THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Fridav, Januarv 15, 1971 #'


Fridov Joniinrv 1~ l97l~

I

drama /
Medium': Operatic mix

Shepp in Detroit:
Jazz at its finest

qion carlo menotti
The
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TOMORROW AT 8:00
Box Office Opens at 12:30
FRIEZE
ARENA THEATRE


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FEATURING
LIVE ROCK BAND

4

By JIM HENNERTY
Despite the efforts of com-
posers such as Wagner, opera
and drama have largely con-
tinued to maintain an unfortu-
nate separation. The most glor-
ious music dramas of the nine-
teenth century age often re-
duced to rubble by the ludicrous
histrionics of singers who can't
move a single muscle correctly
on the stage.
Gian Carlo Menotti has been
trying for over thirty years now
to help remedy the situation. In
his operas, he has attempted to
weld the arts of acting and sing-
ing together into a workable
whole. The Student Laboratory
Theater's production of The,
Medium demonstrates very well
the composer's partial success.
Director Reid Klein has an.
excellent sense of the kind of
synthesis Menotti is driving at.
The interweaving of spoken dia-
logue and the vocal line, the
interdependence of music and
drama are skillfully worked out
and persuasively presented. The
production leans more in the di-
rection of acting, in so far as
the "free" vocal line often turns
completely into spoken dia-
logue. Moreover, a piano reduc-'
tion of tht orchestral score is
used. Practical considerations
dictate such a choice, but it
does tend to lessen the import-
ance of the musical element as
well, in spite of Jerry DePuit's
musicianly direction. And yet,
at the end, Klein lets the music
alone make the dramatic effect,
cutting Baba's final line.

The story is simple enough:
a phony fortune teller suddenly
perceives supernatural effects
not produced by the behind-the-
scenes crew of her daughter
and a stray mute boy. The mys-
tery frightens the woman into a
frenzy in which she kills the
young boy, Toby.
Christopher Goutman handles
the mute role very well, and
Marilyn Scher acts and sings
thepart of the daughter be-
lievably enough. Joan Suss-
wein does a superb job in the
title role, capturing the neuro-
tic despair and fright which
surrounds this cruel -woman.
Her vocalizing is marvelously
expressive and musically de-
pendable as well. It is a pleas-
ure to experience so completely
effective an operatic perform-
ance as Susswein's, espclally
after witnessing the vagaries of
a "star" soprano in the Metro-
politan Opera's new Fidelio. In
the joyful finale of Beethoven's
opera, the heroine stumbles
from one part of the chorus to
the other, moving like a woman
who is being gang-raped instear
of liberated. There is more
aesthetic truth to modest pro-
ductions such as The Medium
than there is in some of the
underrehearsed t r a v k s t i e s
foisted on the public by the
Met.
Anyone who sees this produc-
C 4 YhA ;

tion will also discover the weak-
ness of Menotti's writing which
effectively eliminates him from
the ranks of great, or even
good, composers. His dramatic
sense is sometimes flawed ily a
penchant for melodrama and
mawkish sentimentality. More
importantly, his music lacks
even the most essential imagi-
nation and originality. His
craftsmanship raises his work
above the ridiculously low level
of the Broadway musical, but
he never comes near to the
ranks of the operatic masters.
A recent Mercury recording
of The Old Maid and the Thief
makes the point painfully clear.
The theatrical instinct is strong
and often in good shape; but
the musical element is much too
weak to make a pleasing im-
pression. There is too much
imitation Puccini and Richard
Strauss-like schmaltz to invigo-
rate the drama. The excellent
performances of Anna Reynolds
and John Reardon, together
with the lively conducting of
Jorge Mester, are enough to
cover a multiude of the com-
poser's sins, but the overall
quality is unmistakably second-
rate.
How unfortunate for >pera
that a man so devoted to the
effective practice of the art
lacks the talent to create effec-
tive works of .his kind. Never-
theless, Menotti has helped put
opera on the right track, and
we should be grateful for his
efforts, at the same time we
hope for a more skillful prac-
titioner of his ideas

By BERT STRATTON
Possibilities in Detroit this
weekend - Archie Shepp is
coming, the man who plays fire
music. The man who Leroi Jones
calls "the tenor man of N e w
Jazz."
Archie Shepp on sax, one bass
player, and three percussionists
- that's the lineup. The ques-
tion is, is this Africa or Ameri-
ca?
That's the whole problem, Ar-
chie Shepp, a black misplaced in
a white nation, and what's
more, an artist whose talents
are completely ignored by that,
nation
So Shepp spends almost all
his time between New York City
(America's only jazz haven) and
Europe, where they go in for
American "culture."
But now there's a place in De-
troit called Starta Concert Gal-
lery which is making a point of
featuring the great jazz music-
ians. Pretty logical if you know
the people Who run Strata -
they're the members of the Con-
temporary Jazz Quintet. It's the
dream: artists controlling all
aspects of their art, including
the means of production a n d
distribution. It's the anti-rip-
off syndrome: for $3.50 you can
dig Shepp for four hours and
not g e t hassled by nightclub
barmaids.
The facts: Archie Shepp ap-
pearing through t h e 17, (to-
night and Saturday, 9:30-2:00
a.m., Sunday 6-10 p.m.) at
Strata Concert Gallery, 2554
Michigan Ave., no age limit.
To t el1 it, the Strata is a
crazy place, ,with imaginary
smells of an artist's loft, the

