' Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY,
Thursday, September 16, 1971
Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Thursday, September 16, 1971
arts
Follie
By MARK ALAN FARBER
On the more pretentious side,<
or in the, DON'T WORRY,
WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T
HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT
IT TOO, department, Stephen
Sondheim in Follies tries to
mix mid-1920 gaery with 1970
existentialism. What he ends up
with are a few fine performan-
failure: a sadistic genre
Weiss over 20 words to get
across his message in, his
title)."
All sarcasm aside, Follies
seems to me to be the best ex-
ample of that sadistic genre of
theatre that I spoke about in
yesterday's article: Attendance
is being bolstered not because
of allegiance to the drama, but
explain the format of the show.
Follies takes place in the ru-
ins of an old vaudeville, turned
movie, turned sexploitation the-
atre, which thirty years prior
was the home of the Weisman
Follies. To mourn the passing of
an era, and before this edifice
gets the kiss of the wreckers
ball, Dimitri Weisman, the pro-
... images
doing the last forty years or
so?" The ansvier is a cross be-
tween an Arthur Hailey novel
and a Ross Hunter movie.
Phyllis (Alexis Smith) is the
dumb chorine, who by reading
Sartre and visiting the Metro-
politan Museum has become a
socially elite Onassis type wife.
Benjamin Stone is her promi-
nent businessman, politician,
lawyer, one-time stage-door-
J o h n n y husband. They are
childless. Both are unhappy,
And both, to use a middle class
euphemism, 'sleep around.' Add
to this pair, their best friends
of those follies years, Bud and
Sally Durant (Gene Nelson and
Dorothy Collins). Bud and Sal-
ly left the buzz of the big city
when the follies folded, got
married, and lived a quaint, rus-
tic life in the country, complete
with kids. They too are unhap-
py. Buddy keeps a girl on the
side. Sally sits at home and
dreams of Ben, (Phyllis' hus-
band), whom she had loved in
those long ago, once-upon-fol-
lies days. Add to this soap-suds
scenario a fading nympho star
(Yvonne de Carlo). Mix in a
French bomb-shell turned cos-
metic promoter (Fifi Dorsay)
and various other non-descript
schticks, and you have the story
line.
The real problem comes when
these non-descript schticks (Fi-
fi D'Orsay, Mary McCarthy, and
Ethel Shutta), who are the vin-
tage vaudevillians of yester-
y e a r, perform circa-Gloria-
Swanson material whilst remi-
niscing. It's bad enough seeing
competent performers imitating
others, but it's downright pa-
thetic seeing performers imita-
ting themselves when they were
in their prime. Think what it
1214 S. University
DIAL 8-6416
FRANCOIS TRUFFAUT
FESTIVAL
"STOLEN KISSES!" is a
movie-I'll cherish for a
very long time. Strong,
s w e e t, explosively
funny!"
-N.Y. Times
would be like seeing the 1971
Charlie Chaplin, who is paun-
chy and gray, trying to recre-
ate the lithe and athletic little
tramp? That's what it is like
watching the one-time seduc-
tive D'Orsay and Shutta sing-
ing their torch songs with sag-
ging breasts.
No doubt my revulsion is the
emotion that'Sondheim desired.
After all his play is about the
follies of living in the past. It's
just that in showing this condi-
tion he has tastelessly dragged
in performers who are doing
precisely that. Even worse, the
public is eating it up. Its Shut-
ta, D'Orsay, McCarthy, and de
Carlo who are getting the ova-
tion!
It seems that somewhere
along the way the Follies has
become just that.
