THE MICHIGAN DAILY Arts & Entertainmn Friday, October 15, 1976 Page Five PTP's Othello': Effective, skillful By MIKE JONES ! Although he may think he has 0THELLO, Shakespeare's tra- been deceived by Desdemona, gic masterpiece, opened Othello knows in his heart of Wednesday night to a near ca- hearts that her being false is pacity audience at Power Cen- inconceivable. The scenes where ter. The Professional Theatre Othello struggles to reconcile Program has shown remarkable Desdemona's virtues with the - self confidence in choosing this evil claims laid against her play as their season opener since were Washington's finest mo- it, perhaos more than any other ments on stage. His physical in the Shakespeare repertoire, stance was determined, force- challenges in acting ful, as it should have been, and and stagin . his projection was also good. On the whole their production I DON'T THINK, however, was good, especially in the sense that Washington responded to that it effectively created the the vocal and physical Jemands mood through which we witness of the part as fully as he might the pathetic destruction of a have. He would have captured great and highly idealistic man, the other-worldliness and ro- Essentially what makes this bility of Othello better had he play such a production chal- intensified his emotive expres- lenge is its concentration of Sion. action and emotion. From the This production of Othello is beginning we are thrust head- by no means flawless. Outside long into the psychological de- of the major roles most of the generation of Othello. In act one acting was disappointing. Also, he is the nowerful assured corn- there were too many instances hder, bysct the hwer srapin c-where actors flubbed their lines. rnander: by act five he is raving Sil tsa civmn ht mad, having in just three days Still, it's an achievement that lost his sense of reality through the performance was comoel- consummate jealonsv. ,ig, and managed, at times, to D THIS PRODUCTION, throlwh reach that level of intensity Ol director Richard Berawin's which the play demands imaginative staging, provided a _ focus on character and theme' which made it remarkably con- - pelling. A highly elevated plat- inema W eekend form, used as part of the set for the scenes in Cvnrus, for Friday - Animation night, Aud. A, 7, 9; Phantom example, served nicely as a of the Paradise, Arch. Aud., 7, 9:05; Catch-22, Nat. Sci. place for Othello to disnlav his Aud., 7, 9:30; The Wild Child, MLB 3, 7; The Red Shoes, great oratory power, and show MLB 3, 9; Beware of the Holy Whore, MLB 4, 7, 10:15; that he is a leader of men. ! Attack of the Robots, MLB 4, 8:45; The Graduate, Cou- The settings, designed by Alan zens Cafeteria, 8, 10. Billing, presented a nicture that Saturday - A Streetcar Named Desire, Aud. A, 7, 9; was, at once, both eve-appealing ; Last Picture Show, Arch. Aud., 7, 9:05; Night Moves, Nat. and frightening. The curtain Lst.iAure Show; DArh. RAue 7, 9LB 3, Moves, ats used to define Desdernona's bed- Sci. Aud., 7, 9; Death Race 2000, MLB 3, 7, 10:30; Fists chamber was richly elegant, yet of Fury, MLB 3, 8:30; Monkey Business, MLB 4, 7, 9,:30; it was also ominous, grotesquely Horsefeathers, MLB 4, 8:10, 10:40; The Graduate, Couzens out of pronortion, almost sur- Cafeteria, 8, 10; The Great Waldo Pepper, Bursley W. realistic. Not all of the sets, Cafeteria, 8:30. however, were so convincing Sunday - Beauty and the Beast, Aud. A, 7, 9; Days as this one. The Act One set and Nights in the Forest, Arch. Aud., 7, 9:05; Zero de was somewhat shoddy in con- Conduite, L'Atalante, MLB 4, 7; Mayan Deren Festival, struction; that used for the MLB 4, 9:15; Pamela and Ian, MLB 4, 10:30. scenes in Cyprus was hampered All weekend - Alice in Wonderland, Fox Village (769- by a flying banner that was 1300); All Screwed Up, Fifth