Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Sunday, November 9, 1969
Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Sunday, November 9, 1969
theatre=-
A self-righteous look at 'The Boys in the Band
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LAST 7 DAYS
1 :30 and 7 :30 P.M.
ACADEMY AWARD WNlNER!
BEST ACTRESS!
BARBRA STREISAND
By DEBORAH LINDERMAN
The Boys in the Band is play-
ing with a New York company
in a new theater in Detroit call-
ed the Vest Pocket. As you may
very well have heard by now,
the play is about homosexuals
and their profound ups and
downs.
It has been a great hit in New
York and London for reasons
which are puzzling to me but
which probably have not a
little to do with the "scene"
being eminently recognizable in
these places. It is, however,
doubtless less familiar to thea-
ter-goers in Detroit and I be-
lieve that the performance I
saw bombed rather badly there.
For one thing it felt as if it
were taking place in a great
yawning vacuum, a large chasm
separating the people in the au-
dienece from those on stage.
Like thunder coming after
lightening, the first, laugh was
separated from the first one-
liner by a tell-tale time lag, and
I guessed that the play would
progress resolutely to its end
in this deadly atmosphere of
"no rapport." Although "no
rapport" improved to "little
rapport" as things went on, the
cast never managed to emerge
from the handicap of the first
ten minutes.
But evenif it were the case
that the performance and the
audience could not on any way
be faulted, the play decidedly
still could be. It is about six
homosexuals who give a birth-
day party for a seventh. This is
ADA meets
"A Response to Nixon on
Vietnam" will be the focus Sun-
day evening of an Americans
for Democratic Action Open
Forum. The featured speaker
will be Prof. Allen Whiting,
former. State Department Di-
rector of Research for the Far
East and American deputy
counsel at Hong Kong.
A reaction panel consisting of
Daily Editor Henry Grix, Ann
Arbor News Editor Arthur Gal-
lagher and Detroit News Asso-
ciate Editor John O'Brien will
question Mr. Whiting following
his prepared remarks. Questions
and discussion from the audi-
ence are encouraged. The meet-
ing will begin at 8 p.m. at the
First Unitarian Church, 1719
Washtenaw.
an occasion to carry on with
squabbles, jealousies, and long ex-
positions of personal misery il-
lumined by trenchant insights
from the analyst's couch.
The festivities are curdled,
however, by the half-expected
appearance of an eighth guy-
Alan, the former friend of one
of the boys in the band-who is
straight. Or at least he thinks
he is until they all spitefully
conspire to prove to him that he
is a gay and degraded as any-
one. The motive is revenge for
the complacency of the hetero-
sexual world.
The heterosexual world, how-
ever, triumphs in the end and
they are punished for their an-
ti-normative attitudes. One of
them initiates a cruel game,
with an elaborate scoring sys-
tem, designed primarily to ex-
pose the straight friend and
shatter his he-man smugness:
Each of them has to telephone
someone he has lusted for and
confess his love.
This game provides a wedge
for long stretches of self-reve-
lation in which they all b a r e
.their most tender wounds. By
the end of the party, their de-
fensas are in shreds and hetero-
sexuality carries the day as Alan
phones -- of all people - the
wife he has left and tells her
he loves her very much.
He wins the game of ,course.
The play ends with him-whose-
birthday-it-is delivering to him-
who-has-been-the-host a final
devastating judgement w h i c h
runs along something like this:
You are a sad and pathetic
man, you are a homosexual and
you don't want to be, you may
someday be able to pursue a
heterosexual life but you will
never be able to shed your
homosexuality till the day you
die. Exeunt.
It is my opinion that this play
fatally lacks charm. It fails to
be funny and it fails to be
deep, and the one direction is
at cross purposes with the other.
Whenever the play starts to say
something that seems interest-
ing, it is quickly. laced through
with a rather impoverished
humor the staple of which is
sexual expletive.
