Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Friday, March 22, 1968 Page~o TH MICIGANDAIL jim peters' music Festive 'Bride' Bows BRAIN BUSTERS Winners! Winners! Winners! h~4iN ~ 111 "Ma Although it didn't coincide ex- actly with the vernal equinox, last night's opening performance of Bedrich Smetana's comic opera, The Bartered Bride, was a fitting1 prelude to UAC's "Spring Thing" weekend of activities. Presented by the School of Music in con-: junction with the Department of Art, this three-act frolic enter- tains nightly through Sunday at the Lydia MNiendelssohn Theatre.I The opera's libretto was writ- ten by Slavic -artist Karel Sabina in Smetana's native Czechoslo- vakian. However, European pro- ductions of the opera have gener- ally used a pretty good German translation. For the University production Music Director Josef' Blatt wrote his own witty Eng- lish translation. The translation offers a particularly fine -lyric tone, keeping the sing - song rhymes to a -minimum and allow- ing free interpretation by the soloists.. The opera's story is simple, but either Sabina or Smetana - or perhaps both of them - have taken: this simple story and stuffed' as.much extra "stuff" into the opera as they possibly could. Dances, drinking songs, acrobats, Oriental dancing girls, and even an 'old-fashioned American (he does wave an American flag) ringmaster find their way. into this story of a lovely country girl Marenka who is forced into an unwanted marriage by her par- ents. As usual, all sorts of complica- tions turn up most of them ar- ranged by the town's marriage broker Kecal. Of course, Maren- kta's real love, Jenik, just happens to be the long-lost son of rich merchant Micha whose "son," in the terms of the sealed marriage contract, she.is supposed to mar- ry. So Jenik reveals himself and the contract is fulfilled. The bride has: been bartered for, but she couldn't be happier about it. Smetana's music brings the merry world of this tiny Bohem- Ian village to the stage very well. His sparkling rhythms, remem- berable melodies, and orchestral .color equalling his contemporary IRimsky-Korsakov, present a pic- ture similar to Johann Strauss' Viennese bonbons. But in rustic nineteenth century Bohemia the boibons. have . been properly drenched in beer. And it. takes a special combin- ation' of talents in singers and musican s to keep the sparkle in- the ale and the nip of springtime Josef Blatt fellow with all the necessary snarls and smiles. But the timbre of his voice seemed unsuited for such strenuous activity. Here again he proved me wrong; his major arias cajoling the contrary lovers were well sung, though some of my hesitation still remains. Probably everyone's favorite was Jim Bryan, playing the simpleton Vashek. With long Pinocchio nose and Buster Brown attire he stut- tered and pshawed his way through attempts at love and ro- mance. He was truly funny with professional bearing and timing. Even his crying gained laughs. His voice, when the score allowed him anything more than stammers, was smooth and clear, but still youth- ful enough. The supporting cast of parents offered a strong support to these stars. They joined Kecal in an Act III quintet which began slowly and sofltly-lyricism performed by experts. Markena's mother, played by Jessye Norman, sang two good arias sympathetic to her daugh- ter's plight. A version of the University Sym- phony Orchestra, reduced to small proportions by Mendelssohn's size, belied none of its smallness. The few strings were never drowned- out by the booming brass, and the whole orchestra never lapsed into sloppy romanticism even in the sweetest scenes Smetana could provide. All this was controlled by maestro Josef Blatt, and he was immersed in the jovial mood of the opera. His tempos were rather slow in the dance numbers, but this was probably for the convenience of the dancers. His hand was always present but never heavy, from the fuguetto of the overture to the final timpani and cymbal smashes. A sustained robust romp, quite a spring thing. By FUNKY LITTLE SUZY Rock 'n' Roll Expert Wowee. What a turnout, kids. The competition has real- ly been stiff in this, the GOLD- EN GREATEST EVERLAST- ING REVOLVING ROCK BRAIN BUSTER. We've received over two hun- dred replies, from as far away as Northampton, Mass., and as near as the DeeGee house. Nifty. Well, now the final results are finally in (and here they are). Unfortunately, space lim- its us and we can't print the answers. But I feel safe in say- ing that nobody won the GRAND PRIZE (which, if you remember, was one unclaimed 1964 low-fi set), because no- body got them all right. Some of the whiz-bang ques- tions that almost nobody got right were: Davy Jones' secret name for Micky Dolenz is May- onnaise. Chuck Berry was ar- rested for transporting a 13 or 14 (not 16) year old girl across state lines for immoral pur- poses, "I'll meet you at your locker when school's dismissed. I'll carry your books home if you'll just give me one little do un do do do un do do do" is from "Angela