Forum (761-9700); 2001, Cam- a piece of painted pus (668-6416); A Matter of Time, Seven Beauties, St. Ives, plywood. Log n's Run, The Movies, Briarwood (769-8780); Fantasia, of ths roductstandi e ligrt- State (662-6264); Gone With the Wind, Michigan (665-6290), ing. Light designer and guest artist Lee Watson demonstrated - - - -- great skill in creating an illusory tableau being presented to the: audience. THE COSTUMING for Othello G, was superb. Zelma Weisfeld has done a fine job mirroring the' personalities and social stations I L4 of the various characters through their garments. As for the acting, it was,, among the major characters, 0010 adequate to very good. One ^ feature that this nroduction has in its favor is that nearly all the actors have good diction. 50c Discount on Admission Gary Meyer portrayed Ligo with Student I.D. as the true personifications of deceit and evil. His facial ges- ~Ann Live tures, his quick, stiff hodily movements, and his sardonic, spiteful tone of voice i'istly por- D n Bar trayed Iago as the villian over- & o0 flowing with bile. At times, Meyer's characterization was a HOURS: Fri. & Sat. 8 p.m.-2 a.m bit overdone, which muddled WEEKLY HOURS: 9 p.m.-2 a.m. somewhat the psychological pav I 53 between himself and Othello. 516 E. Liberty 994-5350 THE CHARACTER Roderigo (Mark A. Mikulski) was de el- oped adequately as the gull of lago, although his nervous shak- ing could have been toned down a bit, though. Desdemona, played by Eliza- A Musica Masterpiece beth Kelly, was pristine and pure. Hier unshakable relieHris Rich in Legand and Fantasy morals, and her innocence were UAC MUSKET/MM Productions, Inc. emphasized in Kelly's character- PRESENTS ization. Kelly's performance was among the most polished. Desdemona's father, Braban- tio (H. D. Cameron) was mar- ivellously Portrayed. Cameron .1 ! 1 demonstrated an exceedingly clear understanding of the na- tire and content of his lines, delivering them with the beauty and forcefulness required. His spacing and vocal control were excellent. CASSIO was played with con- sistency by John Wojda. He was convincing as the cour- teous lieutenant to Othello. He, too, showed excellent vocal con- trol. Kathleen Conlin (Emilia) .en- dered a good portrayal of a woman whose common sense keeps her close to reality. But it was Von Washington, Othello, who effectively brought forth the conflict so essential to making this play truly tragic. Benson not spectacular B y JIM SHAHIN SOMETIMES he can make you feel as though you're in a bank and other times as though you're in a bar, but really, there isn't anything very spec- tacular about George Benson. He can blaze, sure, and he can flawlessly execute the most intricate guitar patterns. He can even conjure music that most mortals have not even dared imagine. He can. And he has. But he didn't. Not at his Wednesday night concert at Hill Auditorium any- way. On that night he mainly proferred a palatable plate of mainstream goodies. Not too bitter, not too sweet, Benson's successful recipe is a blend of pop development (mostly melo- dy) and jazz construction (most- ly tonality and phrasing). This results in another in the grow- ing list of fusions: "pazz," pop- jazz. PAZZ isn't new. Ella Fitz- gerald took to it. As did Buddy Rich. As did plenty of other pragmatic souls. It's relatively unchallenging and generally features the craft rather than the art of expression. And it sells records. George Benson's Breezin' album is the first by a jazz .musician to be certified platinum (over a million copies sold). Pazz isn't bad. Neith-s er, though, is it particularly stimulating. Which is not, coin- cidentally, an inappropriate de-; scription of the concert itself. David Pomerantz, who opened the evening for Benson, accom- panied himself on acoustic gui- tar and piano in yet another