snnTHE MICHIGAN DAILY
A rts & EttrThursday, March 24, 1977 Page Five
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PLOT DULLS GOOD INTENTIONS
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By MICHAEL BROIDY sinister ploy: realizing tha'tno Rosenberg , has displayed this
GUSTAV MAHLER dedicated his Eighth Symphony to human- 'VOYAGE of the Damned (now country would accept these weakness in such earlier films
ity, and the Ann Arbor audience will have a chance to hear at Briarwood) is an im- Jews, Goebbels could claim tac- as WUSA and Pocket Money
that dedication on Tuesday, March 29 at 8 p.m. in Hill Audi- portant, sometimes interesting, it approval of the Nazi's treat- (Cool Hand Luke is a notable
torium. yet largely dull excursion into ment of Jews. As it turns out, exception); his camera move-
om.h nwaters few films (if any) have the passengers were given asy- ments are boring, his editing
Thomas Hlbish will conduct the University of Michigan Sym- ventured. lam in Belgium; Holland, often loose and rambling.
phony Orchestra, the University Choir, the Chamber Choir, the After watching this nearly France, and Britain, but three of -illy Williams cinematogra-
Arts Chorale and the Ann Arbor Public Schools Youth Choir in three hour film, one walks away these countries were overrun by phy is O.K. (no better), but La-
this Michigan Premier. t . enlightened and shocked; dis- Nazi armies and two-thirds of lo Schiffrin's score is rather in-
The piece has two movements. The first is based .on a medie- turbing, if not horrifying facts the passengers perished a n y- teresting with period tunes mix-
val hymn sung in Latin and the second is based on a closing scene occasionally hit the viewer so way. erin with perigtnes m-
is n etreelyimprtat ed in with some original corn-
of Goethe's "Faust", sung in German. Mahler used the two texts hard that he is left stunned, en- It is an extremely important positions.
to illustrate unity of all men under one creative spirit. ! veloped in a nightmarish cloud story, one which sends alter stat-
from which there is no escape. ing messages of hope and des- The immense cast reads like a
rom hichthee isno scap. dWho's Who of the acting world:
SOME CRITICS have also -named Mahler's Symphony No. 8 Unfortunately, most of t h-e pair and - sometimes -power- Faye Dunaway, Lee Grant, Max
the "Symphony of a Thousand", but the title is incorrect for two film plods along at an excruc- Von Sydow, Orson Welles, Ben
important reasons. First, the piece was composed for an orches- ,slow pace which even Gazara, Malcolm McDowell etc.
tra and three choirs (one of those choirs being a boys' choir, the the film's intensely earnest and T
honorable intentions are incapY The sheer number ooar C r tee
Ann Arbor Pub~icSc'hools VYouth f hoir in this cse :there ae
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A
SVsoap star cleans up
By DAVID KEEPS ing me on the show, and she followed me to
1IONY- CRAIG, who is appearing in the Washington, and I f{ade her sleep on the
current PTP production of Absurd Per- couch, and I got tons of mail saying, 'It's so
son Singular, is better known, by an estimat- nice to have somebody on the air who repre-
ed nine million viewers, as Draper Scott - sents morals,' and I though people would
the clean-cut assistant district attorney of hate me for doing it!
Monticello, the dishwater town whose inhabi-
tants populate The Edge of Night. "IT'S TOUGHER to act on television," he
"Our producers, Encore productions, rea- explains. "You have very little rehearsal
lized that there's a great market out there, time, The scenes are only four or five min-
based solely on the fact that we are on day- utes long, but it's still difficult to pull it
time television," says Craig, member of a together and maintain everytyhing because
-cast that includes actors from Edge, Ryan's soaps are shot with a lot of extreme close
Hope, Love of Life and All My Children. .. ups, and you have to be very careful to
"It's exciting, fun, wonderful work, but watch your gestures and watch out where
sometimes you get sort of punchy. I ran into your cameras are shooting from and how
a girl who sat next to me on the plane and close they are.
she said, 'Oh, how exciting, how wonder- Does life on the set ever resemble a soap
z ful' and I said 'Honey, all the glamour is in opera? "No," says Craig, "The work load is
" the audience,' because they fly us out on too great That's why soap opera actors are
Thursday or early Friday morning and we the most dependable 'in the business in the
do three shows, sometimes without a rehear= business, they can't afford to let their per-
sal, sometimes in three different theatres." sonal problems get them down, you can't
afford the luxury of bringing personal prob-
- ON MONDAYS Craig returns to New York lems on the set, because you just don't have
and steps into a role that he 'describes as time for it."
