snnTHE MICHIGAN DAILY A rts & EttrThursday, March 24, 1977 Page Five NII IYA1 ,, i11J rfG i'. I iee C PLOT DULLS GOOD INTENTIONS ur iuue I - 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 i t i 1 i 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. '