Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Friday, November 20, 1970 OVI'I
Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Friday, November 20, 1970
i
Both bitter and
By MARCIA ABRAMSON
Plaza Suite is brittle, o f ten
bittersweeticomedy. Beneath the
1laughter is the sickness of our
society. At' its worst, the laugh-
ter comes from stock situations,
characters and jokes; at i t s
best, the laughter is real' and.
it hurts.
Neil Simon's play consists of
three one-acters about middle-
aged marriage in America, more
specifically in the (Jewish) sub-
urbs of New York. Plaza Suite is
aimed at a very specific aud-
ience, and as such was of course
a smash hit.
The second piece, called "Visi-
tor from Hollywood," was an V
example of Simon's humor at
its low point. Two high school
sweethearts are reunited: he is
a Hollywood producer and she is.
a New Jersey housewife. Aided
More sooper ARTS on Page 7
'Suite
LAST CHANCE TO SEE!
8:30 at HILL AUD.
Otis Rush
IS COMING
DECEMBER 6
Blues Festival Benefit
PAUL JOANNE ANTHONY
NEWMAN WOODWARD PERKINS
"WUSA
A STUARI ROSSNIERG - PAUL NEWMAN - JOHN FOREMAN PRODUCTION
cosor~ LAURENCE HARVEY W~,G3
1eEt4IC0WR"Ft' WAVlS10N' A PARAMOL*IT PICTLft
WUSA
0-
Nov.
20
"AN AVALANCHE
OF HILARITY!"
-Time Magazine
SHOW TIMES
Mon.-Fri. 7:00-9:15
Sat.-Sun. 1 :00
5:00-7:00-9
-3:0c
9:15
rr i r
I
{
4.
The Contemporary Jazz, Quintet
IS
i
I
Spend An Evening With
THE FIFTH
DIMENSION
CHARLES MOORE-Trumpet
LEON HENDERSON-Tenor Sax, Flute
KENNY COX-Acoustic, Electric Piano
RON BROOKS-Acoustic, Electric Bass
ARCHIE TAYLOR-Percussion
Satu day, Nov. 21-8:30 P.M.
by name-dropping, he is quick-
ly able to get the bored house-
wife right where he wants her.
Larry Parks as the visitor was
all bellbottoms. and love beads,
very slick and with no special
characteristics. Betty Garrett
did not. do much with the house-
wife, who ostensibly is playing
the good girl while longing to
hop into bed with the "famous
Hollywood producer." She was
too nasal and repeated "Otto
Preminger" and "Humphrey Bo-
gart's house" just too many
times.
The act was entirely predict-
able and only became funny at
certain moments; for instance,
when Parks got "casual"sand
spread. his legs to show a skin-
tight peacock blue crotch.
Garrett carried over the man-
nerisms she used much more ef-
fectively in her first role as a
48-year-old housewife, dumpy
from childbearing and stupid
from her years of confinement in
the 12-room mansion in Ma-
maroneck.
Here Garrett's portrayal has
achieved a genuine tragicomic
intensity. There was something
special about her Karen Nash;
unlike Norma Hubley of t h e
third skit, she was not the stock,
wealthy matron trying to be
young and keep cool.
Karen Nash was sad and sil-
ly; but she kept her sense of
humor no matter what happen-
ed, unlike her stuffy husband
who is terrified by aging. He
struggles to keep his w e i g h t
down and prove his youth with
his secretary; Karen cannot
keep .up,. for she has sense
enough to see how silly he is.
Garrett's Karen Nash was a
perfect and pitiful example of
the plight .of middle-aged wo-
man, the first to be thrown on
the junk pile of this y o u t h-
mania. society. Her children.
don't needher, and her husband
wants to start it again with a
chic, young secretary. On the
The Michigan Daily, edited and man.
aged by students at the University of
Michigan. News phone: 764-0552. Second
Class'postageI paid at Ann Arbor, Mich.
gan, 420 Maynard St.. Ann Arbor
Michigan 48104. Published daily 'Hues-
day through Sunday morning Univer-
sity' year. Subscription rates: /$10 by
carrier, $10 by main
Summer Session published Tuesday
thro'ugh Saturday morning.'Subscrip
tion rates: $5. by carrier, $5 by mail.
