PAGE TWO THE MICHIC AN DAILY THURSDAY. NOVE ER 9. 190 TsEcMT a.f(n.f a a.V a fA rr ~F ~ . V...j vAIS SILL 11 L:SI . IV L it l l-3-ii It U, IOui theatre i t M . I 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 . r s ' / AoiIt; SSane wt oa o. w.fesntW ' , I