Wednesday, December 6, 1972
i HE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Three
Wednesday, December 6, 1972 THE MIGHIGAN DAILY Page Three
BLOOZIANA I
217SASH 2RM-2AM
TUE. WED.
PASSION
OF ANNA
Dir. Ingmar Bergman' 1970
With Bibi Anderson &
Max von Sydow. Together
with Shame, this is prob-
ably Bergman's best of
the recent films. In some
sense a sequel to Persona,
it is less dependent on
personal symbol ism.
Bergman's treatment of
violence in life & art. The
acting is particularly good
in this film.
THUR.
GRIFFITH
Way Down East
Architecture
Auditorium
7 & 9 p.m. 75c
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CULTURE CALENDAR
MUSIC-The University Arts Chorale, conducted by Maynard
Klein, gives a Holiday Concert at 8 in Hill. The School of
Music also presents a Percussion Student Ensemble per-
forming at 5 in the SM Recital Hall, as well as William
David presenting a piano doctoral at 8 in the SM Recital
Hall.
DRAMA-The University Players perform Jellicoe's The
Knack in Mendelssohn at 8. A collection of original one
act plays, presented by the Student Lab Theatre, can be
seen in the Frieze Arena at 4:10.
FILM-The AA Film Co-op screens Russell's Women in Love
in Aud. A at 7 and 9:30. Cinema Guild offers Bergman's
The Passion of Anna in Arch. Aud. at 7 and 9:05. Behav-
ior Therapy with an Autistic Child, presented by the
Psych. 171 Film Series, can be seen at 4 in the UGLI
Multi-purpose Room. Friends of Newsreel shows R. D.
Laing's Asylum in Modern Language Aud. 3 at 6:45, 8:30,
and 10:15.
JAVELINS-Ann Arbor's own Javelins perform tonight at
the Roostertail in Detroit.
UPCOMING CONCERT TIP-A benefit performance featur-
ing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony will be presented in
Hill Auditorium, Friday, December 8, at 8 P.M., by faculty
soloists, the University Choir and University Symphony
Orchestra directed by Theo Alcantara. General admis-
sion is $2.00 with all proceeds going to the School of
Music Scholarship fund. Faculty soloists for the Beet-
hoven will be Elizabeth Mosher, soprano, Rosemary Rus-
sell, mezzo soprano, John McCollum, tenor, and Leslie
Guinn, baritone.
Also on the program will be University Symphony
Orchestra performing Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto
No. 2" and the University Choir under Maynard Klein
singing Bach's "Motet No. 1."
Tickets are now available at the Hill Box office.
Lady Sings Blues'
a realistic musical
Dr. John the Night Tripper
Dr. John (alias Mac Rebennack) will appear in concert at the Crisler Arena this coming S
By BRUCE SHLAIN
The time-honored cinematic
form of the musical is having its
artistic growing pains, and while
Lady Sings the Blues does not
signal the end of these pains, it
certainly does move in the direc-
tion of a compromise to the
eternal question: How does one
make a "dramatically serious"
musical?,
I realize that to some this is not
an eternal question. Many people,
I am sure, have that curious
knack (at least I find it curious)
for loosening the floodgates of
the aesthetic unconscious at will
and tolerating any and every bit
of joyful ludicrousness in the
name of "escapism," as long as
they are watching a musical. By
"joyful ludicrousness" I refer to
such things as dancing in eleva-
aturday tors, casts of hundreds singing in
kets are the street, etc.
But'joyful ludicrousness" can
be hopelessly out of place at
Arbor. times. In certain situations a
nteby. character in a musical will
ucted by "burst" into song and his cred-
Saturday ibility as a human being will
ac Stern, burst with it. Moviegoers who
nn Arbor insist that there should be a per-
perform petual suspension of reality while
o. 1, and wacthing a musical will not un-
. 1. The derstand this review; to them I
Wagner's award a smile button and a rue-
nd Tchai- ful glance, for I feel they are
4. Series unaware of what shapes up as a
ormat of "movement" in movie musicals.
v be or- Over the past few years, some
ier office of the biggest productions in the
sical So- way of movie musicals have ar-
currently dently tried to integrate the song
nn Arbor and dance with some semblance
s will be of reality. They have done this
primarily by basing the musical
night. The Allman Brothers and the Rockets will appear with him at
available in the Union lobby.
ayFestial to
h aesta ne fm
have nw forat
the dance concert. Tick
eighth appearance in Ann
The final concert, cond
Eugene Ormandy on
night, will feature Isaa
violinist in his sixth An
appearance. He will
Beethoven's Romance N
the Mozart Concerto No
orchestra will performN
Prelude to "Parsifal" an
kovsky's Symphony No.
tickets for this new f
four concerts may now
dered at the Burton Tow
of the University Mu
ciety. Brochures arec
being mailed to all An
residences. Single ticket
available after March 1.