"initially very arrogant. Draper started out And; after fourteen successful months
very pushy and career minded, but then plaving mouthwash-clean Draper Scott, Craig
they wanted to make me a softer character, exuberantly boasts, "The show is doing very
so they brought on my father who was even well the fans seem to be enjoying the show,
meaner and nastier, and I've developed into and I enjoy meeting them when we travel,
a symbol of purity for America. and when the fan club members come to
For example, Craig cited an incident from New York for our annual 'get-together in
the program where "I have a woman chas- October."
satsmsmmsasmssss~ase assassaassssim lassmam~isass ~masesasoseissmaamswis
absolutely no restrictions for the number of performers. Second,
the huge ensembles are required by the composer for a serious
impact, or dedication-not for the audience to gape at a large
crowd of performers on stage.
The trick to listening to the piece is to concentrate on Mah-
ler's intricate precision and well-balanced sound. The key is its
lightness without the weight one might expect from almost 450
performers.
The Eighth Symphony is extremely difficult to perform, espe-
cially for the- choirs. They are not only required to sing at the
very tops of their ranges, but they must also enter while the or-
chestra is silent - with no cue of their first-pitch.
All in all, this massive work composed in only six weeks
will be a real treat to hear.,
Tickets available at Hill box office: adults $3, students $1.50.
For more information, call 764-8530.
a 1 aizn'B
give spiy1shw
18 e P10 07 1 . r
-able of overcoming. Voyage of
the Damned suffers from inept
direction and a cast top-heavy
with stars, enough to sink any,
production, even those as po-
tentially fruitful as this one.
Voyage of the Damned relates
the story of a sinister Nazi pro-
paganda ploy. In May, 1939, the
Nazis allowed the -St. Louis, a
German ship, to sail with 937,
Jewish passengers. Thy destina-
tion was Havana, Cuba.. T h e
passengers (some even from
concentration camps) thought
they had the necessary papers
and were on their way to a new
life, "courtesy" ow Herr Goeb-
bels, the ogreish head of the
Nazi propaganda machine.
Cuba, in the midst of political
unrest refuses to let the pas-
sengers disembark despite the
passionate outcries from thej
world-wide Jewish Agency.
The ship, adrift in a sea of
indifference, uncaring, and in-
humanity, then sails for U.S.
j aters, until it is mercilessly
chased away by the Coast Guard
under FDR's orders. This is a
chilling scene which, unfortun-
ately, the film only glosses over.
This appears, at best, strange,
for after snending more than .an
hour in Cuba the film-makers
allow approximately half a min-
ute to show this countrv's own
insensitivrity to the plight of 937
people. This is a disservice to
the, audience, for we share the
guilt equally with the Cubanls in
this sad affair, and to this day,
this country has not answered
for this totally brutal and inhu-
man act.
THE PASSENGERS, by t h i s
time, are panicking, realizing -
that they are headed back for
Hamburg and the concentration
camps. It seems that Doebbels
had planned the voyage as a
film perrit little character de-
velopment which makes, it all
the more unsatisfying. A film
like this would thrive on person-
al human drama, but there is no
supply here to draw up on. Only
Ben Gazarra as the Jewish
Agency representative pleading
for the lives of the passengers
and Max Von Sydow as the sym-
pathetic German captain r is e
above the limitations of such
star-studded vehicles.
4 1
By DEBORAH WITTBRODT
THIS TUESDAY at the Power
Center the Amaizin' Blues
sang and danced their way
through a light - hearted eve-
ning of music. The fare varied
from "Magic to Do" and "Sim-
ple Joys" (from the musical
pippin) to the scarf-flinging
vaudeville of "Big Spender".
Various ' solos (unfortunately
lacking the polish of the group
as a whole) and a git-down jazz
piece by the band added the
needed diversity to the selection
of over 20 songs.
