Saturday, November 9, 1974 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five Saturday,~~~~ Noebr9 94TEMCIA AL aeFv PTP: By DAVID WEINBERG William Saroyan banged outI the script of Time of Your Life in six glorious days and nights on a cheap typewriter in a dingy New York City hotel. Although Saroyan's Pulitzer prize winning play isn't God's work, there is something visionary about hisI portrayal of America in the late 30's. In the preface to the Time of Your Life Saroyan says; "A1 writer can write anywhere, un- der any circumstance or any complication of circumstances, and nothing's to stop him. He can write well and he can work as swiftly as the work involved needs to be done swiftly." PTP's City Center Acting Company opened Saroyan's play Thursday at Mendelssohn with an understanding of the play's visionary, rather than realistic, qualities. script characters of every shape and size: Willie, the pinball fanatic; Harry, the mamma's boy dan- cer: Krupp, the rueful cop; Kit Carson, the insane modern day Indian fighter. But it becomes difficult to state definitively what happens in the play and how the char- acters change. Thousands of things are happening, often si- mviltaneously, and the atmo- sphere of Saroyan's high energy play--that post-Depression, pre- War fear and optimism-all of this is there. And Saroyan's own euphoric energy-he is wildly pompous in the preface to the play-that's there too. It's an uncontrolled ' vision of a thousand faces and lives ruled by Saroyan's own life-excitement. We can only sense the force of it, and vaguely understand it. But, if we try to pull the imits i itely had the appropriate aura of compassion about him as he became the focal point for much of the bar's activity. Su- rovy is convincing as the con- tempiative, somewhat lazy man who drinks champagne all day, and he seemed casual and op- timistic enough to make it work. Nick (Benjamin Hendrickson) seemed to enjoy the collection of characters that frequent his bar. Like most of the characters he has to deal with a script that occasionally asks him to say some odd things, but he dealt with this well, and was a good backdrop for his bar. Kitty (Patti Lupone) and Tom (Norman Snow) seemed to suf- fer more because of this. Lu- .mpact Pone, neither an angry nor strong Kitty, was weepy and weak once she had the first taste of champagne in her mouth. Her dreams are never quite palatable nor believable. Tom was too much of an Eddie Haskall, and I found myself dobting his ability to drive a truck. David Schramm was uproar- iously good as Kit Carson. The pacing of the play was fast enough, there was some nice choreography and good use of the stage. Time of Your Life is a diffi- cult play to produce and in some places a tougher play to believe. City Center did a lot of the right things with it: much of the problem is script. ir. _ r - r at Butth~iod TI Ino F le Joe (Nicolas Surovy) seated at uld like to see. KITTY DUVAL (Patti LuPone) looks on with a bored air whi Snow) talk about all the different places in the world they wo One point shy of a one no trump bid, North opened with one club, East passed, South responded one s p a d e, Wes passed, and North raised to tw spades. South bid three spades and North, with his maximum and prime values, bid fou: spades. NS NVUL. EW VUL. NORTH 44AQ2 V A 7 5 2 f A J 9 4973 WEST 4 7 5 V K 9 8 * Q 8 6 5 4 3 4 K Q 4 EAST 63 Q J 10 4 3 7 4 A J 10 6 5 SOUTH 4 K J 10 9 8 4 *K1107 4842 The bidding: Failure to seek or clues costs A contract by FRANK BELL= - his ace and cashed the ten of Un ers i h clubs. Winning the third club h trick, East shifted to the queen t of hearts.N o Declarer won dummy's heart u p slo n ace and pulled trump in three n rounds, West sluffing diamonds r on the second and third rounds. By MARNIE HEYN Now declarer decided to learn After an excruciatingly slow his fate and led a diamond to start, the University Dancers: the board's ace returnin gthe wound up to the kind of per- jack of diamonds. East fumbled formance that is expected of for a second and South's hopes them at the Power Center last rose, then East discarded a s night. heart. Rising with the diamond The first piece on the pro- king he led out all his trumps, gram was Vera Embree's Kin! but West held on to his diamond and Ken, an interpretation of queen to set the contract. an African line dance in two quee toset he ontrct. parts. This number, designed in! South