The gags are like placards
reading "laugh now," and the
Detroit audience laughed, if not
"now" at least loudly, at every
slightly sexual word as if they
were unexpectedly let in on a
bonanza of dirty jokes They
also appeared to derive much
hilarity from the simple fact of
homosexuals calling themselves
such t h i n g s as "screaming
queens" and "tired faggots"
right there on stage.
But despite this formidable
honesty, and despite the char-
acters revealing themselves in
all the depth and complexity of
their misery, they are never
moving or even touching. With
all its waspish ferocity the play
is unappealingly self-righteous
and pleading.
Though Director Robert Moore
has poked, slapped and fussed
over it, he has evoked little
from his actors that is genuine
and the production obdurately
refuses to come to life. The sin-
gle impressive set, sleek and
stylish, is by Peter Harvey.
The Boys in the Band will be
at the Vest Pocket for another
month, and will be followed by
a series of plays from New York.
Among these are Hair, Adapta-
tion and Next, and Little
Murders.
It COLUMBIA PICTI
BARBRA
SIREISAN I
The
WILLIAM WYLER-
RAY STARK
Prod ucton
URESand RASTARPRODUCTIONS eseni
OMAR
SHARIF
TEHNCOOR"PNA45ON
3020 Washtenaw, Ph. 434-1782
Between Ypsilanti & Ann Arbor
NOW SHOWING
SHOW TIMES
Wed., Sat., Sun.
1 :00-3:05-5:10-7:15-9:20
Mon., Tues., Thurs., Fri.
7:00-9:05
Filled with Maglc?
~~0X
the Litll'ept
TECHNICOLOR u
Saturday and Sunday-Nov. 8-9
LA STRADA
dir. FREDERIC FELLINI, 1954
Giulietta Masina and Anthony Quinn act
Giulietta Masina and Anthony Quinn act in
this classic performance of Italian Cinema.
7 & 9 75C ARCHITECTURE
662-8871 AUDITORIUM
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OPENINGS FOR
CHILD CARE WORKERS
-HAWTHORN CENTER
Work-Experience Opportunity with Emotionally
Disturbed Children
Hawthorn Center offers mature students a unique
opportunity to work directly with disturbed children
in a creative, well-supervised, in-patient treatment
setting - a particularly rewarding experience for
potential -professional workers in Education Psy-
cholog y, Social Work, Medicine and related Behav-
ioral Sciences.
Hours: 32 or 40 per week. Must be able to work
days and weekends.
Potential openings on evenings and midnight shift.
Age Requirement: Minimum-20 years.
Education: Minimum-Two credit years completed
and good academic standing in third year.
Salary: With Bachelor's degree-$7078 per year
Without Bachelor's degree-$6410 per year
Call or Write:
Director of Nursing
Hawthorn Center
Northville, Michigan
Telephone: Area Code 313-
Fl 9-3000 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
BOGUE ENTERPRISES Presents
Cornell University, School of In-
dustrial and Labor Relations
Unilevel Limited
Chemical Abstracts Service
University of Chicago, Graduate
School of Business
Michigan Department of Social
Services
EDUCATION DIVISION
The following schools will interview
OPEN MEETING
SDS
prospective teachers in ou office dur
....:' tugtheweek of November 10. Addi-
DAILY OFFICIAL tionalinformation concerning dates
Placement Bulletins and posted on
BU.LiEIN bulletin boards on campus.
817tpryIlimitem
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9 Dearborn Heights, Mich. (Sch. DiAt.
____No.7 )
Flint, Mich. (Kearsley Sch.)
DayLivonia, Mich.
St. Clair Shores, Mich. (Lakeview)
Monroe, Mich.
Sigma Alpha Iota Musicale: School Mt. Clemens, Mich. iL'Anse Creutse
of Music Recital Hall, 2:30 p.m. P.S
Degree Recital: Brenda Krackenberg, Royal Oak, Mich.
soprano: School of Music Recital Hall, Southfield, Mich.