D. W. GRIFFITH'S
SILENT CLASSIC
INTOLERANCE
with new live piano score
TON IGHT-Sept. 16
auditorium a-75c
Angell Hall-7 & 9:30 p.m.
ann arbor film cooperative
330 Maynard
presents
Commander ody
and his LOST PLANET AIRMEN
PLUS
STEPHEN and JOHN
Tickets
FRIDAY-1 show: 8:30 ........................$2.00
SATURDAY-2 shows: 7 :30, 10:00 ...............$1.75
SUNDAY-2 shows: 7:30, 10:00.................$1.50
ADVANCE I!CKETS FOR ALL SHOWS NOW ON SALE AT SALVATION RECORDS-330 MAYNARD,
1103 S. UNIV.
COMING SEPTEMBER 24, 25, 26
MISSISSIPPI FRED MCDOWELL
plus TERRY TATE
-iany-J inJuaris
ces, and a flawless technical
production (lighting, sets, make-
up, and costumes). This is rea-
son enough to see the show (if
you have the money) but it
leaves one in the theatrical twi-
light zone of neither being en-
tertained nor enlightened. It's
the type of show that you walk
out of saying, "My, weren't the
costumes gorgeous, and Alexis
Smith really can act!" Hopeful-
ly, however, theatre should have
a bit more substance. Follies
really tries hard, but by trying
so hard it fails miserably.
"FOLLIES," says the cultured
uptown Manhattan matron to
her graying husband as they
leave the Wintergarden Thea-
tre. "Don't you get -it," she says
triumphantly. "FOLLIES!" The
very name of the show suggests*
two levels of consciousness:
First, the play actually revolves
around a reunion of the girls
from the Weisman FOLLIES (a
fictional recreation of the Zig-
field Phenomenon). Secondly,
and on a deeper psychological-
emotional level, the show tells
the tale of the FOLLIES of the
girls, who in the past, compos-
ed the Weisman line. Get it,
the FOLLIES of the girls in the
FOLLIES! (Gee, it took Peter
ETATET!!
Program Information 662-6264
OPEN 1 P.M.
Shows at
1:30-4 P.M.-6:30-9 P.M.
rather because of desire to ob-
serve the ravages of old age.
The producers of Follies have
gathered the remnants of the
Zigfield, Thalberg eras and put
them on display as P. T. Barn-
um did to the two feet tall, 16
pound General Tom Thumb. To
be less subtle, I felt more as if
I was watching a freak show
than a theatrical offering. I
found myself literally embar-'
rassed that performers past
their prime were being exploited -
so mercilessly by such a repu-
table producer as Harold Prince.
To be more coherent, let me
The Michigan Daily, edited and man-
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Summer Session published Tuesday
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603 E. Liberty
DIAL 5-6290
3rd WEEK!
Just a person who
)rotects children and
other living things
ducer of the defunct follies, de-
cides to throw a first and last
reunion. Ergo, the follies girls
of three to six decades-gone-by
converge on this shrine of past
glamour and youth. They rem-
inisce and narratively give the
answer to the oft repeated ques-
tion, "So what have you been
WgI LD
Thursday and Friday
GROUPIES
1970. Groupies are a fascinat-
ing assortment of sexual apos-
tles (generally women) who
devote themselves en mass to a
relenthless pursuit of sexy rock
stars.
GROUPIES is a "cinemaverite"
style documentary of this phe-
nomenon which displays the in-
variably bazzare personalities
of America's most unabashed
lovers.
Recommended by
ANDY WARHOL and
ANNE BANCROFT
Ann Arbor premiere
ARCHITECTURE
AUDITORIUM
7:00 and 9:05 75c
.f
"STOLEN KISSE
" COLOR by Deuxe
* AND *
4i
JULES VERNE
TAKESYOU OVERTHE
EDGE OF THE WORLD!
., .
10
TOM LAUGHLIN
DELORES TAYLOR
I . _ , L Ar ~ n~ot)LW tjtfl t
i
j
III
I
Elvin Jones Quintet
Featuring: CHIC COREA
Saturday, September 18--10 p.m.
Sunday Matinee 4 p.m., Evening 9-12
lbo Cultural Center
1711 3rd St.
DETROIT
341 -0770
jl
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,
-
~___
I.
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BOWLING LEAGUES
FORMING
SIGN UP NOW!
MICHIGAN UNION LANES
OPEN NOON MON.-SAT., 1P.M. SUN.
GAMMA PHI BETA
Lawn
Dance
__
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