Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Fridav. November S. 1968
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How was Soph Show?--
Well...
music
Londoners excel in tonal blend
By TIiOMAS R. COPI
As football coach Bump Elliot
could tell you, some Years pro-
duce a better crop of sopho--_
mores than others. And just as
some sophomore classes, come up.
with good football players, some
also come up with fine singers
and dancers from which the
producers of Sophi Show can
select their players.
Unfortunately, there are lean
years for both Bump and for
Soph Show. But it is important
that- the people responsible for
producing Soph . Show pick a
show that best displays the tal-
ent they have to work with.
In picking Carnival for Soph
Show '68, the producers have
not made the -best possible
choice. Carnival is not really a
fery memorable show. It's theme
song, "Love Makes the World
Go 'Round," is really its only
good song.
The thing that made Carnival
the hit that it was on Broad-
way was the magnificent voice
of Anna Maria Alberghetti, an
opera singer who- turned her
talents to the world of musical
comedy. Deborah Swets, who
played the lead in' last night's
production, is simply not Miss
Alberghetti. But neither: can 'we
realistically expect her to be.
But what we can expect is
that the burden of carrying an
entire show shoildn't be put on,
her shoulders .
Miss Swets has .a sweet and
honest, but unfortunately also
a frail, voice. Just for the sake
of audibility; she'perhaps could
have done her solos a capella.
And the other leads, with one
exception, had the same prob-
lem--that of being heard..
But let's not write this year's
Soph 'Show off as a total loss.,
The usual vitality; vibrance and
enthusiasm that only college;
sophomores can bring to a stage
production was there. And a
bevy of 'beautiful coeds, led (in
body and spirit) by "snake
dancer" Debbie Winston, added
what only beautiful coeds can.
And the puppet.'show around
which .much of the action re-
volved; which could have been
the weak poirnt of the show,
was' instead its strength. Most
of' the mTally funny lines; were
given to the puppets, and the
puppeteers did an excellent job
with their flannelt charges, es-
By R. A. PERRY
As the Chicago impressario
Harry Zelzer once said, "Good
music isn't nearly so bad as it
sounds." I might add that some
music is not nearly so good as
it sounds, especially when the
sounds are produced by as out-
standing a group as the Melos
Ensemble. Comprised of twelve
of London's top musicians, this
ensemble, which might be com-
pared to the Serkin/Casals
Marlboro group, have developed
both an amazing diversity of
programming and a consensus
of feeling that comes only from
long acquaintance together.
Several members of the En-
semble perform widely as solo-
ists in England and Europe, such
as Gervase de Peyer, who, for
my five bucks a record, is the
best clarinet player alive; other
members, such as Emanuel Hur-
witz, Cecil Aronowitz, and Ter-
ence Weil, fill the first chairs
of England's major orchestras.
Their concert in Rackham Aud.
last night, sponsored by the
University Musical Society, was
a delight. For two hours, the
smell of political offal and the
polite lies of academic posturing
were supplanted by humanity,
intimacy, dignity, and harmony.
Chamber music is indeed the
most civilized art.
The evening's program open-
ed with an appropriate warm-
up, Schubert's, "Adagio and
Rondo for Piano and Strings."
Although written for an ama-
teur cellist, the piece, little more
than a series of melodies, high-
lights the piano and violin in an
almost 'concertante fashion, the
lead usually coming from the
piano. Pianist Lamar Crowson
olayed with a notably flowing
and clean touch, as he did all
evening despite the poor piano
that Rackham provides.
Not being an enthusiastic
Shostakovitch fan, I did not an-
ticipate his Op. 57 Piano Quin-
tet with great relish; thus, for
me, it was the surprise of'\the
evening. Shostakovitch wrote
the Quintet in 1940, after hav-
ing been severely censored by
the appropriate Russian Bureau
for his-"petty bourgeois cerebra-
tion." For this Op. 57 attempt
at serving the weal of the mass-
es, Shostakovitch received the
Stalin Prize.
Yet the work is in no ways a
political poster; on the contrary,
it seemed to me to be evocative
on, a very personal level, espe-
cially in the plaintive first
movement. Here, each string
instrument voices in turn a
melancholic sigh, communica-
ting in common with the piano's
searching. Both Hurwitz and
Aronowitz were very moving,
their string tone pure and ex-
pressive.
First violinist Hurwitz, who
tended to slide into notes rather
inappropriately in the Schubert,
was wonderfully precise and
electric in the following Scherzo.
This movement explores vigor-
ous gypsy tunes that almost
turn into a Danse Macabre. I
don't feel that the Intermezzo
"worked," the piano writing be-
ing too diffuse and aimless, and
in the Finale the Russian's sar-
donic humor was perhaps too
tempered by these wry English-
men brought up not on Gogol
but on Punch.
In any case, the hallmark of
the Melas Ensemble, tonal
blend, was certainly apparent,
as was ensemble precision.
In his "Contrasts for Clarinet,
Violin, and Piano," Bela Bartok
sought just the opposite of what
the Melos had perfected and
strove not to blend the clar-
inet and violin but to explore the
various ways in which the in-
struments are antagonistic.
