TwQ.,.

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Wednesday. February 12. 1969

At,

I wo THE MICHIGAN DAILY

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theatre


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MUSKE T

scores

with

sprigh tly

rCamelot'

By THOMAS R. CON
There are those who figure
at Camelot is old hat by now.
ey've listened to the original
t recording a hundred times
dl have seen the movie twice;.
y should they bother with
eMUSKET production?
Because it's simply marvel-
s, that's why.
here are things In MUSKET's
rnelot you've never seen or
ard before even if you saw the
vie a dozen, times and listen-
to. the record a thousand
tes. .
For example, one of the high
nts of last night's opening
;ht performance was the epi-
e . featuring Ann Arbor's
aedienne extraordinaire Gilda
dnar as Morgan Le Fey. Her

mischievous prancing about the
stage was hilarious. And the
enthusiastic audience of first-
nighters was overjoyed with the
bit and seemed sorry to see it
end,
And no other production of
Camelot anywhere ever featured
James Hosbein as the good King
Pellinore. He was outstanding.
He has an excellent sense of
comedy and timing and,/ under
the astute direction of Douglas
Sprigg, managed to crack every-
body up almost every time he
opened his mouth or took a
step.
But perhaps the strongest per-
formance of the night cange
from Robert McGill, as Arthur.
The casting for MUSKET's
Camelot is similar to the orig-

inal Broadway production in
that the role of Arthur in both
was played by an actor, not a
singer who acts. McGill, a fam-
iliar face to fans of the Uni-
versity Players, is eloquent in
his dramatic scenes. And just
as Richard Burton did in the
original play, thankfully talked
most of his songs instead of
trying to sing them. His acting
ability outstrips that of the
other players, but this did not
seem to detract from the effec-
tiveness of the play as a whole,
since the others were not far off
his pace.
With a lovely face and a love-
ly voice, Linda Oakley was easily
transformed into a charming
Guenevere. And Lancelot, that
most perfect of men, was ade-
quately portrayed by Michael
Reinhart, who had by far. the
strongest singing voice on the
stage. His rendition of Camelot's
most famous song, "If Ever I
Would Leave You," brought per-
haps the most heartfelt spon-
taneous applause of the night.
DIe, I suspect, to budget and
space limitations, the set de-
signers made no attempt to
match the splendor of the
Broadway stage. But the clever
set-up of stairs, ramps and run-
ways was inobtrusive. And its
presence, or rather the absence
of a flat stage, provided a chal-
lenge for choreographer John
Reid Klein. His chorus numbers
were orderly and sometimes
quite nice (especially on' "It's
May"), but usually not very ,ex-

citing.'There was perhaps too
much parading back and forth
across the stage - the lack of
a runway into the audience is
all that prevented a couple of
the numbers from becoming im-
promptu fashion shows for the
creations of costume designer
Dennis Parker.
Klein also portrays Arthur's
bastard son Mordred, the man
,whose evilness and treachery
contribute to the downfall of
Camelot. But Klein, a dancer,
seemed a bit too bouncy and not
quite nasty enough. Although his
exuberance seemed somewhat
out of character, Klein's song-
and-dance solo in "The Seven
Deadly Virtues," was well-exe-
cuted and suited his talents.
The MUSKET orchestra is
larger this; year than everbe-
fore. And this larger ensemble
sounds much better than groups
assembled for previous shows
(although there were occasion-
al tempo problems). It is to
musical director Roger Werten-
berger's credit that in spite of
the group's size, the age-old
problem of the orchestra com-
peting with the singers seldom
came up.
The only drawback to the
Camelot production is its length.
It's not boring by any means,
or drawn-out, or slow-paced, it's
just long. But it's packed chock-
full. And if you want to spend an
evening enjoying a show loaded
with singing, dancing, laughter,
romance and intrigue, the time
is well spent.

with Michael Cooney, Pam
Steve Edmonds, Barry O'Neil, a

TONIGHT
21421 Hill St.
MAlcs 830 P.M.
nd others

II

THURSDAY-Language Departments-
Requirement or Elective
-Discussion
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY-
MICHAEL COONEY

EXPERIMENTAL FILMS

TONIGHT

7:00 & 9:00

75c

I'

STAN BRAKHAGE'S
'*"Dog Star Man" (Part Ore)
*"Fires of Waters"

plus

"MOONPLAY" by Marie Menken
"THANATOPSIS" by Ed Emshwiller
also many exciting shorts!

at University H. S. Auditorium
(across from East Quad)

I'l

-_


-4

Who ? ... c'est moi

TONIGHi
I AM A FUGITIVE
FROM A CHAIN GANG
Directed by MERVYN LEROY, 1932
*.a simple and unadorned social horror story.
There are moments that haunted a generation and
there is one of the great closing scenes in the history
of film." -Pauline Koel
Tomorrow: LITTLE CAESAR
9 :05 ARCHITECTURE
662-8871 AUDITORIUM
ANN ARBOR PREMIERE THURSDAY 1

w)

. . in short, there's not a more
congenial spot ....,
Order Your Dily Now-
Phone 764-0558

S. . it's getting duller every day, derry down ...

i

Photographed by
Thomas R. Copi

01

MORE'

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j

WAR!I

A free film Series on
THE RELIGIONS OF MAN

I

SEN. WAYNE MORSE

A National Educational Television Film series prepared under the direction
of HUSTON SMITH, Professor of Philosophy, M.I.T.; author of RELIGIONS'
OF MAN (available in paperback)

Lnion Ballroom

Sun., Feb. 16

2 P.M.

Admission $1.00

Tickets will be available starting Tomorrow

FEB. 1-FEB. 16
Buddhism: Part 3

FEB. 18-23
Confuciahism
Taoism

at the Union and League Desks

SYMPOSIUM '69

contemporary
discussions

The above listed films will be shown at the following places and times:

Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Sunday

7:00 South Qubd Lounge
3:30 Newman Center, 331 Thompson St.
7:30 Multipurpose Rm., UGLI
7:30 Ecumenical Center, 921 Church St.
5:45 Y.M.C.A., corner 4th Ave. and William

OFFICE OF RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS, 2282 SAB

PHILIP KAPLEAU, Resident Teacher
Zen Meditation Center of Rochester
February 12 through February 14

I

or


C

I

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"PALACE OF PLEASURE"
A SENSUAL SPACE ODYSSEY FEATURING THIE YOICE
AND POETRY OF LEONARD COHEN
"Contains some of the most beautiful color sequences ever
filmed . .. it abundantly demonstrates that split-screen techniques
can be used for something more artistic than a "Chelsea Girls."
. --Chicago Tribune

0

HA.

I"

lAD

=S

BUDDHISM-FILM
LECTURE
DISCUSSION

ZASEN

HERE

Wednesday, 7:30 P.M.
Multipurpose Room
Un,4ergrad Library
Thursday,"9:00 A.M.
Residential Colege
Greene Lounge
Thursday, 3:00 P.M.
Residential College

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also on the same program:
"LAPIS" by James Whitney, winner of innumerable awards, the
most highly acclaimed psychedelic film ever made, music by
Ravi Shanker. W. C. FIELDS in "The Dentist." LAUREL AND
HARDY in "Two Tars," silent classic featuring fast cars and fast
women with a great comic destruction scene. Also Betty Boop
cartoon and Gene Autrey, "America's Singing Cowboy," in a
stoned science fiction serial, "Phantom Empire."
benefit for

OPEN SEMINAR

Robert Rimmer, author of "The Harrad Experiment"

aided by three members of the University Medical

ZASEN

Friday, 9;00 A

A.M.



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