4:30 p.m. Warren, Mich.
International Center Film Series: Dearborn Heights, Mich. (Fairlane
Body and Soul: International Center, Sch.)
7:30 p.m. Fraser, Mich.
Midland, Mich.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 Wayne, Mich.
Milford, Mich. (Huron Valley Sch.)
Physics - Astronomy: High S c1 o o Taylor, Mich.
Colloquium: F. Harris adn J. Smith, To make appointments for inter-
"Recent Tests of the Triangle I equals views with these schools contact Mrs.
z Rule in Hperon Decays"; P & A Krieger, 764-7459.
Collokuium Room, 4:00 p.:.
Department Of History Lecture: '
Prof. Karl Bosl, University of Munich,
"Why Did the European Middle Ages ORGANIZATION
End in the Eighteenth Century?":I
Aud. C. Angell Hall, 4:00 p.m. NICE
Department of Physical EducationT
for Women Speed Swim Team Meet:
U-M vs. Michigan State: Margaret Bell :. . ........................... ....... .
Pool, 6:00 p.m. Hear both sides of the story from
Degree Recital: Mary Ida Yost, or- native representatives of Biafra and
gan: Hill Aud., 8:00 p.m. Nigeria at a meeting of the Interna-
tional Students Association, Nov. 10,
17Up.m. at the International Center
llacemen t Service, (exttothUno)
Monday, Nov. 10
Rooms K, L,
MICHIGAN
8:00 P.M.
M, and N
UNION
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loo
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STEVE
M~C4DIEEN
AS
II3ulitt-- se
other hind oft cop.
DIAL 8-6416
SDeaking of Togetherness
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w IIs
'Elk-
m
LIZ
RICHARD
IN
MIKE'S
~ui s1 FO AT.f AU nU6E'. TECHNICOLOR FROM WARNER ROS.SEVEN ARTS W
SAT. and SUN.-- :15-5:05-8:55
WHO'S AFRAID OF
VIRGINIA WOOLF?
They're young... they're in love
.and they kill people.
Week of November 17-21:
Interviews Held at General Division,j
Placement Services, call 763-1363 toI
make appointments and inquire if
you are eligible for what these organ-
rations request:
Pence Corps all wek
Department of the Army, civilian
personnel
National Labor Relations Board I
Department of Housing and Urban
Developmnent
:nternational Voliuntary Services
Southern Methodist University,
Gradtiate School of Business
Thunderbird Graduate School of
International Management
U,S. Marine Corps
U.S. Navy
(OMPUTA-DATE
"Finds People for
People"
CALL 662-4401
CIN A
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Are you sure S. I. Hayakawa started this way?
"This is the Liz I knew."
-Eddie Fisher
NOVEMBER 7-8-9
Friday-Saturday-Sunday
7:00-9:15--Aud. A.--75c (peanuts)
Doors open 6:00. Please come early
-I
EcHIIF ACE
yWrA w t' QWOT W4 tliiIUN ra L )Mby UVI M tJL ARIIEFW
TE+CHNICOLOR 0 FROM WARNER BROS.-SEVER ARTS U
GREAT BRITAIN IN
DYLAN'S WHIRLWIND TOUR OF
1965
O.::
"A Fascinating Picture" (New York Times)
CANTERBURY HOUSE-Monday, Nov. 10th
7:00, 8:45, 10:30, 12:15
$1 .00
-READ AND USE DAILY CLASSIFIEDS-
SAT. and SUN.-3:09-7:00
Coming: "MIDNIGHT COWBOY" and "STOLEN KISSES"
C
kys
I
ends tuesday
"For those with the good sense to
recognize the deft satiric wit of one of
the most unorthodox and brilliant
young film makers at work in America
today."
-Newsday
-. w,
SNEAK
PREVIEW
TONIGHT 8:00
a complete feature length.
Showing of a new "X" rated
film.
"Makes Hugh Hefner's
Playboy penthouse look
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