misplayed the hand rs1963,appeared to be less ma- when he failed to get a count ture and developed than her on the opponent's distribution, latest work, but that appear-' Upon winning the heart shift at ance may be due to the dancing trick four, he should ruff a rather than the choreog aphy. heart high, cross to the quern Embree laudably includes stu- of spades, ruff another heart, dents who are not dance ma- return to dummy's ace of jors in her productions; but un- spades, and ruff the last heart.3 fortunately for this piece a size- When, on the fourth round ofI able n u m b e r of performers hearts, Westhdiscardsraddia- spent about a quarter of the mond the hand is an open book. dance looking around for their Since West could only follow to places, which distracted from two clubs, two spades, and the outstanding work of other three rounds of hearts, he is dancers. Kin and Ken still' marked with six diamonds and exuded energy, and the music his partner a stiff. Now it is by a live percussion group was a simple matter to cash the wonderful. diamond king, and, if the queen Lucas Hoving's Uppercase, a does not drop, take the marked curious cross between second finesse against West's queen. generation modern dance and Like a detective who must vaudeville hoofing, is a tidy, n diligently search for clues to little display window for im- solve his case, so must declarer peccable technique. In this pro- diligently search for the clues duction, sadly, the technique necessary to make his contract. was a little elusive. Although ray.mediatrics - a presents ALKING TALL FRIDAY SATURDAY November 8 November 9 7:30, 9:30 Natural Science Aud. $1 There's a basic flaw in thel play; nothing substantive ever i emerges from Saroyan's script. There's no cohesive statement7 and no real attempt to moveI the characters in any firm di- j rection. Time of Your Life is set inc Nick's Pacific Street Saloon inj San Francisco during the after- noon and night of a day in t 1939. Center stage is Joe, ac the table and Tom (Norman young loafer with a lot of un- explained money and a good 1 heart. Around him are Nick, the wise1 and mainly gentle owner of the saloon, Tom, Joe's sidekick and errand boy, and Kitty Duval,z local prostitute who dreams of being an actress. And there are many others strewn throughout the play,f " iy Dancers warm i i y, finish nstyle Elizabeth Bergmann and Sylvie l De Profundis by Martine Lambert are excellent dancers, Epoque, who designed Amoe- and in spite of a nice comedy boisme, one of the most popular menage in the middle section, pieces that 'U' Dancers did :ast the fact that the female dancers I year, begins with another fine had very diffirent concepts of example of her floor choreog- the way the figures should look raphy. Although foot placement meant that the piece looked is not to be disregarded in her choppy and deadening. pieces, most of the impact of But with the third piece, her work is felt in precise, Freon by Elizabeth Bergmann, energetic carriage and posture, the company pulled its potatoes which the company exhibited in out of the fire and turned out joyous, refined fashion. the professional kind;of per- formance they are capable of. play together it's just an annoy- ng experience. City Center's production of Time of Your Life seemed to reflect this kind of understand- ng of the play. The set was; aesthetically pleasing with lots of nice touches: the pinball machine named "American Dream" and campy pictures on the walls. The effort to re- create Saroyan's "honky-tonk" atmosphere, so critical to the play, is definitely noticeable. The piano music is 30's, not boogie-woogie as Saroyan had it. In addition, contrary to the written version, the play never leaves the bar. Joe (Nicolas Surovy) defin- Oi Have a flair for artistic writinq? poetry, and music or writing feature stories a bo ut the drama, dance, finm airts: Contact Arts Editor, c/a The Michigan Daily. $2.50 3:50 FRI.-SAT.-SUN-. Folk Legocy Record's ,i i k MICHAEL COONEY I II I I f North East South 1 4 2 4 4 4 11 I Pass Pass Pass 14 3 4 Pass West Pass Pass Pass Freon, in its premiere perform- ance, was a large, insightful) exploration of apocalypse and DECEMBER aftermath. The tone moved from grave to erotic to painful to GRADUATE? funny with finesse and evident talent. If you are graduating Annedeloria's Soft Cider is a in December you must graceful panorama of popular o r d e r your CAP & American dance and a bit of GOWN no later than on-stage fiddling, from Shaker! NOV. 19 at style and square to kneesies and the twist, all performed UNIVERSITY CELLAR with humor, tidy coordination, 769-7940 and perfect timing. "One of the last great entertainments!" I DISCOVER A "LOST" FILM: !