0
tonight
6:00 2 4 7 News
9 Courtship of Eddie's Father
50 Flintstones
56 Maggie and the Beautiful
Machine
6:30 2 4 7 News
9 I Dream of Jeannie
50 Gilligan's Island
56 Making Things Grow
7:00 2 Truth or Consequences
4 News, Sports, Weather
7 To Tell the Truth
9 Beverly Hillbillies
50 I Love Lucy
56 Zoom
7:30 2 What's My Line?
4 Family Classics
7 Wild Kingdom
9 News
50 Hogan's Heroes
56 Consumer Game
8:00 2 Appointment with Destiny
4 Adam-It
7 Paul Lynde
56 How Do We Get From
Here to There?
50 Dragnet
8:30 4 Cool Million
7 Julie Andrews
50 Merv Griffin
56 Playhouse New York
9:00 2 Medical Center
9:30 7 Movie
"The Wild Heart." (1952)
10:00 2 Cannon
4 Search
50 Perry Mason
56 Soul!
10:30 9 All Outdoors
11:00 2 4 7 News
9 CBC News
50 Mancini Generation
11:20 9 News
11:30 2 Movie
"My Favorite Brunette." (1947)
4 Johnny Carson
7 Madhouse 90
50 Movie
"The Last Rebel" (1971)
12:00 9 Movie
"Second Chance." (1953)
1:00 4 News
7 Blue Angels
1:30 2 Movie
"Spook Busters." (1946)
:2News
3:00 2 News
The 80th Ann Arbor May Festi-
val will combine the best of tra-
ditions with new features that will
altogether celebrate this mark in
local history.
Four concerts on the evenings
from Wednesday through Satur-
day, May 2, 3, 4, and 5, will fea-
ture the Philadelphia Orchestra
at all concerts. Eugene Ormandy,
IMusical Director, will open the
Festival with an All-Beethoven
program, beginning with the
Overture to "Leonore" No. 3
which echoes the first work that
opened the series in 1894. The
program then features pianist
Rudolf Serkin, in the Concerto
No. 4, followed by the Symphony
No. 3 ("Eroica"). This will mark
Mr. Serkin's fifteenth appearance
in Ann Arbor.
The second program, conducted
by Mr. Ormandy on Thursday
night, will be all-orchestral, fea-
turing the Philadelphia Orchestra
in the Brahms' Symphony No. 4,
and Strauss "Ein Heldenleben,"
in which Norman Carol, Phila-
delphia concertmaster, will be
the solo violinist.
Friday night's program (Alum-
ni Night), conducted by alumnus
Thor Johnson, will feature the
traditional choral concert with
the full University Choral Union
performing Verdi's Stabat Mater
and Te Deum. The alumna mak-
ing her Festival debut this year
will be Jessye Norman, soprano.
This young artist, who studied
at the University of Michigan
under Elizabeth Mannion and
Pierre Bernac, has made a sen-
sational rise to fame in the past
few years. In 1968, she won first
prize at the International Music
Competition sponsored by the Ba-
varian Radio in Munich, and be-
gan a three-year contract with
the Deutsche Oper in Berlin.
Shortly thereafter, she performed
as the Countess opposite Dietrich
Fischer-Dieskau (last year's May
Festival artist) at the Berlin
Festival. In 1971, she made her
debut at the Maggio Musicale in
Florence, and in 1972 at the
famous La Scala Opera House
in Milan, and the Covent Garden,
London. There have been a dozen
Festival cities in Europe where
she has won acclaim, including
Snoleto and Edinburgh. In Amer-
ica, she opened the Hollywood
Bowl with the Los Angeles Phil-
harmonic this past season, and
sang at the Wolf Trap Festival
in Virginia, and at Tanglewood
with the Boston Symphony. She is
under exclhsive contract to Phil-
ips Records.
There could be no greater list
of tributes to a young artist who
returns to her alma mater to
make her debut in our Festival.
Miss Norman will sing the Songs
of the Rose of Sharon by La
Montaine, and two Wagner arias
-"Du Bist der Lenz" from "Die
Walkure" and "Dich teure Halle"
from "Tannhauser."
On this same program Friday
night, Van Cliburn will perform
the Rachmaninoff Piano Con-
certo No. 2. This will mark his
Ioledo Symphony
richly satisfyij
By DONALD SOSIN concerto since his prize-v
Toledo Symphony Orchestra; performance in Warsaw. A
Serge Fournier, conductor; Gar- he looms large over th
rick Ohlsson, pianist; Sunday, board, there is never an
Dec. 3, 3 p.m. Toledo Museum of tality in his playing; on
Art. the slow movement of t
Ravel - Pavane pour une in- pin was particularly fin
fante defunte; Chopin - Piano I was thrilled to hear th
Concerto No. 1 in E minor; Mah. as a true singing instr
ler - Symphony No. 1 in D Despite the percussive me
major.yof the piano, Ohlsson cons
A trip down to Toledo this past draws sound out of it, in
Sundy t hea GarickOhlson forcing it into the keys
Sunday to hear Garrick Ohlsson technique seems limitless
play the Chopin First Concerto with the growth in his m
with the Toledo Eymphony prov- ship that is evident over t
ed immensely satisfying. I had few years, he ought toI
not heard the orchestra in over one of the outstandingr
a year, and it is much better than of his generation.
