Thursday, October 14, 1974
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Five
Thursday, October 10, 1974 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five
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#',
'Cyrano
opens PTP
with swashbuckling
KAZOO KOW KOLLEGE
Watch for them
on Saturday
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By DAVID WEINBERG '
Perhaps many of us have for-
gotten what a satisfying play
Rostrand's Cyrano de Bergerac
can be, how filled with life and '
humor it can be, and indeed,
how diverse and subtle a play
it is.;
The University's Professional
Theatre Program (PTP) re-'
minded us last night when it
opened its Guest Artist Series
at Power Center with a new
production of Cyrano, featuring
guest artist-in-residence William
Leach. Leach comes to the PTP
with a width of experience, al-
though his supporting cast for
the most part often seemed less
so.
The story of Cyrano - based
more or less on fact - centers
around one totally dominating
protagonist: Cyrano de Berger-
ac, a hero in the truest sense.
Cyrano is a wonderous poet and
philosopher, an unparalleled
swordsman, and a hopeless ro-
mantic.
But his one flaw - which we a
discover the moment he. walks
on stage - is his utterly enor-
mous nose, whose grotesque-
ness is only equalled by his in-
credible gift for verse.
The nose becomes a source of;
some of the best humor in the
splay,as everyone, including
Cyran o, makes fun of it. Cy-a
rano makes no pretensions1
about his ugliness, but neither isI
ne shy in his pride for his gift1
of verse and his belief in his
soul.
Naturally, he loves "the most
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beautiful woman in the world" Woodruff) is a difficult char-
-Roxeanne, envied among all acter for any actress, since the
women in the land, but his ugli- part really doesn't blossom un-
ness and his pride prevent him til the fourth act. Woodruff
from ever revealing this to her. played a properly one-dimen-
She, in turn, loves Christian- sional Roxeanne through the
a simple, if physically beautiful, first three acts, and really came
young cadet in Cyrano's legion. into her own by the play's end.
As the play unfolds, Cyrano and ! Especially, her call of the sol-
Christian strike a pact in which diers in the fourth act is a love-
Cyrano's words and Christian's ly and natural piece of work.
beauty would unite to make the In the same way, Christian
invincible lover. (James Curt Bergwall) has an
This, of course, is sheer tor- emergence of character near
ture for Cyrano, as he aches the end of the show, as tie real-
to tell Roxeanne the truth of izes that Roxeanne loves the
the affair. 'And naturally, the ugly Cyrano, and not him.
truth will eventually be re- There is a sense of him learn-
vealed-but only after it is too ing from the experience, and
late. being the wiser for it.
In all, the PTP production of In general, Cyrano made a
Cyrano could do little to har' damned nice opening night for
scramarelousdd cit-adrinthe PTP. Rostrand's gift for,
such a marvelous script-and in verse and for humor brought to
fact did it a great deal of credit, life a play that too many of us
Cyrano, Roxeanne, and Chris- have neglected. We can only
tian make a pretty happy triad, hope that the level of the iest
and a further word should be of the season will remain this
said about each: high.
Guest Artist Leach no doubt-
carried the show as Cyrano.
There were few moments of
distraction as Leach carried off GEORGE CUKOR'S
a wide and often subtle range
of emotion very effectively. We
could clearly sense the hvster-
ically funny but deadly serious with JOAN CRAWFO
dichoctemy of Cyrano. en his NORtA SHEARER, JO
e .'.se, his ability to play nuance, NOM HAEjO
his control over pace and GREY. From the play b
volume, Leach contributed a tor, it's most popularv
professional atmosphere defin- who's who of actresses i
itely not present in many of the little comedies to hit the
supporting personnel.
Roxeanne (played by Karent
s i i
EDMOND RQSTANOD
we Octoer 9 t o2S m
Advance Sales P.T.P. Ticket Office,
MendelsohnLnobbv 7i4-045
Power Center Box Office
After 6 P.M. 763-3333
1932
HE WOMEN
RD, PAULETTE GODARD, ROSALIND RUSSELL,
AN FONTAINE, RUTH HUSSEY, AND VIRGINIA
)y Clare Booth Luce-America's best woman direc-
woman playwright and a cost that is virtually a
n the 30's combine to make up one of the toughest
screen.
LEE MARVIN in "POINT BLANK"
WOLER'S "WUTHERING HEIGHTS"
Y'S "SIMABADDHA-THE TARGET"
TONIGHT ARCHITECTURE AUD.
at 7 &9 Adm. $1
'As I sound the ref raiii, thrust home'
The baker, Ragaueneau (Evan Jefferies) thrusts home with
mimicing Cyrano's Ballade as his wife (Pat Idlette) looks on.
R ... 4.
Records in review
Luther Allison, well-known for his local performances, has
recently released his third album, Luther's Blues (Gordy G 967-
VI).
Luther Allison first played at Ann Arbor in the 1969 Blues
Festival, and since then he has continued to improve and
mature.
From the start Luther has been a fine singer-guitarist, but
on this album he expands his talents to encompass slide and har-
monica. His guitar solos on the title song and "Let's Have a
Little Talk" are fine examples of his mastery of the blues; his
slide on "Driving Wheel" is interesting but not yet fully de-
veloped.
"Part Time Love" weaves in and out of a minor theme, simi-
lar in intent to Otis Rush's "Double Trouble." "Into My Life,",
another minor blues, has a certain primitive Latin flavor that
reminds one of "Black Magic Woman."
With this release Allison has produced a fine blues album,
running through many styles, with the minor blues particularlyI
outstanding, which should go some ways towards establishing
Luther as an up and coming blues king.
