Arts & Entertainment THE MICHIGAN DAILY Tuesday,.April 5, 1977 Page Five Irlrrllf Chapin wows Hill crowd Join the Daily's ' Arts Department Phone 764-0552 By CRAIG LEON IT'SSTORY TIME again," said an energetic Harry Cha- pin to his eager and responsive audience last Friday night at Hill Auditorium. The crowd cheered hearty affirmations and Chapin replied with a wide var- iety of songs that left them wet- eyed, mellow, or occasionally roaring with laughter. Harry Chapin is most notedl ' h . for his story-telling style of song with its usual narrative im- pact. He has two gold albums, a gold single, and several Oscar SandGrammy award nomina- Stions to his credit. To the audi- ence's delight, he played his best known works "~W*O*L*D"~, "Taxi", "Cats in the Cradle", and "Circle" near the end. of the concert. As easily as he could bring his fans down, Chapin lifted them up with some country & , western and playful jazz inter- spersed throughout the evening. The audience's shouts to the chorus of "Bananas" virtually Daily Photo by JOHN KNOX shook Hill Auditorium. This was Cha in only a small indication of a p stage rapport which was free Musc Manstruggles for polIsh flowing, humorous, occasionally in this country and throughout bawdy, and refreshingly natural. the world. Chapin himself found- He spoke about his songs, joked ed this organization five or six with his band, and played years ago. His dedication and games with his audience, as- sense of purpose are so strong signing parts for them to sing. that almost half of his concerts AS AN ARTIST, Chapin feels ! are benefits. In Harry Chapin, personal ideology and artistic that participation with people is ideals are harmoniously combin- essential for creating a greater ed in a way in which neither is awareness and perspective. Al- compromised and the result is lowing himself to rest, he signed certainly impressive. autographs and talked with his admirers during intermission Backstage after the concert, and after the concert. His con- he was a bundle of energy pac- stant desire for involvement per- ing back and forth within the haps explains why his songs snrall dressing room. touch people's, consciousness so I I deeply. or writing feature stories a b o u t the drama, dance, film arts: Contact Arts Michigan Daily. Most of Chapin s works por tray characters who seem real and who have everyday prob-, lems. He makes it easy for peo- "MY CONCERTS are not like the Concert for Bangladesh," he stated, "even if all the money from my almost one hundred and thirty benefit concerts each year were put towards feeding each of the millions of starving people in this country, the re- sult would be too small to do any good. I think the best way is to educate and sensitize peo- ple to the problem." Prior to the concert he was in Washington talking to legislators about his organization and ideas. The reason why the con- cert started a few minutes late can be attributed to the simple fact that Harry had just gotten off the plane and only had time yWO PUBLIC-SESSIONS with Prof. Avraham Yassour Dept. of Political Science, Haifa University "Face to Face With a Kibbutz Family"- (Prof. Yassour will be joined by his wife and college-age children, all from Kibbutz 'Mer- chavia). TUESDAY, April 5-4:00 p.M. Angell Hall, Aud. B "Israelis and Palestinians" WEDNESDAY, April 6-8:00 p.m. 1429 Hill Street i By STEPHEN PICKOVER the long scene changes. The orchestra was beautiful-brash [VHE CITY SLICKER, travel- and boisterous without overpow- ing salesman got the stuck- ering the singers. up, soon-to-be-spinstered librari- an. So Professor Harold Hill THE ONE ASPECT of the show (Terry Arment) and Marian Pa- that miscarried, at least in the roo (Sally 'Bublitz) live happily first act, was the choreography. ever after. When the music slinked, the So what? I wanted more. Not3 dancers waddled, and while lilt-' from Meredith Wilson's plot or ing tunes set feet tapping, the music, but from the perform- choreography idled dippily. I ance, which was, unfortunately, overheard one. theater-goer re- inconsistent. mark that he "could really be- The only excellent aspect of lieve this in 1940 Iowa." And the show was the music. Musi- that