THE MICHIGANDAILY

Page Five

THE ICHIAN AILYPageFiv

Joni Mitchell: A

versatile

artist
By DIANE LEVICK
Arts Editor
No doubt about it. Joni Mitchell
can boogie.
Touring for the first time with
a jazz-boogie back-up band (Tom
Scott and the L.A. Express), Joni
a..knocked 'em dead" at Hill Aud.
-or at least into an admiring stu-
por - with her versatility Satur-
day night.
?daSurrounded by the true "super-
star" aura, she delivered her
rousing rock and roll "Raised on
Robbery" as well as her gentle
but, piercing dulcimer tunes. And
then she was gone.
No press interviews. No back-
stage visits. Clutching a bouquet
of red roses, Joni had barely a
moment to greet well-wishers at
Hill Auditorium's backdoor. A
few words exchange with fans.
Dady Photo by STUART HOLLANDER An album signed.
Her road manager and entour-
Joni itche1l age spirited her back to Campus
rease' pes ly parodies
1950's 'greaser raunchiness

wth
Inn on her private bus c
ably decked out with c
and bar service. The plush
room style interior cost
to remodel, according to
Joni's sound men.
One wonders how muc
and fortune have change
view of her audience si
last time she played Anti
in Canterbury House abc
years ago.
See tomorrow's Arts Pagef
Hariu's review of Joni Miteb
album.
Taking her privacy qu
iously' these days, Jonin
veals herself only on reco
onstage. Saturday night h
revealing and intense song
those from her Blue albu
companied only by her
dulcimer. The austerity
music accented the powe
cal on "A Case of You"
flavored it with her char
tic bittersweetness.
Yet she played a mean
tic rock guitar and mad
ough use of open tunings
gave a full, lound soun
Yellow Taxi." inspired by
trip to touristy Hawaii,,
Joni to do some of her ow
ing and rolling without th
up band. Not bad for a
who learned guitar from
Seeger album.
It was only during h
set that Joni talked to he
ence, offering a few sc
explanation to those in
in pinoointing her lyrics'
ing. She described a s

sperstar
omfort- from For the Roses as "the first h
curtains of many retirement songs . . . a y
h living- farewell to show biz." h
$150,000 Humorously prefacing "Peo-
one of ple's Parties" from her new al- a
bum Court and Spark, Joni told n
h fame the audience of the party which t
d Joni's provoked the acerbic treatment. n
nce the The furniture was transparent, h
Arbor the food was transparent, and, t
nut five said Joni, "1 had the feeling that '
the people were transparent . . .h
I felt like cellophane myself." n
for Kurt To some, Joni Mitchell is a fine
ed's new singer whose lyrics never quite-i
strike home, for her words sug-
gest an unusually extreme frag-
ite ser- ility of spirt. But to others, her
niow re- compositions are poetry - and
ord and not in the Rod McKuen sense -
er most bringing out the poet in all of us.
gs were Jamie Gibson (LSA, '75), for in-
um, ac- stance, attached a verse of his
flowing own song (inspired by Joni) to a
of the red tulip and placed it hopefully
rful vo- onstage for the elusive singer
as Joni Saturday night. Somehow Joni ei-,
acteris- ther didn't see it or ignored it.
"I couldn't stand it any long-
acous- er," explains Gibson, who
e thor- screamed out to Joni to look at

aura

" LISTEN * LISTEN e LISTEN 0 LISTEN 0 LISTEN "
THE
WOMEN'S HOUR
EVERY TUESDAY, 8 P.M., WCBN-FM 89.5
THIS WEEK'S SHOW:
"AN INTRODUCTION"
*LISTEN * LISTEN 0 LISTEN 0 LISTEN 0 LISTEN 0

is tulip. "It's not everyday you
yell before four thousand, four
undred people."
So Joni read his note silently
and then giggled a "thank you,"
never relating the note's content
o the curious audience. It was
robably the last line that got to
her. A verse concerning unat-
ainable dreams, it concluded:
'But I sure wish you'd come up
here on the hill and stand beside
me and be my queen,"
Quips Gibson, "Her next album
s going to be "For the Tulips."
BOOGLE DOWN
WITH
LIGHTN ING
Live from the Primo
ON
WCBN-FM 89.5
BROADCAST STARTS
AROUND 11 P.M.