dis- play of slick, if unsubstantive,r songwriting. His piano playingi is in the finest stumphand tra-! dition, clubbing chords with absorbed whimsy. Some of his tunes sound like they'd make good cover material, but taking them solo on the road seemed somewhat cruel and unusual. AS THE SET went on, he1 seemed to feel more comfort- able, as sound difficulties were1 worked out. His material took on a whisper, more assured ' presence, making "Flying" a; laudable achievement. The song1 simulated the gloating, weight-; less sensation of gliding freely in a clever and believable way. Unfortunately, most of his oth- er stuff was tense and weak. He1 did the old Dave Clark Five hit, "You Got What It Takes," and, he approached having what it takes himself on several occa-, sions, but whenever I was primed to take off, Pomerantz would sputter, leaving unplayed riffs in his wake. An unprofessional intermis- sion followed. Carpet had to be laid, shaggy tan, ratted and dried palm - tree - like figures had to be brought on, and a neon facsimile of the Warner Brothers logo with a big "GB" inside had to be put up and cen- tered. The purpose for this es- caped me. And why couldn't it have been done before the doors even opened? Benson entered and picked into "Affirmation." Bright and up-beat, it set the tone for the rest of the night. Flying up and down the neck with poise and precision, Benson showed the shine of a brilliant technician. HE'S SO much more than lustre, though. Occasionally, he proved it. "El Mar," his second selection, was smooth without being sappy. Although the sound was poor (the piano would eith- er be too loud or too soft, de- pending on the misjudgment of the sound crew) Benson's con- siderable command of dynam- ics came through. It was full- bodied and tight, without re- stricting movement from all the players. Benson sang a few, also. "Na- ture Boy" -was particularly af- fecting, with its supple, dark feel. Naturally, he did his hit "The Masquerade," which was well - played and reasonably sung. He's got the voice of a rich cup of coffee - thick, flowing, and warm; but it has a sheen, a Vegassy character to it that inhibits any real emo- tional delivery. His scat singing is practiced but eclectic, owing as much to the fact that he's one of the few people doing it as anything else. A dynamite version of "Breezin"' was played as Ben- son's encore. His use of octaves and incredible picking show- cased an awesome- self-disci- pline. Now if only he would chal- lenge that discipline .. Hoveaflifr artistic writn If ynuIare i nt erest- ed in rev iewila~ pnetry and music or writing feature striPes a b o ti t the drama. dance, mfim arts: Contact Arts Edito. coThe Michigan Daily. oily Photo by BRAD BENJAMIN DJ*sdemo(1 Many animals would go hun- gry if it were not for rabbits. Minks, foxes, weasels and hawks are among the animals that eat rabbits. W-WANO" October 20-24 and Vi kc _ _ _ ANN ARBOR CIVIC THEATRE by Tennessee Williams In cooperation with Major Events Office and UAC. TICKETS $5.50, $4.50, $3.50 of Michigan Union Box Office 10 a.m.-5 p m., Schoolkids and both Discount Records. INFORMATION 763-1107. Late corers will not be seated during performance, ickets Available at the Lydia Mendelssohn box office in the Michigan League. 663-1085 HOURS: Mon., Oct. 13 & Tue., Oct. 19, 10 a.m. to 6 pm. Wed.-Sat.,'Oct. 20-23, 10 a.m. to Showtime Sunday, Oct. 24, 3 p.m. to Showtime ,.a. , 5 . ' tj. " ,, y. ,., ; rt CLASSES-WORKSHOPS BEGINNING NOV. REGISTER NOW 1-7 ART * DANCE * PHOTOGRAPHY * MIME * KARATE TA/ CHI * YOGA * POTTERY * MODELING Pit R AN! !! I I l i a i t CATALOG UPON REQUEST 2 131/2 SO. MAIN ST. IN ARBOR, MICHIGAN 46108 Hours: M-Th 5-9:00 p.m., Sat. 10-4:00 p.m. J. 4 M 1 f ,. n.. ., ; Playing Tonight ATuIWIII ' ^ Y _' i jj ,JWqKBaOR t _ _ _ _ . 1J: tt Imag nasoo -uDornnoes. r .