avant-garde, some people from
the University and Wayne, some
from work, some h i p blacks,
some from nowhere, everybody
picking up on old sounds and
old rhythms (reworked).
You walk up o n e flight of
steps, above a grocery store, and
you think. "Is this the Strata
Concert Gallery?" (and wonder
how they ever made a concert
gallery out of a grocery store.)
And when I he a rd Herbie
Hancock there Miles' expian-
ist), the cigarette smoke got so
thick that Herbie had to ask
the audience to quit puffing -
that's what jazz is, right? You
get a real beer-joint, crazy four
hour jam - golden horns, flail-
ing drums, they're off and run-
ning, and everybody carrying on
- all at once - and this is no
jive nightclub ($5 a drink and
"Direct from the Desert Inn.")
This is direct from the heart,
from the mix of black slums and
white palaces, bitter-sweet, the
blues. John Coltrane's legend ex-
panded, "talking" saxophone,
black night jazz.'
American dream shattering-
drums, it's too loud with three
drums! Sure, everything's to o
loud.
"Some of us are bitter about
the way things are going." -
that's Shepp, and the Contem-
porary Jazz Quintet too, tired of
being ripped-off by entrepre-
naurs and promoters. They've
formed their own guilds. The
possibilities of New Jazz are in
Detroit.
Archie Shepp will be heard.
Black night suffering to be
heard clear over here in this
land of whole milk lectures.

603 E. MADISON

SAT.-9:00 P.M.

EVERYONE WELCOME!

1971 Ann Arbor 8 nunFilnFestival
Fehruai'y 18-21
RULES

The festival is open to all non-professional
Regular 8, Super 8, and Single 8 Films. Explicit
instructions on synchronization of sound systems
are required for all sound films.
If Sync instructions are impractical or un-
telligible, films will not be accepted for showing.
Also, films with poor splicing or other defects will
be returned. 4The Festival recommends that films
be treated with film cleaner and lubrieant).
An entry form must be completed in full and
received with the $3.00 entry fee for each film
submitted by February 1. 1971. (Checks may be
made out to the Ann Arbor Film Cooperative).
Mail films to P.O. Box 8, Ann Arbor, Michi-
qan 48107. If you anticipate that your film will
not reach us by February 1, please send your
entry blank and entry fee ahead with a note as to
when the film might be expected. To deliver your
film personally make arrangements with Doug
Lichterman in Ann Arbor at 313-764-3643. All
films must reach us by February 8, 1971.

Each film submitted will be screened by a
selectionccommittee which will program the four
days of showings in the Residential College Audi-
torium. (Located in East Quadrangle, 716 S.
University, Ann Arbor, Michigan).
An Awards Jury will view the selected films
as they are presented at the Festival and make
the decisions regarding distribution of prize 'mon-
ey. There will be prizes in each of the four cate-
gories, in addition to an award for the outstanding
film of the Festival.
We do not, as a rule, acknowledge receiving
films. If you would like a receipt please enclose
a stomped self-addressed envelope or postcard,
The final screening program will not be
known until a week before the Festival. All film-
makers will receive a list of the winners, and a
copy of the program shortly after the showings.
Please enclose the necessary amount of money
if you want your film insured upon return mailing,

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-- - ... ........ .........--.. --.--..-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
ENTRY BLANK
TITLE OF FILM:
Length in Minutes and Seconds: v ___Year of Production:
Type of film stock: Regular 8_Super 8 Single 8
Check One Category of Competition:
Animation Documentary _- Experimental-__ Narrative
Check One Type of Sound System:
Silent Magnetic Stripe on Film -__ Bell & Howell Film-O-Sound
Synchronex _ Synchronized with Cassette Synchronized with Reel-to-
Reel Tape (Tape Speed: ) Other:
Check One Type of Splicing: I
I Tape Splices Cement Splices .- Spliceless Print Other_
j Name and Address of Filmmaker: Return Address for Film (if different:
Phone Number:
Complete One Entry Blank for each film entered and return before February 1, 1971, to:
ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL, P.O. Box 8, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48107
Please enclose Entry Fee of $3.00 per film, payable to the Ann Arbor Film Cooperative. I
If you have any questioon regarding the Festival, contact:
DOUG LICHTERMAN, 313-764-3643

This.

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starring ARLO GUTHRIE
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January 15, 16

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