THE MICHIGAN DAILY Saturday, March 22, 1969 THE ICH GAN DAIL Sa urd y, M rch 22, 196 __ .. f { -- r ._ 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 $1. "A PRISONER William 769-1593 THE H URON RIVER VALLEY BLUEGRASS BOYS old time fiddle and country music MARCH 22 9:30 to 12:00 P.M. 00 downstairs R OF SHARK ISLAND" 1 A.M. 7Sc i __1 Ackles: Syrup and saccharine keys in a smoky South Side (Chicago) bar. There was a song about a one- armed candy man named . . . Oscar. There was a song about "our cabin on the mountain." The songs might have been all right if sung for a put-on, or to be funny, but Ackles sang them as if they were just the most wonderful things he ever had come across.d His self-accompaniment on piano lacked finesse, his voice lacked quality, his songs wre mediocre. What he did have was a friendly word and starry eyes. The hot cider was beust of all. 3020 Washtenaw, Ph. 434-1782 Between YpsilOnti & Ann Arbor FEATURE TIMES Wed., Sat., Sun. 1:15, 3:50, 6:25, 9:00 Mon., Tues., 'rhurs., Fri. WALT DISNEY$ I I I I I PERSON by INGMAR BERGMAN I - 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 I .0. -.% .* *~F *A Try Daily Classifieds _ Phone 7640558 auditorium march 26-30 TIX $1.75 FOR RESERVATIONS: 482-3453 (Weekdays 12:45-4:30 P.M.) . A i HELD OVER 3rd BIG WEEK . .... "AN OVERGROUND SEX-PROTEST FILM!" Archer Wmnsten New York Post NEATIONAL *EfNERAL CORPORA~t0 FOX EASTERN Ti-iHEATRES w 7hFN LW E unm n=', tk FINAL WEEK FOH VILL6E 375 No.MAPLERD.-769430o Hurry, Ends.Tuesday NOMINATED FOR ACADEMY AWARDS BEST PICTURE *rBEST DIRECTOR "DAZZLING! Once you see it, you'll never again picture Romeo & Juliet' quite the way you did before!" - LIFE a1 w ' 1 I I "It is right on target with some keen potshots at Viet Nam, smut peddling, nymphomania, underground newspapers, pop art and sex and the single hot-blooded young man!" -Bob Salmaggi, WiNS Radio * A~ NOTICE!!! THE THEATRE WILL BE CLEARED AFTER THE 7:00 P.M. SHOWING FRIDAY & SATURDAY EVENING * STARTS WEDNESDAY * trr l A -2 l It f' SCREENPLAY BY CHARLES HIRSCH AND BRIAN OE PALMA DIRECTED BY RIAN DE PALMA - PRODUCED BY CHARLES HIRSCH net amitted A WEST END FILMS PRODUCTION A Ua SIMA Nt RELEASE .IN COLOR I' I 0 -I i