PAGE TWO
THE MICHIC AN DAILY
THURSDAY. NOVE ER 9. 190
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Civic Theatre Presents 'Seasons'
#il/el
TONIGHT at
THE ARK
0
By BOB AND BETSY SMITH
Hierarchically speaking, the
structure of Robert Bolt's "A Man
for All Seasons" now playing at
Trueblood Aud. is an inverted tri-
angle, with the base of Cromwell's
political intrigue and Sir Thomas
More's ethical standards rising
high above the flighty dancing feet
of Henry VIII.
It's no wonder, then, that this
unstable construction tends to
teeter dangerously, sometimes in
the direction of banality and some-
Static M
By DAVID APPEL
When one examines the pro-
gramsnoffered by today's opera
repertories, orchestras, chamber
groups, and soloists, one sees that
for the most part these programs
consist of music of the past. This
was not always the case.
In Beethoven's time, the public
listened mostly to contemporary
opera. And even during the youth
of Roger Sessions, who discussed
this, problem before an audience
In Rackham Tuesday night, the
public was more curious about con-
temporary music than is the pub-
lic today.
Sessions, a noted American com-
poser, said he remembers how the
public scorned contemporary com-
posers who later became recog-
nized and whose works have en-
dured. Debussy, Schonberg, and
Stravinski are excellent examples
of this.
The difference between the pub-
lic before 1917 and the public
today, however, is that although
the earlier audience made mis-
takes concerning the perishability
of various composers, they still
possessed a curiosity and interest
about contemporary composers.
Sessions characterized the atti-
tude of today's music-listening
public as represented by the feel-
ing that "Mozart is more impor-
tant" ordperhaps more correctly,
by a desire for "composers to
write music like Beethoven.'"
We begin to think of music of
the past as educational, good for
us, or as definers of forms. We
strip the music of the experience
that made it and the experience
that it is supposed to give us.
Sessions related this problem
times in the direction of portent-
e ousness. The structure of plot andj
characterizations is excessively
simple, and the end of the play is
obvious from the beginning.
The basic tensions that the play
exploits are those between moral-
ity and expediency, and betweeni
constancy and change: Cromwellc
and Master Rich are expedient and
changeable, and Sir Thomas More3
alone, of course, is constant and
moral. The rest of the charactersi
do a rather heavy dance around
the dependent, but rather more contrast emerges in his dialogue'
mundane tensions of human af- with Sir Thomas: the king's will
fection and human survival. alone is free; however, much he
The figure of Henry VIII, which may abuse it, and all the rest of
makes a fleeting appearance in the his kingdom must bend their wills
first half of the play, is essentially to his, however, much they may
without ambiguities and without abuse their consciences in the pro-
interst: he doesn't develop and he cess.
doesn't change, and we know all Interestingly and significantly,
we're ever going to know about however much of a trial the king's
him when he first appears on the free will may have been to his sub-
stage in his cloth-of-gold boat- jects, to the audience it provides
man's costume and tin whistle. a relief from the prevailing seri-
Nevertheless, one interesting ousness of the rest of the char-
acters' struggle with life. The other
blessed relief comes from the for-
tunately frequent appearance of
the Common Man, to whom ques-
tions of free will and conscience
1Sir Thomas's is the whole burden
Grad Student Council
BRUNCH
of Bagel, Lox, etc.
SUNDAY, November 12, 12 noon
Hillel Director, DR. HERMAN JACOBS
"Observations on the Six Days War"
8:30 P.M.
1421 Hill Street
'I
Affiliates $1M.00
B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation
Others $1.25
1429 Hill St.
AS- -
lectures
. __ _ _ _ __ _ _. v______
LIE
usic astes
I
partly to the change in the nature
of the public. "The notion of a
'public' affects our point of view
and distorts our attitudes about
what music and composers are.
Before 1917, concert audiences
tended to be small, and concert-
goers usually had some firsthand
contact with music."
"After 1917 and the release of
the first quality long-playing rec-
ord, after the beginning of a
diffusion of 'serious music' through
radio and records, the public grew
much larger. This was and is good,
but business and economics have
greatly affected the thinking of
the public." .
To attract the public, music of
the past has been used. The public
has learned musical communica-
tion from music of the past, and
now approaches today's music with
the same expectations. But where
the audience says, "Communicate,
damn you," there can be no com-
munication.
"The primary motive for writ-
ing music," says Sessions, "is not
for the public or for colleagues,
but because music exists. Because
composers love it, have something
to say that they like, and feel
the need to add to music."
So what kind of response does
a composer expect? According to
Sessions, he wants his music per-
formed in such a way that the
individual becomes aware of what:
it contains.
"One has a right to his imme-
diate reactions," says Sessions,
"but those reactions aren't worth
much until further pursued. To
have a few people love passion-
ately your work is the most that
can be hoped for.
Finally, although many of the
composer's problems seem to have
come from the larger public, Ses-
sions believes that it is good that
that public exists. "I detest elites
and status groups. My experience
shows that what is really good
does winout in the end."