-Harry Hammitt
Artur Rubinstein is well on his way towards recording the
complete Brahms chamber music for piano. His latest recording
of the three Brahms Piano Trios and the Schumann D Minor Trio
(RCA ARL 3-0138) with Henryk Szehyng and Pierre Fournier.
This undertaking inevitably reminds one of the older record-I
ings by Rubinstein with Heifetz and Piatigorsky. That group
never really got it together - they never' seemed to masterI
that vital intuitive grasp of each other's musical heads and
were never willing to stop fighting for center stage with each
other.
Rubinstein, Szeryng, and Fournier aren't perfect either, but
they come much closer. Roug edges appear now and then inI
their playing, but they at least seem able to ston playing musical
superstars and make good music. This recording is easily the
best available version of the complete Brahms Trios and would
be a good investment for anyone who loves these pieces and
wants an intelligent reading of them.-I
-Charles Smith
b *"
Feats Don't Fail Me Now (Wrner Bros. R5-2784) is this
year's offering from the remarkable Los Angeles band little
Feat. With this album, the band is clearly settling down into
a definite style - but it's a style nobody else could possibly
imitate.
The ingredients of Little Feat's unine recine are only a
few-but each packs a wallop. First there's Lowell George's
foxy slide guitar - which he plas so cleverly that Christian
Scientists sometimes fait. Next, there's Bill Payne's madcap
piano-playing - a wanderful perversion of the skills he learned
banging out gosnel numbers in darkest Loisiane. Then there
is the rhythm section comnosed of Sam Clavton and Richie Hav-
ward. who between them come n with more funky rhythms than
our Hnre Krishna friends could cook in in three incarnations.
Most imnortant. the gron boasts three fine songwriters. Low-
ell George is the best of the three: totally original, bizarre in a
way that begins to make s'nse after a while. He's made a creer
owt of ternno chbnnP and melody twists - and writing blues riffs
aho t Chairman Mao.
The material her is a toch less nnrorchale than that
of their last alhb". Dixie Chicken - which would nrohabl be
the best introd'w'tion to the hand. But for old Feat hands, Feats
Don't Fail Me Now will he the usual once-a-year treat.
-Tom Olson
n>O<:>~ i=:>X<=:>o<:::'<:::::><;:::::>C:::: O<::><=:o
A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY
CLASSICAL MUSIC OF INDIA
Q A LECTURE RECITAL BY
GN. JOSHI
Li *lecturpd and performed in U.S., U.K., Europe in 1964,
V 70. 73. 74
. recorded over 100 songs with H.M.V. (subsidiary of
E.M.. Lor-don)
Sat., Oct. 12-7 p.m.-200 Lane Hall
ADMISSION FREE DONATIONS WELCOME
Courtesv: india Students Assoc., Dept. of Humanities, O
and School of Music
CENTER FOR
RUSSIAN AND EAST EUROPEAN STUDIES
a skewer full of chickens,
Authentic Baroque,
fills Rackham Aud.
WALLABEE
, AcuWAsf*LCj4h
' SAT. : V
SUN.: RA'
CINEMA GUILD
By BOB SCHETTER
For those fortunate enough
to hear Concentus Musicus last
night at Rackham Auditorium,
it was like stepping into the
Age ofBaroque as lived by the
people of that period. This Vi-
ennese group opened the sea-
son's University Musical So-
ciety's Chamber Arts Series.
As Concentus Musicus swept
through a program consisting of'
Handel, Vivaldi, Teleman and
Pergolesi, it. became apparent
that here was a virtuoso ensem-
ble, expert not only in the busi-
ness of not playing, but also in
capturing the mood of the music'
and its insipient age.
Interviewing the leader of,
Concentus Musicus, Nicholas
Harnoncourt, during intermis-1
sion, he explained that the en-
semble, consisting of strings,
woodwinds and harpsichord, ap-
proximates those used by Ba-
roquebperformers as closely as
possible.'
To do this dealers were ap-
proached, antique shops were
searched, and even old castles
and monasteries were rummag-
ed for the right instrument of
both the finest quality and tim-
bre.
To insure the timbre is "just
right," special gut strings of
low pressure are ordered so that
the notes are played with a fine
touch of the hand. This insures
that the subtleties of the works
can be easily played.
Today, generally, m e t a l
strings are used.
During Baroque times con-
cert pitch was lower than what,
it is today and the keyboard in-
struments of the time were non-
tempered. This was howdCon-
centus Musicus presented its
pieces.
The program began with Han-
del's Concerto Grosso in F ma-
jor, a typically rhythmic baro-
que piece. Pieces such as the
Vivaldi Quartetto del Gardel-
lino, showed the tendency of
composers towards imagery and
the imitation of "n a t u r a l
sounds."
The latter half of the program
was entirely of Telemann. In
these two pieces, Concerto for
four solo violins andSuite in C
major, the high intellectual }
manipulation of baroque musicl
is heard as well as its impro-
visational aspects.
Hopefully, the Concentus Mu-:
sicus will be back for our great
enjoyment next season.
FREE BEER
WITH
Phil Hart
AND
John Reuther
FRIDAY, OCT. 11
8 P.M.
at REUTH ER H.Q.
HILL at FOREST
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1
MOVING SALE
20% OFF
ALL MERCHANDISE
316 SO. STATE STREET
9 a.m.-9 p.m. Mon.-Sat.; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sun.
POETRY READING
(first in a Thurs. night series)
with LAWRENCE RAAB
Reading from his first book, "Mysteries of the
Horizons," and his other works.
Thurs., Oct. 10-7:30 p.m.
GUILD HOUSE-802 Monroe
ADMISSION FREE
Ann Arbor Civic Iheatre presents
A Musical Farce
based on "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde
* e