Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Pae woTH-MCHGA-DIL .rr Thursday, April 6, 1972 Patience: A milkmaid's virtue By JEFFREY LAINE If you don't know about the Gilbert and Sullivan Society, they are a group of sometimes talented. often energetic and us- ually entertaining amateurs. If you're looking for a break from The Godfather complex-some- thing light, farsical, witty, and in the guise of a musical comedy- look no further. The greatest demand upon your mental facul- ties comes from the plot. Frank- ly, as I sat awaiting the curtain, reading the synposis of the plot, I thought I was at a meeting on ,..-mental health - perhaps as a representative "out" patient. In other words, it takes Patience. Once. upon a time, there were 20 love-sick maidens, all of whom passioned for Reginald, that fop of a. mystic poet. Then, there was Patience, a milkmaid, sim- ple and plain, who had never Daily Robert Wargo loved anyone except a great aunt A love-sick maid and a Dragoon Guard (they don't count) and a child- hat's happening in the arts? hood sweetheart. Now we can't forget the 20 Dragoon Guards (led by the Duke) who used to be-but are no longer-fianced to the 20 lovesick maidens. All on account of their. new found hero, Reginald. Now here come the complica- tions. Patience doesn't love the vain-glorious poet who is simply mad for her but as a matter of virtue she decides to marry him anyway. As luck would have it, Archi- bald, Patience's old flame, comes out of the blue after 15 years and the two fall hopelessly in love. Much to Reginald's chag- rin, Archibald displaces Reginald as the idol of the masses. Oh, what do to? The story twists and turns until everything ends tangled happily ever after. Working within a pitence of a budget, the Society has wrought good scenery and passable (if natty and poorly co-ordinated) costumes. But "make do" seems to necessarily be the Society's watch-word. And if you think about it, they do quite nicely. Presenting as many as 30 actors on stage presents many a tech- nical problem. Nancy Hall Gil- martin worked a bit of hocus- pocus: her choreography. The dances are all well thought-out, presenting the spectator with scene after scene of moments calculated to keep us amused and interested. The music lit- erally has its highs and and its lows. From time to time, a bad note moans out of the horns but nobody really seems to mind. However listening to the singers, one becomes profoundly aware of the most important element in musical comedy. You've got to be able to understand what they're singing about. With the exception of Keith Brown (Regi- nald) and Mary Lou Zuelch (Patience) there would not have been a show. I almost feel like writing that a star is born: Mr. Brown was beautiful. A good singing voice which is clear and distinct coupled with great stage presence, character and person- ality, makes E.' Lee Davis (Archibald) show a poor second as his rival. Miss Zuelch is the other show stopper 4 or saver depending on where you're sitting). She is the only songstress who seems to make any sense. Naively flit- tering between duty to her lovers and virtue, her fine voice and well executed movements ac- company her wherever she goes. At any rate, when Brown and Zuelch are on, so is the show. When they aren't . . . I say no more., Patience starts very strong, very energetic. It is this strength that gives their shows rhyme and reason. But as the curtain comes up on the second act, the energy level, like the quality, goes down. What begins well, sags toward the middle and seems to end rather dis- mally. But such is life. I've said this once before about the Gil- bert and Sullivan Society but it bears repetition. They're not great. I'm not even sure they are good. Still, I'd go see them again. Give it a. try. NSN MED. FRAT. 1912 GEDDES (across from the Arb) Thursday, April 6-8:30-12 Live Band-Draft Beer Females Free-Males $2.00 A' EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY MAJOR EVENTS COMMITTEE PRESENTS: I I So again it's time for your Daily arts page to say what's happening