RUHANI SATSANG
Science of the Soul
invites you to the annual celebration
of the birth anniversary of the
LIVING MASTER
SANT K R AL SiNCHJI
Saturday, Feb. 2, 1974
3-5 p.m.
FRIENDS MTG. HOUSE
1420 Hill St., Ann Arbor
"We are all brothers and sisters
in God."-Sant KIRPAL SINGHJI

A LIVING MASTER
KIRPAL SINGHJI
Discourses, Books, Tapes, Free
Literature, C o I o r Films. No
Charge . Free Vegetarian. No
collection. Refreshments. All
are welcome.

FOR MORE INFO CALL KEN SMITH, 971-3080

By PENNY BLANK
Grease's pleasingly raunchy
company proved to Power Cen-
ter audiences this weekend just
how crude, lewd and rude the
1950's were.
For the play's teenage boppers
of Rydell High, being seniors in
1959 means monster movie drive-
ins, pajama parties, making-out
in the backseat of a souped-up
Chevy, and chugging Thunder-
bird with the gang, not worrying
about getting cooties.
This musical comedy, still a hit
on Broadway; gives its viewers
more fun and less introspection
than other productions, such as
American Grafitti, riding the 50's
nostalgia wave. Grease is high
energy and irreverent; social
comment is zilch and the bawdy
humor never quits, except to be
momentarily replaced by parody
of prudery. Seeing this produc-
tion makes you want to drag out
your old 45's and put on your
boppin' shoes.
The plot revolves around some
real cool dudes - The Burger
Palace Boys, and their boss
chicks - The Pink Ladies.
They're not really bad kids or

degenerates, but they don't fit
in the Class President or Head
-Cheerleader mold either.
Sandy, (Marcia McClain) the
new girl in school, wants to fit in
with the gang, but doesn't want
to give up her chaste "Sandra
Dee" image, her ponytail, beaded
cardigan or white ankle socks.
Her past summer love turns out
to be the hotrod leader of the
Burger Palace Boys.
Danny's black leather jacket,
ducktail haircut and "Mr. Cool"
ways are foreign to Sandy, and
she claims he's not the boy she
thought she knew. Sandy finally
decides to come over to the
greaser's way of life, donning
tight capri pants and a Pink La-
dies jacket.
The simple turn of events in
Grease wouldn't be much with-
out the wide variety of 50's set-
tings, situations, costumes, man-
nerisms, music and slang which
bring this polished parody of that
era to life.
The set, framed by large high
school yearbook photos, is backed
by a collage of 1950's pictures,
symbols and memorabilia. It is
easily transformed into the

school cafeteria, the Burger Pa-
lace, a drive-in movie, or a hop
in the gym - all the scenes of
crucial events in a, teenager's
life.
The costuming is painfully au-
thentic, right down to the white
bucks and argyles of the school
clod. Practically every charac-
ter's costume change elicits
groans from the older members
of the audience remembering
how they used to look in pink
pedal pushers or leopardskin pat-
terned tuxedos.
Under the direction of Tom
Moore, every move of the cast
is part of the familiar teenage
rebel stereotype epitomized by
James Dean, whose picture
stares down on the proceedings.
The importance of "maintaining
your cool" is also an integral
part of the good - natured cutting
down of friends in Grease's dia-
logue.
The music in Grease is genu-
ine rock 'n' roll, worthy of the
huliy - gully, hand jive or the
stroll. Songs like "Beauty School
Dropout", "It's Raining on Prom
Night" and "Mooning" are
choreographed with "shamefully
crass gestures" (as a cheerlead-
er in Grease puts it) and blatant,
suggestive gyrations that banned
the photographing of "Elvis the
Pelvis" from the waist down on
television.
An energetic, uninhibited cast
gave equally good performances
of' the 1950's not so troubled,
good-times-rolling youth. Grease
is by far the funniest and most
enjoyable play I've seen in a
great while: dy-na-mite!

s which
d. "Big
y Joni's
allowed
vn rock-
e back-
woman
a Pete
er solo
er audi-
raps of
terested
mean-
election


I

AR-DAYSTAR presents
gab barbierif
$esther philli1ps
ke'ith jeret
IN CONCERT
sat., feb. 23, 1974
$5-4.50-4-3.00
ON SALE NOW
11:00-5:30 MICHIGAN UNION
SORRY, NO PERSONAL CHECKS
No smoking or alcohol inside auditorium-
THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION
UNIVERSITY PLAYERS presents
Mhe ec'
by BERTOLT BRECHT
Wed., Feb. 6-Sat., Feb. 9
THE POWER CENTER
FOR PERFORMING ARTS
TICKETS: Wed. &Thurs. Eves. $2.50, $2.00
Fri. & Sat. Eves. $3.00, $2.50
Advance tickets available at University Players
Ticket Office. Mendelssohn Theatre Lobby
Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m.-1 p.m.; 2 p.m.-5 p.m.
Advance Information: 764-6300
Power Center Box-office opens Mon., Feb. 4
PERFORMANCES AT 8:00 P.M.
- ".\ p-s