wasn't meant as a compli-{ cal director Lawrence Iser did ment. a marvelous job arranging and Act I, "Wells Fargo Wagon," up-beating many of the show's exemplified safe and satisfac- brassy tunes, especially the in- tory dance routines. The cast! cidental numbers used 'during was arranged in a line across the set and bobbed up and down tion and restraint to their roles, like ducks to show their excite- being both sugary sweet, amus- ment, when they might have ing and pensive on cue. done _ cartwheels and grand promenades.T ALL VERY TRAGIC, because choreographer Marcia Milgrom had a feel for the jazzed-up music. Her active imagination surfaced in the number "Shi- poopi," a superb blend of frenet- ic movement and intricate dance steps that were markedly ab- sent in Act I. Singers and actors Arment and Bublitz created wonderful char- acters and both were vocally sound and pleasant. They brought the necessary imagina- Dirk Denison and Kyle Don- nelly shone in the respective roles of Marcellus Washburn and Eulalie Shinn, the mayor's blowsy wife. Donnelly's charac- . terization - a cross between Divine (of Pink Flamingoes fame) and Glinda the Good Witch never failed to evoke guf- faws, wwhile Dirkson's combin- ation of dopiness and sincerity added a touch of humour to his scenes. NOT ONE OF THE KIDS in the cast was snotty and loud- mouthed, and blessedly, they weren't that cutesy kind of Mar- garet O'Brien - the type that you always want to slap..They, were all adorable, especially Dan Cunningham, who played: Winthrop with a lovable lithp. The elaborate sets, which changed constantly were inter-. esting, and credit is due direc- tors Milgrom and Robert Bian- co for starting the action be- fore the sets were fully up, re- lieving much of the tedious\wait- ing. ple to see their fellow man with to put on a fresh shirt. love, empathy, and compassion. "Why are you so energetic?" He spoke briefly about World I queried. Hunger Year, an organization "When I'm eighty years old which is concerned with educat- and looking back, I don't want ing people about the problem of to see something I didn't do," starvation and malnurishment was the reply. 3t IE7'N&SONGTOF EARI'h S ONGS { KRONOV T GIRAUDOUX 1 8PM '-~:~ -o APRIL 78,9 EAST QUAD AUDITORIUM 73ingo misses the jackpot By SUSAN BARRY J'ODERN DRAMA, in order! to achieve the relevance that makes it interesting to its contemporary audience, must successfully explore an original! interpretation of some aspect of life, or attempt to reflect life in a realistic manner. "True, expression," said Alexander Pope, "clears and improves whate'er it shines upon, it gilds all objects, but it alters none.". The playwrights of the 70's have attempted this achieve- ment from various strange and: cryptic angles, the results of which are sometimes patheti- cally and annoyingly obtuse. Last week's Showcase Produc- tions' presentation of Edward' Bond's Bingo was a prosaic ex- ample of this tendency. It is certainly a credit to the man's genius that, after 300 years playwrjghts still have Wil- liam Shakespeare to kick around. But it makes one won- der what would motivate an es- tablished writer to' attempt a morbid character assassination of a man who, although obvi- ously his aspiring biographer's creative superior, is -not around to vociferate his misrepresenta- tion. However, in this case, good taste and common sense pro- vide a strong defense. Bingo is a play which neither reflects,r illuminates, evaluates nor even apparently contains life. Shakespeare to his daughter. In- formances. Bruce Gooch as Ben deed, any excess of emotion di- Jonson at least gave life to an rected at this cardboard char-,j historically improbable encount- acter seems logically improb- er. Diane Tasca lent a great able. Judith relates to her fath- deal of compassion to her por- er only in terms of his will, trayal of the old woman. And which consequently excludes Jack van Natter was villainous- her, and she expresses concern ly calculating as Coombe. Even- only on that account. Glen Pruett as Shakespeare, But apart from this gruesome gave a solid, though somewhat dialogue the audience is most stiff performance. The play's offended by the play's