for you in the arts . . - For fans of fantasy, films and comics, we offer the Detroit Triple Fan Fair. The three day convention will meet this week end at the Pick Fort Shelby Hotel in Downtown Detroit. Fea- tured guests include Russ Heath Little Annie Fanny artist, and Richard Buckler, artist of The Avengers and Kazar. The week- end will include panel discus- sions, auctions, original art dis- plays, hundreds of rare comics,, and movies until dawn. Admis- sion: $1.50 at the door. For lovers of poetry we have two events. This afternoon a se- lect group of student poets will read at 4:00 in the UGLI mul- tipurpose room. Tomorrow night, poets Donald Hall, Tom MacIntyre and Andrew Carri- gan will read at 7:30 at Guild House (802 Monroe). For our musical souls: This weekend the Ark coffee- house presents The Annual Cei- Ildh (A Musical Party) on Fri- day and Saturday with Michael Cooney, Marshall Dodge, Davey Jones, Barry O'Neill and Roger Renwick. Sunday will feature A Tribute to Woody Guthrie with Bob White, Pam Ostergren, Barry O'Neill and Marjorie Gu- thrie Admission: $2.00 and $1.50. The School of Music presents Verdi's opera Falstaff (in Eng- lish) tonight and tomorrow night at 8:00 in the Power Cen- ter. Admission: $3.50, $2.50 ($1.00 tickets for University stu- dents with I.D. cards, sold at the box office only). Shantung traditional music from China will be presented to- morrow night in the final con- cert of the University Musical Society East Asian Series fea- turing the Lu Sheng ensemble. Tickets: $2.50, $4, and $5, avail- able at the UMS office in Bur- ton Tower. The Minnesota Orchestra will perform with the University Choral Union in a program pre- sented by the University Musi- cal Society this Sunday in Hill Auditorium. Tickets $2 - $7 at the Hill Auditorium box office. Blues Power: The University Folklore Society will present blues musicians Son House, Mance Lipscomb, and Robert Pete Williams in concert next Saturday at 8:00 at the Power Center. Tickets: $3.00, avail- able at the Michigan Union tic- ket office. And for our dramatic souls: Promises, Promises will be presented by The University Professional Theatre Program at the Power Center this Sat- urday and Sunday at 3:00 and 8:00. An original adaptation of Erskine Caldwell's novel To- bacco Road will be presented by the Theatre Company of Ann Arbor, Inc. at Conspiracy April 13-16. Tickets: $1.50, available at Centicore Bookstore (So. University). The Company is a "unique kind of repertory theatre" re- cently organized to provide an alternative to local "legitimate theatre." They differ from the traditional theatre by not lim- iting themselves to play-scripts, or to procenium, thrust and are- na stages. "Imagine: all forms of literature unfolding in the theatre of your mind . . , the fusion of literature, perform- ance and you." And finally, for the gallery enthusiast, we have Black on Black, a two-woman black art show, featuring graphics, paint- ings and drawings by Janet Taylor and Adrienne Horad, which opens Sunday at the Py- ramid Gallery and will continue thru April 22. Rent your Roommate with a Classified Ad HAIRSTYLING AS YOU LIKE ITI NEW TRENDS FOR 1972 TRIMS-SHAGS and RAZOR CUTS Dascola Barbers 2 SHOPS .@611 E University . 615 E. Liberty .i AMERICAN INTERNATIONALpr~ews EDGAR ALLAN POE'S MASTERPIECE OF THE MACABRE THE SQUE -- OF TH E RED DEATH{ a nP='ECOL.OR, ....VINCENT PRICE A WQVELY SORTEATH ames H.Sicholson Samuel Muff .PSYIIEDEUC P PETER FONDA SUSANERECOMMENDED FOR STRASB RG E MATURE AUDIENCES written by JACK NICHOLSON also starring DENNIS HOPPER, BRUCE DERN LATE SHOW FRI. and SAT. not continuous with "Finzi-Continis" OPEN 12:45 SHOWS AT 1 p.m., 4:30, 8 p.m. Mon.-Sat. $1.50 until 4:30 Mon.-Thurs. eve. $2.00 Fri. and Sat. eve. $2.50 Al Day Sunday $2.50 603 E. Liberty NEIL DIAMOND plus ALBERT BROOKS APRIL 9th-8:30 P.M TICKETS: $3.50, $4.50, $5.50 Still available at: Ypsilanti-McKenny Union, Ann Arbor--Ann Arbor Music Mart ..DIAL 665-6290 . ....