I remember from its past per-
formances. This is due in no The orchestra, after be
small part to the U-M music stu- the afternoon with a gent]
dents who make up a sizeable ing of Ravel's Pavane, a
portion of the ensemble, several viding a generally sensit
holding principal or assistant posi- companiment in the Chop
tions. There is a liveliness in cept at one point when 1
the sound, and a good deal of lins got off by a measure
richness, too, despite the acous- red up a powerful brewi
tics of the hall, which tend to ler's Symphony No. 1. F
make the orchestra sound dis- who conducted from m
tant, while dampening high fre- was impressive in his care
quencies. trol of the jigsaw-like fra
Garrick Ohlsson is, as a musi- that grow in the first mo
cian, better than ever. He has to a point where one fin
had a steady schedule of con- gins to understand whe
certs since winning the Chopin music is leading, and att
Competition in 1970, and this ish, revels as the last few
performance marked the 30th are put in place and the
time he has played the E minor ment ends.
Ing
winning
lthough
he key-
ny bru-
Sunday
he Cho-
ne, and
e piano
rument.
chanics
istently
stead of
s. His
;s, a n'd
usician-
he past
become
pianists
eginning
le read-
nd pro-
:ive ac-
pin (ex-
the vio-
e), stir-
in Mah-
ournier,
nemory,
eful con-
agments
vement
ally be-
'e t h e
the fin-
e pieces
e move-
itself on a singer's life (Funny
Girl, Star, Cabaret, etc.) so that
there is an "excuse" for the sing-
ing.
Nobody, then, ever has to
"burst" into song in such a
framework, because the audience
is in the film waiting to be enter-
tained itself. But these character-
izations of the Singer's life were
hopelessly shrouded behind the
Star's energetic, and often ob-
noxiously egotistical, perform-
ance. Thus in Funny Girl we
learn as much about Fanyy Brice
as Streisand allows, and it does
not require an abacus to figure
out that is zero.
Diana Ross' portrayal of jazz
singer Billie Holiday, meanwhile,
is by no means free of the com-
mercial taint of the "look at me
I'm a superstar" syndrome; Mo-
town mogul Berry Gordy obvious-
ly made sure of that. But in the
film's finer moments, and there
are a few, she does convey a
sense of the magical connection
between Holiday's troubled life
which ended at 44, and that beau-
tiful voice.
To be sure, Lady has the most
gritty backdrop ever seen in a
musical. Sidney Furie's unobtru-
sive direction skips smoothly
through Billie's life, from rape to
prostitution to drug addiction, un-
fortunately as if a George Pierrot
travelogue of the seamy side of
life. Combine this with a more-
than-liberal insertion of black
slang, intermittent intrusions of
brown-tinted still photos of Billie,
and a scene in which we watch
her sing while on morphine, and
one can discern, Ginger Rodgers
forbid, a baldfaced attempt at
capturing realism in a musical.
The sets are realistic, the cos-
tuming is all 1940's and even the
supporting players, Billie Dee
Wllams and Richard Pryor (as
Piano Man), have personalities.
All of which serves to make Miss
Ross' performance seem closer
to Miss Holiday, more than
simply a deification of herself.
Even in her singing, she moves
away from the Motown sound to
sing with what Malcolm X once
said of Holiday: "Lady Day sang
with the soul of Negroes from the
centuries of sorrow and oppres-
sion."
While the film certainly has its
failings, the absence of any "joy-
ful ludicrousness" was appreci-
ated.
The second movement was rath-
er faster than I have heard it,
but Fournier made the tempo
convincing, as he did the ironic
humor of the semi-funeral march
third movement, where a varia-
tion of Frere Jacques turns into
a gypsy-like tune.
If the Finale tended to drag on,
it is probably more Fournier's
fault than Mahler's; if the move-
ment seemed long-winded, it is a
trifle compared to some of his
later works, and Fournier might
have created more tension in the
slow section, which brings back
themes from the first move-
ment.
The human eye can distinguish
an estimated 500,000 different col-
ors, according to the Society f o r
Visual Care.
III
$2.00
British
I
Isles
TOMORROW
Ceilidh
(A musical party)
with the
"Friends of
Fiddler's Green"
(Fiddler's Green is an
English-style coffeehouse
in Toronto. It is run
by seven professional
singer-performers from
the British Isles who
call themselves the
"Friends of Fiddler's
Green" when they
perform together.
They have appeared in
the Mariposa Folk
Festival among others
and many clubs
throughout Canada
and the U.S.)
In Revolution
SUNDAY-
Jim Ringer
MARLONP":
BYDO
"BURN
A FILM BY
GILL PONTECORVO An ALBERTO GRIMALDI Production
with EVARISTO MARQUEZ RENATO SALVATORI, Story and Screenplay by FRANCO SOLINAS and GIORGIO ARLORIO
Art Director PIERO GHERARDI Music ENNIO MORRICONE COLOR by Deluxe* GP9 O I
Hear The ENNIO MORRICONE single version"Theme from 'BURNI'"on United Artists Records.- - - __
Mary MCCaslin
- m