THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Saturday, March 22, 1969
THE ICH GAN DAIL Sa urd y, M rch 22, 196
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cinema
'Fireman': Non-flammable
ofpalliative amusements
ings did not improve much until the entrance of wig, was better in ensembles than in solos, when her
William Hall as Count Robinson; Hall seemed to instill voice was strong but "from the head." Miss Kaufman
confidence in the other singers: the originally scram- was a gas. Vocally rather unimpressive, her perform-
bled ensemble singing became precise and'invigorating, arice of an eighteenth century Molly Goldberg was
stilted acting relaxed, voices grew confident and nevertheless alternatingly absurd and devastating.
strong. It was uphill all the way to the final curtain. Willliam Hall's Count Robinson revived the first
The cast of six student singers were a pleasure act, both in dramatic pungency and in secure, if not
both to watch and to hear. As Paolino, the merchant overly interesting, singing. He appeared natural and
Geronimo's bookkeeper secretly married to his boss' involved on stage. Unfortunately Cimarosa did not
daughter, Grover Wilkins was perfect; that is, his realize that Count Robinson was his most vital char-
Harold Lloyd timidity in the face of endless disaster acter, and the second act only uses him as a piece
proceeded from his role and not from any insecurity of furniture in the plot.
on his part. His tenor voice was not only mellifluous Finally, Geronimo was sung by David Rohrbaugh,
and strong but also surprisingly well-controlled; he a baritone who offered a moving Colline in the recent
handled the simple ornamentations well. And I would production of La Boheme. Last night Rohrbaugh, look-
even be as foolish as to say that in sound quality he ing like Mr. Bluster and seeming to derive his acting
resembled an unpolished Hugues Cuenod. Too bad the style from like marionette techniques, could have used
score did not give him more to do. less body English and more considered gesture; comedy
His lover Carolina was suhg by Nancy Seabold and is a discrete art, not a palsied one. Vocally he was
she too was delightful throughout. In her "foreign adequate.
language"i scene and in her aria "I am weak," she As is the admirable custom of these School of
proved herself not only to be in possession of a strong, Music productions, the opera was sung in English. The
well-trained, and focused vocal instrument, but also translation of Bertali's libretto by Robert Bird and
to be musically inventive. She handled embellishments David Witherspoon was adventuresome and inventive,
well and was dramatically convincing. With Nancy and except for a few instances such as Fidalma having
Seabold, Linda Weston, and Gwen Scheffel, Ann Arbor to ornament the vowel sound in "rude," quite ef-
houses three fine sopranos. fective.
In the other two female roles were Louisa Thornton A different set of singers shall hold forth for the
as Elisetta, the older daughter, and Kay Kaufman as final concert tomorrow, but under Josef Blatt's control
Fidalma, the widowed sister of Geronimo. Miss Thorn- from the pit and in Ralph Herbert's often too precious
ton, made to look like Baby Huey in her high bowed stage direction, you can be sure of an amusing evening.
By BRUCE HENSTELL
Before the titles of Fireman's
Ball, the director Milos Forman
appears and informs us that
when the film was first released,
40,000 firemen went on strike
considering it a personal or,
more correctly, a professional
insult. Forman says he convinc-
ed them the firemen in the film
were only symbols in a comedy
of mankind. Th'at satisfied the
firemen. But, Forman coritin-'
ues, he told them a lie-the
film really is about firemen and
the only reason he made the
film was to entertain the aud-
ience. There are, he maintains,
no hidden meanings (but you've
heard that before).
Yet, if Forman is right, then
the firemen are right too. And
that's the problem. Fireman's
Ball is a human comedy and
like all/,of its genre concerns, the
petty foibles of man. The scene
is a small town dance hall where
the local fire brigade is hold-
ing its annual ball. First t h e
beauty contest committee be -
comes trapped in petty politics
ending up with, of course, the
worst looking girls. Then t h e
prizes for the raffle are one by
one stolen. A sudden alarm
Iempties the hall but the fire-
men arrive too late to save an
old man's home. As they vainly'
attempt to put out the fire, the
on-lookers drink beer and al-
ternately restrain the old man
from looking at the destruction
of his worldly possessions a n d
move him closer to they-D ire so*
he won't get a chill.
Back at the ball the guests
take up a collection for the old
man, a collection of the raffle
tickets for the long-gone prizes.:
"This isn't money," the m a n
says, "I need money." He has re-
fused to play the game, re-
fused to continuethe facadeof
humanity and is hussled off the
stage. Finally the leaders of the
brigade get around to present-a
ing a tribute to their old chief.
He takes the gift and opens the
box: it too has been stolen but
without a flicker he makes a
brief speech. He keeps the game
in tact.
The fili reads better in out-
line. Forman is not up to the
task he has, set himself, The
comedy touchesno bare nerves
and never are we'given the kind
of humor that finds, us laugh-
ing at our own 'foibles. The film
is flat, two-dimensional, lack-
ing really in either comedy or
humanity. Its reality, is hardly
that of mankind, or of the
human condition. Alas, Forman
gives up nothing more than a
villageutale of some particular
bumbling firemen, and leaves us
restless in our seats at effects in
the film we know should mean
something.
I ~I sip"~
605 E. \
TON ITE
$1.
"A PRISONER
William
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THE H URON RIVER VALLEY
BLUEGRASS BOYS
old time fiddle and country music
MARCH 22 9:30 to 12:00 P.M.
00 downstairs
R OF SHARK ISLAND" 1 A.M. 7Sc
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Ackles: Syrup and saccharine
keys in a smoky South Side
(Chicago) bar.
There was a song about a one-
armed candy man named . . .
Oscar.
There was a song about "our
cabin on the mountain."
The songs might have been
all right if sung for a put-on,
or to be funny, but Ackles sang
them as if they were just the
most wonderful things he ever
had come across.d
His self-accompaniment on
piano lacked finesse, his voice
lacked quality, his songs wre
mediocre.
What he did have was a
friendly word and starry eyes.
The hot cider was beust of all.
3020 Washtenaw, Ph. 434-1782
Between YpsilOnti & Ann Arbor
FEATURE TIMES
Wed., Sat., Sun.
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by INGMAR BERGMAN
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Bibi Anderson
Liv Uliman
TECHNICOLOR' PANAVISION
o 96 Walt.Oianey Produetions e
"Haunting Intense, Beautiful-"
-N.Y. Times
the emu players series presents
AN
ITALIAN
STRAW
HAT'
mcdcop french farce with music
emu's quirk
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