tedious, tedium was definitely not catis- actionless plot. Banalities un ed by the 'acting. supported by engaging violence The plot simply seemed to. are doubly boring. A short play move with about the pace andl seemed to last forever. enthusiasm of an existentialist! r { i 3 Minst (1815-19 of "Dixi rel Dan D. Emmett 04) composed the tuneI :e." RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE PLAYERS II p no I MEMMM ;I ONE POSSIBLY redeeming scene succeeded mainly because' of some rather compelling per- sermon. "How long have I been dead?" wailed Shakespeare cum 1 Camus. At that point it was about ninety minutes. HOT OVEN GRINDERS A New Name and a New Taste. For the First Time in Ann Arbor. Only at BELL'S' S. STATE AND PACKA RD OPEN 11 A.M. TO 1 A.M. SUN. THRU THURS. 11 A.M. TO 8 A.M. FRI. AND SAT.-995-0232 FFREE DELIVERY The Doobie Brothers have come a long way in five years. Their distinctive sound has brought them pheno- menal success. Marc Bolan originally heard the Doobies and signed them as the opening act for the T. Rex tour. During the tour, the Doobies first single "Listen to the Music" hit the charts making a dream come true: the lead act had outshined the main attraction. They were on their way. According to Pete Townshend of The Who; the Doobie Brothers' consistent singles success is due to the sheer listenability of their records. But their gold and platinum can't hold a candle to their unfor- gettable live performances. Using two and sometimes three drummers in concert, the rhythm section, alone, is guaranteed to keep you on your feet. The hit-filled Ddobies concert, April 20, should be just the thing to celebrate the end of classes and get ready for exam week... As summer approaches so do the perennial outdoor concerts. The barrier to rock music has ended at Chi- cago's Soldier Field, where Emerson, Lake & Palmer will appear May 29. And, believe it or not, the National Park Service has given the go-ahead for a July 4th concert in the Grand Canyon ... TRY OUTS! FOR OUT OF DARKNESS (a total theatre experience by Barry K. Pugh) Wednesday, April 6, 1977 at Detroit City Dance Co. 821 W. Baltimore (at Third) 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Out of Darkness is a unique concept in theatre uniting poetry, music, acting, modern dance. and improvisation around a single thematic line: Darkness as a universal con- cept. (primordial darkness; darkness of creativity; soul and death-the ultimate Darkness). This total theatre experi- ence offers the individual actor great possibilities for crea- tivity. -NEEDED-- Actors Stage manager Interpretive poetry Makeup artists readers Special effects Playwrights technician Photographer 'odorologist' Listing designer graphic artist Assistant director All who are dedicated and talented are welcome to participate. For further information contact Barry K. Pugh at 898-6453 (Individual tryouts by appointment for those unable to appear on April 6). Out of Darkness will be presented from Thurs., June 16 thru Sun., June 19 starting at 8:00 - __ .... - !I. n. I- ,) 0 Fy, non-stop lets a Charter rates for individuals of all ages membership in a club or organization not required * Dozens of flights to choose from 0 Soend 2 to 17 weeks abroad * Eurail, Britrail, passes, car rentals and package tours available 0 Small deposit confirms your reservation * ACT NOW-Must be reserved at least 46 days in advance s SPACE IS LIMITED-BOOK NOW 0 Meal and cocktail service enroute rd F - Doo AeYs BOND GIVES US an impotent, narcissistic Shakespeare who ended his career, not with a cleverly contained salute to his art, but with a profound sense of having lost the presence of mind to continue writing. Unin- spired fingers 'excrete black ink," and Shakespeare spends the remainder of his tortured days in apathetic, self-righteous condemnation of the insensitive. hypocrisy of his contemporaries, while negotiating shaky land deals and doling out loans. "Don't be angry because I hate you, Judith," intones r-- DANsoftr# 310 MAYNARD HAPPY HOURS Tuesday ---1/ price 7-11 P.M. on beer LARTH, FIRE, FLOWER JANKA McCLATCHEY pottery forms TOM THOMPSON I 11777 7?7'1 Wednesday - price on all 1..1... 7 1 A D KA - ..-' . - I I