Although the group started
off weakly, the third selection
of "Woodchopper's- Ball" in its
jazzy be-bop rhythm broke the
ice on those frozen vocal chords.
The spicy soul of "Walk Him
Up the Stairs" and the joyful
"can you -feel a - brand new
-day" of "Everybody Rejoice"
kept the audience in the seats
during intermission.
Immediately afterwards, the
Amaizin' Blues launched into
three selections from the new
Broadway Hit A Chorus Line
with exuberant choreography
adding to the zeal of the per-
formers. The frothy comedy of
"Coney Island Baby" sung bar-
ber shop quartet style, and the
inherent school spirit in a fresh
arrangement of "The 'Victors"
ended the program in a stand-
ing ovation by an enthusiastic
audience, who evidently consid-
ered time and ticket money (vell
Spent.
The next Ann Arbor perform-
ance of the Amaizin' Blues will
be April 28th, at 7 p.m. in theI
Michigan Union Ballroom. If
you're feeling the mood for
something spirited - that's en-!
tertainment.
STUDIO THEATRE
The University's Studio Thea-
tre program is presenting J. M.
Synge's Riders to the Sea this
afternoon in the Frieze Bldg.'s
Arena Theatre at 4:10 p.m. Stu-
dio Theatre is a program de-
signed to develop theatre stu-
dent's acting and directing
skills, so go on over and give
them some encouragement. I
Dnaway
ful shock waves through its aud-
ience. However, the greater part
of the film languishes in the sea
of uninspired direction of "au-
teur" Stuart Rosenberg. His di-
rection is listless, often times
things plod along 'at a pace
which would be, more appro- i
priate to that of a film about
a pleasure cruise, not this har-
rowing "voyage of the damned".
JOINTHE IN'7GROUP
For '77
SUMMER ART
AND SPANISH
In Mexico
Twelve Transferable Credits
SAN MIGUL DE ALLENDE a
Delightful, Historic Art Center
Place of Fiestas, Siestas
Extensieourse Selecton
Undergraduate and Graduate
Florida Univ. System Program
-June 20-July 29, 1977
Tuition $385
For Full Information. Contact
Dean, Continuing Education
Florida Atlantic University
' Boca Raton, Florida 33431
Tel 305 395-5100 Ext 2391
APRIL GRADS
to attend commencement
you must order a
cap and aown by
MARCH 30, 1977
From the U. CELLAR
769-7940
POETRY READING
with
BARBARA ABELS
Readings from her works
Thursday March 24, 7:30 p.m.
at GUILD HOUSE
802 MON ROE
(Corner of Okland)
- REFRESHMENTS
PT Aar ttraLiin
Daytime T.U. Stars in
a comedy by Alan Ayckboum
March 25-27
Fri.-Sun. at8:40 p.m. Sun. at 200 p.m.
A Play by EDWARD BOND
BING March30-April2
SCENES Of MONEY Anr DEATH Wed.- Sat- 8:00 p.m.
Tickets at PTP Ticket Office Mendelssohn Theatre Lobby, Mon.-Fri 10-1, 2-5
For Information Call: 764-0450
AMA
Da O T rOi, 1
BEND, STAPLE
ORMUT1N4TE
ME NrWAY,'.
When someone drinks too
much and then drives, it's the silence
that kills.Your silence.
It kills your friends, your
relatives, and people you don't even
know. But they're all people you
could save.
If you knew what to say, t;
maybe you'd be less quiet. Maybe
fewer people would die.
What you should say is, "I'll
drive you home." Or, "Let me call a
cab." Or, "Sleep on my couch
tonight."
Don't hesitate because your
'friend maivhe been drinking only
coffee never made anyone sober.
Maybe it would keep him awake
long enough to have an accident;
But that's about all.
The best way to prevent a
drunk from becoming a dead drunk
is to stop him from driving.
Speak up. Don't let silence be
the last sound he hears.
j~ -______
77 7 77'
I i
The Women's Studies Consortium and
the Michigan Council for the Hurmani-
ties present a lecture by,
Elizabeth Douvan
r -
j DRUNK DRIVER, DEPLI:Y A-i
BOX2345 !
:ROCKVI.LE, MARYLAND 20852
I don't want to remain silent.
Tell me what else I can do.
'