{ i r I i,, t i f I ________________ SHOWS TODAY at 1 -3-5-7-9 p.m. I m p E.Open at 12:45 MONDAY IS GUEST NIGHT For Evening Shows, You and a Guest FOR ONLY $2.25 HURRY! MUST END SOON!- I Opening lead: King of clubs. West opened the club king and declarer paused to study the hand. Counting nine tricks in the form of six spades, one heart, and two diamonds, he realized that his contract rested on finding the queen of dia- monds. His consideration finished, he played a low club from dummy. East encouraged with the jack, and when his partner continued with the queen he overtook with The most amazing outdoor adventure ever filmcdl NOSEPH E.LEVINE presents : P GEORGE C. SCOTin aMIKE NICHOLS sm IHE DOLPHIN we iTectlicalura Panavision' An Asco Embassy Piture "A one man folk festival consistently brilliant." --L.A. Nightlife IU DELI ALL YOU CAN EAT FOR $2 SUN., NOV. 10 6-7:30 HILLEL-1429 Hill St. F w et The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes Director-- BILLY WILDER Is The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes the best American film of the last five years? This 1970 Billy Wilder produc- tion, which opened as Radio City Music Hall's Christmas attraction but soon drifted into critical oblivion and com- mercial disaster, now qualifies as a major rediscovery of the '70's. However, don't let its relative obscurity fool you-The Pri- vote Life of Sherlock Holmes is far from being an esoteric film. In fact, it may be one of the last great entertain- ments-a film in which style, comedy, plot, and meaning are blended with the ease and assurance that character- ized the old Hollvv-ood masters. In addition to its lively script, visual flair, and fantastic Miklos Rosza score, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes is also one of the most ingenious mysteries ever written for the screen. A cape full of canaries, a mysterious woman saved from drowning "a swan that really isn't a swan, four midqets at a lonely gravesite, a group of four Trappist monks, a "red runner" the code-word "Jonah". Kaiser Wilhelm, and Loch Ness: these are iust a few of the clues that unravel in an intricate chain of events leading to a truly surprising conclusion-perhaps too surprising, even, for the redoubtable Mr. Holmes. But, besides being a mystery, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes also has mystery,if you know what I mean. And at the center of this mystery is the character of the legendary arch-decettive, Sherlock Holmes. The film opens with a safe-deposit box being opened and a series of dusty objects being extracted from it-a hypodermic, a violin concerto, a deerstalker, a pipe, and a Rosebud-like glass ball con- taiing a bust of Queen Victoria. A handwritten manuscript narrated by Dr. Watson tells us that 50 years after Holmes' death, we will learn of this case, one of Holmes' few faiures . . . Was Holmes really a supersleuth, or was he the creation of his sometimes overzealous chronicler, Dr. Watson? Was Holmes one of the last romantics, or an unfeeling thinking machine? Was he a homosexual, or the victim of a tragic love affair? At the end of all these questions is a syringe filled with opium, which allows Holmes to conquer the ag- onizing boredom that so often afflicts him and to smooth over the contradictions in his elusive character. Finally, the film is about myth-makinq. Sherlock Holmes, the Loch Ness monster. Romanticism; the Victorian age--- these are some of the myths the film treats, myths that be- come real more than the reality that debunks them, just as World War I will debunk the Nineteenth Century that is dving at the film's end. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes is a very funny film and a very melancholy one, very cyni- cal and very romantic. It is an old-fashioned film and a very modern one. It is a film for all audiences, particularly that rather large audience that missed it the first time around, and perhaps now, five years after the fact, film so- cieties and revival houses will give it a well-deserved second chance. I 1411 Hill STET 7i1&'S J LA P".. UAC Concert Co-op Presents I I AE ROS I TiI 0 I I in I Ii