THE JIMMY
CASTOR BUNCH
Trueblood Aud.
I
TICKETS $2.00 at Union, Discount Records, Students Infernational Store
I
night she plans a pathetic anni-
versary fling, she learns w h a t
she has really always known.
Yet she triumphs over him be-
cause she can still laugh and he
cannot. He is a wooden auto-
maton, who, she says, can't even
bother looking outside the! of-
fice for someonetoshave an af-
fair with. He refuses to face the
truth, and tells her to lie about
the son whoris a drop-out and
even about her age, since' her
age marks him.
For the husband, she is an
efficient old servant, a neces-
sary piece of furniture. He does
not want to lose her; but he
does not want to bother talking
to her, either. She knows only
about house painters and dinner
parties, while his secretary can
fix computers.
So there she is: trapped. He
can escape, pretending to be
young again, but she is, left
alone, undesirable, very much a
victim of society.
In this piece Simon's touted
one-liners were at their best, es-
pecially in Garrett's role. "If
you don't come out I'll tell the
waiter you wear dentures!" she
tells Parks, in a moment of exas-
peration. Or, at the height of
her intensity, she cries, "You're
a bastard. Do you want cream
or sugar?" Here Simon has cap-
tured her perfectly.
In the third piece Garrett be-
came a socially conscious, still
attractive mother in her mid-
40's with a reluctant bride for a
daughter. Garrett and the blus-
tering father try to persuade the
girl to come out of the bath-
room in which she has locked
herself.
Nothing works. As Garrett and
Parks run through some fairly
funny lines and slapstick devices
like a jacket that tears down the
back or falling out a window,
they argue over who is to blame.
In the end the bridegroom con-
vinces the daughter to come out
with two words: "Cool it." She
has been afraid that their mar-
riage will turn out just 1 i k e
her parents', full of anger and
pretense.
But she does come out, hope-
ful that theyscan do it better.
And as somebody well under
forty, I could not help but think
that Simon's plays must say
that to people in my generation.
So much of what he pokes fun
at is both true and tragic. Per-
haps he is not conscious of h i s
social criticism: but his com-
edy, at its best, reflects the
deeper wounds of our time.
Friday, November 27, 1970 at Cobo Arena
Show starts at 8:30 P.M., Doors Open at 7:30 P.M.
Tickets are: $3.50, $4.50 and $5.50. Tickets on sale now at all
J. L. Hudson stores, Grinnell stores and cobo Arena Box Office,
Washington Blvd., Detroit, Michigan 48226. Phone No. 962-
5870.
An Aruse Production
Friends of the White Panthers
Ann Arbor Rock & Roll Jamboree
4th RECORD BREAKING WEEK!
"AS ALLEGORICAL PARODY JOE IS BOTH
THOUGHTFUL AND POWERFUL"
-Neal Gabler, Mich. Doily
SRC
"I HAD MY GUTS TWISTED BY 'Z' AND
'EASY RIDER,' AND I DID NOT THINK
THEY COULD DO IT AGAIN!"
-Harlan Ellison, L.A. Free Press
UP
Iron Horse Exchange
Light Show: People's'Light & Power
Films, Speakers
Co.
UNION BALLROOM
SUNDAY, NOV. 22
"Peter Boyle,
performs
with as
much .harsh
power as the
young
Brando.
Ranks in
impact with
BONNIE
AND
CLYDE "
-Time Maqazine
'Such movies
as 'Bonnie
and Clyde-
The
Graduate'-
'Midnight
Cowboy' -
'Easy Rider'-
the new 'Joe'
enter the
national
blood-
stream.
