edge who becomes a nightmare-
know their way around opera and ridden vet. His Act II "arietta" in
how to move a show on greased the masterfully written hotel scene
wheels with a wonderfully orches- is fine.
Then there
are three talent-
ed supporting
players.
As
Ellen,
Chris'
American wife,
Anastasia
Barzee's super
soprano and her
economically de-
tailed perfor-
mance are top
notch. I admired
her Act II "Now
That I've Seen
Her" as intel-
ligent and
charged with
feeling, though
there seemed to
be a pitch prob-
lem. C.C. Brown
delivered a big
bang in the side-
kick role, open-
ing the second
act with a stir-
ring rendition of
"Bui-Doi." As
Thuy, Kim's cou-
sin and reject-
ed suitor, David
Will Chase and DeeDee Lynn Magno star in the tragic love story
running at the Masonic Temple through July 27.
Kater looks and
sounds like a
trated score. And, of course, the fa- leading man in the making.
Finally, Mark Dongon plays the
mous helicopter scene in its terrible
young son of Kim and Chris. This
beauty.
child — who alternates with
One can say a bit
Mia Kanzawa — is tremen-
THEATER
about the cast: There
dously appealing and an intu-
are three major roles
itive actor. As is Miss Saigon —
and three major supporting roles.
As luck would have it, there are six tremendously appealing and savvy
terrific singing actors and actress- as hell in strumming the heart-
es (and a fine phalanx of "chorus strings.
kids" who play strippers, service-
men, peasants, soldiers, conference

Rated R

DETRO IT J E WIS H NEWS

M

w

70

ould you be
surprised if I
told you Burt
Reynolds was
the best thing to watch in
Striptease?
Well, he is. We already
knew Demi Moore could
shake her booty. We've
watched her on "The Late
Show" with David Letter-
man and during an inter-
view with "20/20's"
Barbara Walters. But we
haven't seen Reynolds act
since his star-making role
in Deliverance over two
decades ago; he's coasted
ever since.
Director
Andrew
Bergman (The Freshman,
Honeymoon in Vegas) coax-
es the freshest perfor-
mance out of Burt we've
ever seen.
Reynolds plays David
Dilbeck, a sleazy and de-
spicable congressman
who's on the take from
murderous insiders in the
sugar-cane industry. His
testosterone levels rival
those disclosed in Sen.
Packwood's diaries. Dil-
beck's sexual predilections
are bound to get him in
trouble. And they do.
As expected, the
striptease club milieu is in- Demi Moore bares all.
tegral to the plot — so pre-
pare to be titillated. Laid-off
FBI clerical worker Erin Grant home dancing the hora at a
(Demi Moore) needs to raise Jewish senior center as giving
money quickly to wage a child- the keynote address at a
custody battle against her ex- Young Republican's fund-rais-
er, can't afford to endanger
husband, Darrell
his bid for re-election. This
(Robert Patrick),
MOVIES
is a best supporting actor
for their 7-year-old
part for Reynolds, playing a
daughter, Angela
(Ruiner Willis, Moore's real- perverse buffoon one moment
and a likeable statesman the
life daughter).
A biased judge has unjust- next.
The story, which switches
ly awarded Darrell custody of
Angela on the basis of his stel- back and forth between come-
lar high-school football career dy and drama, takes madcap
and illustrious work perfor- turns along a hairpin course
mance as a police informant. lined with murder, blackmail,
Now, Darrell's in the business insurance fraud, kidnapping,
of stealing wheelchairs, using political corruption and loy-
his daughter as an accomplice. alty.
At the moral center of this
Dilbeck's path crosses Erin's
one night while he's out on the universe are the strippers. Not
prowl club-hopping, in dis- only are they artful ecdysiasts
guise. When a drunk guy from but also expert child-care
a bachelor party climbs up on workers — just normal work-
the stage to caress Erin, Dil- ing girls trying to earn a de-
beck swings into action to pro- cent living. But let's ask the
tect his "angel." The assault is $12-million question (Demi's
photographed by a club pa- acting fee): Are Erin's dance
tron, threatening to tarnish routines worth the price of ad-
Dilbeck's conservative image. mission? Throw in Ariel
The smarmy Dilbeck, as at Sharon (Kimberly Flynn),

PHOTO BY KERRY HAYES

'Miss Saigon'

billed as a former Israeli nurse
who now goes by the stage
name Miss Gaza Strip, and,
for good measure, Urbana
Sprawl (Pandora Peaks), who
makes Pamela Anderson Lee
look like Twiggy, and even
non-politicians will get their
money's worth.

—Dick Rockwell

. 1 ...Outstanding

® gat

Very Good