Warsaw ensemble
displays excellence

By TONY CECERE
Modern Polish music rarely ap-
pears on concert programs Iit
America, yet two such pieces,
plus two old standards comprised
last Sunday's Warsaw National
Philharmonic concert.
Witold Rowicki, who founded
the ensemble in 1950, directed
it in Benjamin Britten's Les Il-
luminations for soprano and
string orchestra, the Petrouchka
Ballet Suite of Igor Stravinsky,
the Concert Overture of Carol
Szymanowski and Edward Bogus-
lawski's Capriccioso Notturno.
The Concert Overture opened
the program with a series of vir-
ile, romantic phrases reminiscent
of Hollywood film scores and
Richard Strauss. The brasses cut
loose in this piece, playing loud
passages throughout the piece.
Maestro Rowicki gestured en-
couragingly to his players, re-
sulting in a lyric reading -
Stefania Woytowicz sang the
soprano solo in the Britten work
in a dissatisfying manner. Over-
dramatizing the vocal line with
a fast, wide vibrato, Woytowicz
lent an unwanted Wagnerian
sound to these light, impression-
istic pieces. In contrast, the or-
chestra supported her with a vel-
vety string sound that suited the
folksong quality of the work.
The Boguslawski work, a 1971
composition, was well executed,
but the work did not live up to its
title. Notes followed each other
in illogical patterns, resulting in
10 minutes of musical mediocrity.
Certain sections of the work were
ad libbed and the orchestra mem-

bers dutifully churned out oodles
of musical noodles, to no posi-
tive result.
Petrouchka changed the medi-
ocre atmosphere. Maestro Ro-
wicki approached the Stravinsky
with, a songlike concept: modern
harmonies supported long and
graceful melodic lines that pass-
ed between instruments without
a hitch. Sensitivity and grace
were evident in the beautiful
rendition of the flute cadenza.
The trumpet and snare drum
duet was absolutely perfect.
The Tarantella, a short viva-
cious work of Szymanowski; func-
tioned as aofitting encore.
Maestro Rowicki and his musi-
cians displayed sensitivity to the
vocal quality in all the pieces
performed. The Warsaw National
Philharmonic proved itself to be
an ensemble of uniform excel-
lence.

Based on the controversial book
that shattered conventional
theonres of history and archeology
CHRIOTS
OF THE
UODS?.
TECHNICOLOR 0
IlMesid bySun * a o Paiduns k 0
WAYSIDE Theatre
434-1782 and
FIFTH FORUM Theatre
761-9700

* NEW WORLD CINEMA SHOWCASE
Winner of 4 Academy Awards
PAUL NEWMAN!
ROBERT REDFORD!
* (in the combo appearance that paved
the way to "THE STING")
* AND
* KATHERINE ROSS I
**
5 1f....'.'.' .
* N' .7, 5 R I. y
BUTCH CASSIDY and the SU NDANCE KI D
+t ~Directed by George Roy Hill (Slaughterhouse 5, The Sting)
MON DAY, T UESDAY--Jan. 28 & 29
MODERN LANGUAGES BLDG.,AUD. 3.
WED & HUR. on' mis-SHOOT TH E
TRFFU" PIANO PLAYER
(in Nat. Science Aud)
1 sout stateOPEN 12:45
SHOWS AT
13, 5, 7, 9 p.m
WOODY ALLEN 'k
TAKES A
NOSTALGIC LOOK
t AT THEq
*3
FUTURE
S .y.' }Y M.
MCHIGAN THEATRE
i~605 E. Liberty
Dial 665-6290 Diyat
Y 1, 3, 5 7
t ~& 9 P.M
* ~ lt ' ' to
i nted Aty

...............
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'
;
,T
.a

f
I

the axis
of
erns
by WALTER SPINK
Schocken-$-$10.00
our price-$9.00

Walter Spink is professor of
Eastern Art at U of M. Pro-
fessor Spink will sign copies of
his new book Saturday,-Feb. 2,
2-3 p.m.
Border's Bookshop
316 S. STATE STREET


DIAL 668-6416
1214 South THE
University BEST
LOVE
, TSTOR)


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