Jones," as sung by Johnny Ferguson. The Beatles had five in the top ten in April, 1964. Paul Re- vere and the Raiders have changed personnel at least 25 times. The Platters wore their hearts "like a crown" NOT on a crown, like a frown, like a clown, as a mask or on their sleeves. So here's what you've all been waiting for: FIRST PRIZE: 6 albums and 30 golden gassers to Robert Shaw and Paul Fine of 200 Riverside Drive, New York City. Score: 89. SECOND PRIZE and THIRD PRIZE (tie): 2 albums and 6 golden gassers each (they have to flip for the tube of Clearasil) to Terry Flanagan and the Mudbowl Twisters, and John H. DeYoung, Jr., of the Dept. of Geology and Mineralogy (or so he claims). Scores: 83. FOURTH PRIZE: Those 10 big free cokes go to Jeff Roe, Rich Rochlin and Craig Mirkin (that's three and one third apiece, guys.) Score: 82. FIFTH PRIZE: A FULL PINT. of genuine Kentucky- flavored macaroni salad goes spinning out to Les Black, a prospective lawyer. Congrats, Les; and eat hearty! Score: 81. A SPECIAL AWARD has been voted for James Koffron, John McKenzie and Dan Side- man. Entitled the CREATIVE CHEATING AWARD, it con- sists of one album and one free coke. All you winners can pick up your prizes at The Daily to- night from 8-10 or by appoint- ment any time. If you losers want to know what you did wrong, drop by at the same time and I'll be on hand to per- sonally help you find the way. Just ask for Funky' Little Suzy. And always remember, a little bit of soap will never wash away the tears. WAY-OUT CAMP!! Matinee-Sat.-1 1 :00-1 :00, Sun.-1 :00 75c ALL SEATS 75c OBEY FU MANCHUU..OR EVERY LIVING THN IL DIE! K FU, MAI1CHU TECHNICOLOR 0"TECHNISCOPE". Fri. & Sat.-3-5-7-9:15-11:20; Sun.-3 5 7 9:15 Rocky Leaves GOP Race * 4 in the air. From out of the mu- sic school came the people who did it all. There certainly were stars. Four characters provided the zest and spirit to draw the audience into this created world. Soprano Lyn- da Weston, who sang Marenka, was a perfect Little Mary Sun- shine when she needed to be, and yet had the depth of perception to make the scenes of pathos be- lievable. Her voice needed no im- provement; from her very first aria, "If I found you were un- faithful," her vibrancy and full sound filled each scene with life. Her high point was in the Act II aria, "Love, where have you gone." I cannot say enough, nor use real- ly appropriate adjectives to de- scribe her precision, style, and truly professional artistry - a marvelous Marenka. Her lover Jenik was sung by Jerry Langenkamp, his tenor voice has all the lyric charm and grace for Smetana's sweeping ro- mantic arias, packed with emo- tion and passion. Act II provided his best number in "0 what a treasure is my Marenka!" In the beginning I felt uneasy about his middle range, especially in the recitatives. I thought it was much too thin to bear the weight of the continuing conversation, but by Act II his voice found an excellent place for recitation and I was satisfied. This same problem involved Robert Schneider who sang the loquacious village busybody, Kecal, the marriage broker. He is an ex- cellent actor, and portrays the sly (Continued from Page 1) ageous and intelligent decision. Your position will contribute im- measurably to a 1968 victory for the Republican party and even more importantly for this great nation. Barry." In Washington, White House press secretary George Christian declined comment. He said Pres- ident Johnson did not watch the televised bradcast of Rockefeller's news conference. In Lansing, the wife of Gov. George Romney said she believed that her husband would not have pulled out of the race for the Republican presidential nomina- tion had he not felt that Rocke- feller was going to be a candiate. PECE VIGIL On-the Hour Prayer, Meditation, Discussion and Lecture-all night at ST. MARY'S STUDENT CHAPEL EVENTS: "FOLK MASS FOR PEACE-5:00 P.M. "OFFSPRING"-7:30 P.M. "VIETNAM: JOURNAL OF A WAR"-8:30 P.M. The Rev. Richard Blank--(Canterbury House) "REFLECTIONS"-10:00 P.M. "LANGUAGE OF FACES"-11:00 P.M. "MASS FOR PEACE"-12:00 P.M. Films shown in THE NEWIAN STUDENT LOUNGE 1 A look at * Cop#Out' by Daniel Okrent "Just when the sounds make you feel crazy," says the ad for Cop-Out, now showing at the State, "and the lights shine right through your head . . . And everything starts to fly," it's time to get up and walk out before you become physically ill. FRIDAY, March 22 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. NEWMAN-331 Thompson ______ I .:K-. .. .. : ... ..... ";. .:..: .... .::. ": .'rx tggy;:, e ,,: is-. : ....................... r' , ...."xv''. . : ..Yt:".x........ ...a......::::. :..:. : ,.t8::i::?' '. 'i .':a. ,. ...Xfi.+. 2 ::E YiR^. .:£: v:"Stt.::..... 4 . { .... ... Y ..... < .....L4....... ,..::::: :::: x::.... .: ... :. ": ... v. .. .". ... ,. .x .. .. r .. .. .. .r .... x ., u. .......... . .. .....,. .. r. ...... n .. ...v . . ...........P'.... v. .. "....,....... {S:i'f 4 t":: r::: i?;:....... ,. \ .. ..: i .. 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