"But," concludes Sessions, "the
minority-that part of the public
that passionately loves music-
is very important because they are
the people that ultimately dis-
cover what is good, and make it
appreciated and known."
CHANCELLOR ROGER W. HEYNS
University of California at Berkeley
LEADERSHIP AND DECISION MAKING
IN THE MODERN UNIVERSITY
November 10, 1967,. 8 p.m.
RACKHAM LECTURE HALL
of conscience in the play, and his
legalistic approach to morality is
unconvincing in its coldness and
in its rigidity. Ultimately, however,
the law fails him and he has to
make a stand deriving from his
heart rather than from his head.
The production by the Ann Ar-
bor Civic Theatre may be ama-
teurish but it gives absolutely no
offense. This was surely no simple
play either to act in or to stage.
The director, Norman Wilkenson,
is to be congratulated for what
dexterity of timing and movement
there was.
The outstanding performance of
the evening was Beverley's Pooley's
as the Common Man, and is wellj
worth the price of admission in it-
self. Sir Thomas's wife, played byI
Patricia Reilly, had a flawless in-
tonation and a truly professional
polish. Sir Thomas himself was
properly fatherly, and quite con-
vincingly moralistic.
Come Hear
DR. BENJAMIN SPOCK
sponsored by
The New Politics Party j
Fri., Nov. 17th 7:45 P.M.
Ann Arbor High Auditorium
--Donation-
CIINEMA II
presents
"SMILES
OF A
SUMMER
NIGHT"
Ingmar Bergman, Dir.
plus Chapter 3
FLASH GORDON
LAST 8 DAYS
"SUPERB!
WARM,
MOVING,
AND
HUMOROUS!"
-Wa nda Hate,
New York Daily News
--Starts 11/17
'Taming of the Shrew"
SIDNEY
IPOITIEI
in JAMES CLAVELL'S
To Sig,
wiTH
LOVE'
JEiM
Shows at 1, 3, 5,7,9:10
--
RFOX EASTRN THEATRES
FOX VILLa5E
375 No. MAPLE RD.-"769-1300
Metr-Goldwyn-Maver presents A Judd Bernard-Irwin Winkler
HELD OVER
3RD WEEK
DIRECT FROM ITS ROADSHOW ENGAGEMENT!
SPECIAL POPULAR PRICES
SPECIAL SCHEDULED PERFORMANCES
NOW SHOWING
2 BIG HITS!
Production
LEE MARVIN
"POINT BLANK"
ANGIE DICKINSON
In Panavilonand Metrocolor
FRITHJOF BERGMANN
SPEAKING on the Nature of Freedom
Friday-THE LAURALEI
singing English, Scottish, and Appalocian Ballads
Saturday-THE WEST AFRICAN GROUP
(with Fobi, Solomon, Horacio, Chief Koko, and others)
doing typical African music-including the TALKING DRUMS,
xylophone, and Folk music
~LWD~ ~D~~Jof DLEUM
.AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL
PSYCHEDELIC COLOR
PET FNDARSUSAN SIRASBERG
3SHOWS DAILY
* NO SEATS RESERVED
o CONTINUOUS SHOWINGS
PLUS-
i .1~i
UNION-LEAGUE
sgc... metamorphosis
-a discussion of possible change-panelists
from sgc, grad student council, michigan daily
and uac
3-5 friday, nov. 10a
campvs
assembly hall (basement) f
union
Mon.-Fri.: "POINT" 7:00-10:25; "NAKED" 8:40'-
SAT-SUN.:"POINT" 1:05-4:35-8:05 ___ ___
SAT-SU "NAKED" 2:40-6:15-9:45
STARTS WEDNESDAY
Glamour!.. Speed!.. Spectacle
A E rWIE i ROD~j u~if{ lOjNwt
P . 1STEVE MCQU EEN
RICHARD ATIEIIOROUIH RICHIARD CREIIA CAOICE BERGEN
MARAYAT ANDRIANE" ROBERT NWKSE ROBER ANDERSON - RCHAR McKENNAR~cI~oS (VNARMMI
4
*
I
Fri., Nov. 10
Aud. A,
NO 2-6264
I
I
Sat., Nov. 11 Angell Hall
7:00 & 9:15 P.M.
50c
NEXT
Paul Newman
:20E "COOL HAND
4:50 LUKE
N SUPER PANAVISION AND METROCOLOR
-Ud
MGM
READ AND USE DAILY CASSIFIED ADS
r
8:20 1 I
NOW SHOWING
NEXT WEDNESDAY
i
a
11
A
UNIONLEAGUE Second Time Around
And it's SUCCESS Bound
THE
GOOD
INTENTION
. . .
TI
GUILD
SERGEI EISENSTEIN
FESTIVAL
Tonight & Tomorrow
IVAN THE
TERRIBLE
PART I (1945)
r
DUTCHMAN
All the urgency and tension of the Award Winning play by le Roi Jones is now on film!
NO ONE UNDER 18 YEARS OF AGE WILL BE ADMITTED. -q r e
Special Childrens
Mat. Sat. 12-2-4
Sun. 1 :30-3:30
11
11
I11
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