Thus the violin begins pizzi-
cato and the clarinet with sus-
tained phrases; they trade roles,
only seldom coming to some
agreement, and then as the
movement closes, are again in
direct contrast. The instruments
attempt cohabitation in the
second movement, but things
just don't work out, and in the
explosively virtuosic third move-
ment, they are at each other's
throats again, with the fiend-
ish buzzing of the violin being
met by shrieks from the clar-
inet. The piano really only serv-
es as a continuo.
The piece was written in 1939
for Benny Goodman and Joseph
Szigeti and I cannot believe that
they played it any better than
Hurwitz and de Peyer did last
night. The tone quality that de
Peyer produces makes other pro-
ponents of his instrument sound
like kazoo players.
The program closed gracefully
with Mozart's E-flat Quintet for
Piano and Woodwinds. The
work is pure musical incense;
lyrical whisps disappear as they
are produced leaving only the
aura of Good Things. Oboist
Peter Graeme was excellent if a
bit too prominent, and the en-
semble unity of phrasing per-
fect and expressive.
_ _
-Daily-Richard Lee
THE INCOMPARABLE ROSALIE is carried onto the stage to open last night's Soph Show produc-
tion of Carnival.
pecially with Horrible Henry,
the sweetest walrus (seal?)
ever -to appear in Lydia Men-
delssohn Theatre.
Marjorie Adler and Janet Pal-
lock, choreographers, put to-
gether some fine numbers which
were succesfully carried out by
the large chorus.
A standout from another soph
show a few years ago summed
up last night's show pretty well
when she said that it was, over-
all, a strong production. There
were no individually weak per-
formances, and there were a
couple of strong ones.
The best individual perform-
ance, by far, came from Marilyn
Miller as The Incomparable
Rosalie. Her character was well
developed, and she was hilar-
ious. Hers was also the strong-t
est voice on the stage. Miss Swets
played the sweet, innocent,
Lila very well, but her character
just wasn't exciting.
Mike Horowitz, as circus di-
rector Schlegel, ,was consistent
and amusing. Tom Zick-Marco
the Magnificent--did more of a
caricature than a chajrictariza-
tion in, his role as Evil Lecher,
but he was effective, as wit-
nessed by the audience's re-
sponsiveness. It's always nice
when theatre-goers can take ad-
vantage of the medium and hiss
the villian.
Greg Jarboe, who is billed as
a "natural comedian," was plea-
sant enough in his role as the
hero's only friend and co-
puppeteer.
Frank Tell, the her, who
tended to overplay his part, had
the only audible voice, unusual
for male leads in the student
:productions of recent years.
In the final analysis, it must
be admitted by those of us who
didn't particularly enjoy last
night's performance that it was
more the fault of the play than
the players, although they
didn't help much.
DON'T MISS
NEIL YOUNG,
of The Buffalo Springfield
not only alive
but
in person, at
cMll? aIRLY AO.U.B
FREE EATS 8 p.m. doors open
$1.50 at the door Fri., Sot., Sun.
.d
PRESENTS
SOPH SHOW
"CAR NIVA L"
Tickets are still available
for tonight's performances.
Try Daily Classifieds
2nd shows at
Week ,1, 3, 5
Dial 5-6290 7 and 9
1'HELD
Over!
This is the story of the self-confessed Bos-
ton strangler. It is a remarkable motion
picture based on fact. Why this man? Why
did 13 women open their door willingly to
him? The result is a film that is not what
you expected.
BOSTON STRANGLER
Tbny Curis
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND DEPARTMENT OF ART
Present
PUCCINI'S "'LABOHEME"
(English Translation by Josef Blatt)
NOVEMBER 22-23, 25-26, 8:00 P.M.
Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre
ALLTICKETS -$3.00
Mail orders accepted now. Make checks payable to "University of Michigan." Send self-
addressed, stomped envelope to School of Music Opera, Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, Ann
Arbor, Michigan 48104. Box office opens Monday, November 18, 1968, 12:30 to 5:00 P.M.
5'
r
"NAZARIN is one of the great films
of Bunuel's career...
And made me remember something Bunuel once said:
'To show with a cold white eye what they have done here
on earth in the name of God."'
-Penelope Gilliatt, The New Yorker
"STUNNING-A movie that really glows ..{:the thing for you
to see!"
-Judith Crist, Today Show, NBC
"An amazingly strong film with earmarks of a classic. It should
endure as one of his best, most significant works. An exceptional
film to savor more than once."
-William Wolf, Cue
"More Bunuel than 'Belle de Jour'.... Bunuel is one of the most
audacious, single minded and creative directors in the history of
the cinema."
-N.Y. Times
'A,
"The enormous power of NAZARIN will leave you
limp . . . it shouldn't be missed by any lover of
fine cinema art."
--Frances Taylor, Long Island Press
"No one interested in cinema today, can afford to
miss it . . . a starkly, simple, beautiful parable,
which is visually, a Goya etching."
-Bernard L. Drew, Hartford Times.
LUIS BUNUEL'S
TRA;ZAR17
11
G/'RAND
CAN NES~
I T ',SlIN.I.
starring froncisco robol " rta macedo " marga lopez
*
plus:
CLASSIC
'V : TIM ;, FIFTH AVE.
U - .~ - £a a riA urmE vI
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