- I [L= 116 rI CI ROGER CORMAN FESTIVAL 4 Ln,] iJ1} C Doors Open-i Show Starts- Doors Close-i 1 :00 1:15 1:30 THEATRE COMPANY OF ANN ARBOR, INC. presents ERSKINE CALDWELL'S TOBACCO ROAD an original adaptation of the novel CONSPIRACY COFFEEHOUSE-THEATRE (330 Maynard St.) APRIL 13, 14, 16, 8 p.m. APRIL 15, 7 & 10 p.m. TICKETS $1.50--available at the door and from Centicore -Ann Arbor; Ned's-Ypsi WELCOME TO THE CHINESE PING PONG TEAM The International Friendly Table Tennis Match CHINA and U.S. will be held at COBO ARENA 8:00 P.M.-Friday, April 14 The Friendly Exhibition Match at U of M will be held at CRISLER ARENA 1:30 P.M.-2:30 P.M.-Saturday, April 15 TICKETS ON SALE AT ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT, STATE AND HOOVER, BEGINNING WED., APRIL 5 Sponsored by: The U.S. Committee on U.S.-China Relations I THURSDAY and FRIDAY THE LADY EVE Dir. PRESTON STURGES, 1941 BARBARA STANWYCK is an insolent adventuress who fights off other drag- ons. Those of you who know him, know that Sturges can make a great movie. This one is guar- anteed. ARCHITECTURE AUDITORIUM 4 "The best comedy of the year and the DIAL h.. mmm~ OPEN blovest 12:45 SHOWSow -NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE AT 1 P.M. 3 P.M. 5 P.M. M T T '7 P.M. 9 P.M. TH FRI Ma, TUE 6:4, SA & V AT 1 :1' 6:1' 8:4! BEST PICTURE OF THEYAR! -National Board of Revs w URS., ES. AT G5 &9:05 T., SUN., VED. 5-3:45- Colu~ba Pkkom Pwew,3a PlabxoyPxjd I Roman Planskfs MACBETH 7 & 9 P.M. 75c ReneeTavlor-Joseph Bologna Made For Each Other -STARTS THURSDAY, APRIL 13th- SPECIAL NOTE! Change of schedule! We regret that due to a distri- butor's oversight we are unable to show George Cukor's "The Women." U I I THE - pI A B'OA PicTURES A BBS PROOUCTION "A MASTERPIECE!" -PAUL D. ZIMMERMAN, Newsweek resenr' r -E II I ANN ARBOR CIVIC BALLET in Spring Concert PREMIERE PERFORMANCE Nh dPAI IA Choreographed and Mounted by DOM OREJUDOS of the Illinois Ballet Co. FRIDAY, APRIL 7-8:00 P.M.4 PIONEER HIGH SCHOOL Dial 668-6416 LIBERTY AT MAYNARD M U of M Folklore Society presents Son House Mance Lipscomb Robert Pete Williams APRIL 15-8 P.M.-POWER CENTER Wed., Nov. 26, 1969 ** San Francisco Chronicle AN OLD MAN SINGS THE BLUES Ralph J. Gleason THERE were four blues singers inthe concert at King Hall on the U.C. Berkeley Campus last week and each of them played the guitar. There was Bukka White, a rotund man in a blue shirt with huge white polka dots, Mance Lipscomb, looking thin and severe in work clothes and a hat, Son House, looking" old and supremely dig- nified and Lightning Hopkins, rather like a cari- cature of himself in dark glasses and a powder blue turtleneck sweater. Somehow in the context of that program, Mance Lipscomb and Son House came through as purer, less show-biz and certainly as the most effective performers. Bukka White's Jolly jiving was something less than artistic when he got to the piano to accompany himself on boogie woogie (Jimmy Rushing, just to name one per- former of the blues relatively unknown to that audience), has a greater future than he knows. Hopkins sings and plays with fervor and he is SON HOUSE olak ShirleyC Chsom and Jane Hart I tell you about the blues. The blues that consist between male and female when one is deceived by another . . . the blues started a long time ago" . . . The audience hushed absolutely quiet to hear him. "I plowed a mule for 50, cents a day." The words came out in little.clusters, like notes with pauses in between, and when he said that, Son House sat there for a minute, bathing in the applause from this young generation which can truly find more practical teaching from that stage and these old men than in most classrooms. And then he sang. He can still bring it off, his voice strong for a song and then he has to rest. He plays the economy but with brilliant choices and old and tired as he must be, his bones aching from the weight of those years, when he does it; he does it the way it should be. The audience loved it. Students whose parents weren't even born when Son House was plowing that Mississippi mule through that 50 cent day, fiund mr and truth in what he ans tn them H ill Auditorium April 10 8:30 is I I