-Pauline Koel,
The New Yorker
7-12 midnight
M.C.-Jerry Lubin
Adm. $1.50
WXYZ-FM
I
r
I
C IMA BUIL
Friday, Nov. 20
THE APU TRILOGY, Aporjito
dir. SATYGAT RAY 1958
Second film in Ray's great trilogy about the
life of a young Indian boy. Apu goes off to
the big University of Calcutta.
On Saturday we will show the last film in
the Trilogy, The World of Apu.
Sunday at 7, 9, and 11, all three films will
be shown.
7 & 9:05 ARCHITECTURE
662-8871 7C AUDITORIUM
_____________~__~ '_'----I
CINEMA 1I
Rita Tushinghom and Michael Crawford
demonstrate
"THE KNACK
(And how to get it) "
directed by RICHARD LESTER
("Hard Days Night", "How I Won the War", "Petulia")
PLUS A SHORT-"The Fatal Glass of Beer"
starring W. C. FIELDS
Friday and Saturday-Nov. 20, 21
Aud. A, Angell Hall 1:00, 9:30
NEXT WEEK
AalWat Disney Extravaganza
"Davey Crockett"
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"
"The Wind in the Willows"
Friday & Saturday-3 shows: 7:00, 9:00, 11:00
"JOE" is
rated R.
Persons under
1 8 mustbe
accompanied
by an adult
quardian.
CH ILDREN'S
MATINEES
SAT. & SUN.
12:45 p.m.
2:45 p.m.
all seats 75c
"The
Adventures
of ;
Huckleberry
S AFinn"
*SAT. 5, 7,9, 11
r
4.
I
O FIFTH VO('UM
PIPTh AVIUMJU AT LIERTY
DOWNTOWN ANN ARBOM4
INFORMATION 701-9700
THUR. 7,9
E FR .7, 9,11
ARTS CHORALE
CONCERT
FAURE REQUIEM
AND
Works By BRAHMS
and MOZART
MON. NOV. 23-8:00 P.M.
HILL AUDITORIUM
Admission complimentary;
II mmmmmmmeSALE ENDS MONDAY, . NOV. 23, 1970 '"_"_"__"
I
OVER 25,000 LP'S,
OVER 300 LABELS IN STOCK
WATCH FOR SPECIAL SALE
ITEMS CHANGING WEEKLY
4
iscount records
I
1235 S. UNIVERSITY " 300 S. STATE "0- ANN ARBOR,
668-9866 665-3679 MICH.
A
HELD OVER!
2nd WEEK IN STEREO SOUND!
"AN UNPRECEDENTED PSYCHEDELIC
ROLLER COASTER OF AN EXPERIENCE"
iI
(ontemporary Directions 1910-11
PRESENTS
The Michigan Contemporary
Directions Ensemble
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1970, 8:00 P.M.
RACKHAM LECTURE HALL
YOU HAVEN'T HEARD
ANYTHING UNTIL YOU'VE
HEARD T I N A TURNER
SING "PROUD MARY"
NOW ON SALE
ONLY &* -ik gr
Iv
John Roberts
and
Tony Barrand
from England
(the hit of the bawdy song
workshop at the Philly Folk
Festival.)
. confident & tightly
harmonized team ... voices
that leaped & 'Milted, eyes
that danced, and a variety
of hats to give atmosphere
to their songs."
John S. Wilson
New York Times.
Ike & Tina
Turner
Workin'
Together.
NEW
on Liberty
DAVID BATES, Conductor
-PROGRAM-
CHARLES IVES ........From the Steeples and the
Mountains
JACOB DRUCKMAN .... ..Animus I for Trombone
and Electronic Tape
JOHN HAWKINS..............Remembrances
KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN ...........Refrain
Compare our prices on 20 top LP's Listed Below
List SALE
6.98 49
n
Chicago II .........................
n Sly-Greatest Hits......
..
II
IE
r. .moo- .......................-