nt THE MICHIGAN DAILY Arts & Entertain ment Wednesday, November 1 0, 1976 Page Five re. By STEPHEN PICKOVER WHEN WAS THE last time you were ent I mean, truly- entertained, not jus amused or half-heartedly happy, but t goodness-leave-the-theater-bubbling-like-a-fir pagne-entertained! If you have difficulty re ing, then you obviously were not at the Yoi performance of Shakespeare's Taming of th for here we find a company of actors whi how to entertain an audience to the fullest. The Young Vic has adapted Shakespear comedy to today's audience successfully text virtually unchanged. One of the major however, concerns the hobo pedant of Christopher Sly, for whose benefit the pla formed. The new Sly (Barrie Rutter) is a day drunkard in jeans ,and a flannel shirt b his girlfriend who is currently residing Campus Inn. Rutter is hysterically funny part of the audience, brings us one step the performance. A widow (Judy Wilson) plays Sly's suppo and although this works well, I should hE to see the original boy, in drag. Unlike Shal who leaves Sly sort of hanging in the air thr :majority of the play, director (and Bianca Coffee showed remarkable insight and im by involving Rutter frequently with I r asides or direct involvement in the play it ..,:Jism ig siiii sie imssmss .* Aua hilarity S"HOW STARTS TONIGHT: NIUSI*cal 'Babel' fresh WHEN THE TALL, statuesque Joan McCallum with skillful portrayals of the old, middle-aged and By SUSAN BARRYt ertained? enters in a simple gray frock, one wonders if young lovers. Tanio (Peter O'Farrell) masquerading T IGHTNING flashes and thei t mildly she could indeed be a shrew. Soon enough, however, as Lucentio was uproariously funny. His entrances earth trembles and cleavesi honest-to- one finds her tongue as sharp as any blade, and and exits resembled intricate gavottes rather than as the hand of God sweeps the ne-cham- her cursed contradictory tone a match for David a simple gait, and his dexterous handling of cape idpagan twer tothe round. bHr- mastr .rified builders gather in bewil- member- Henry's (Petruchio) rich and powerful voice. and cane allowed a masterful mocking of:Master dered groups, speaking in mu- ung Vic's Our lioness tamer from Verona breaks his way by servant. tually incomprehensible lan-' e Shrew, through Kate's not so mighty fortress by allowing The lackeys, Biondello (Arthur Blake) and Grumio guages of the destruction their1 ch knows Kate to view her own nature through him. Mc- (Ian Trigger) proved comical and were responsible greed and vanity has wrought. Callum's darting, fiery eyes and quick, angry ges- for much of the slapstick in the piece. This highly dramatic and tech-1 tures beautifully balanced Henry's supreme control Coffey's imaginative direction and blocking ef nically ambitious scene is not! e's lusty and cockiness. These harsh characteristics finally fectively used the simple set provided, dane in a major campus production. It with the cooled to warmth and gentleness, motivating flow= unfinished and bright red painted pine. This gave is from The Tower of Babel, changes, ing movement for McCallum and tender requited the audience a chance to use some imagination and a new work by two locally-bas- Mantua' love for Henry. His sly leers at the audience and fill in the frills, whether the scene be a square in ed artists who were commis- y is per- her -sioned by the First Presbyter- current r graceful poise, combined with their mutual Padua or Petruchio's country house - something ian Church of Ann Ar-bor to charm, permitted two masterful performances. which may seem strange in today's television commemorate its 150th year. emoaning Coffey was so cute as Bianca you just wanted to oriented society. Bleachers were provided for part Donald Bryant, the serious, in the slap her silly. Rather than a quiet, serene and of the audience upstage right, thereby effectively bespectacled conductor of the! and, as gentle sister, we find a spoiled whining try-baby forcing a more intimate mood. University's Choral Union as closer to giving us a more humorous interpretation. The COSTUMES WERE loose fitting and molded after well as director of music at the, sisters' father, Baptista Minola-Hugh Hastings, Elizabethan England, with bright capes and tchurch, composed and directed sed lady, who through some .mistake was not present on the plumage to contrast with the cool colors and simple the music for this opera, which preenton he , .; takes as its theme the Biblical i ave liked program-along with Lucentio's father Vincentio lines of the standard dress. story. Bryant studied musicat kespeare, (Alan Coates), presented us with mature and dig- Besides the intimate ensemble quality of the Capital University in Ohio and rough the nified father images well played. actors, another factor which made this performance received a masters degree from i) Denise memorable was its lascivious, baudy and saucy Julliard as well as an honorary agination BIANCA'S two suitors and lover, Gremio (Job tone exemplified by Petruchio's tongue in cheek doctorate from Westminster i humorous Stewart), Hortensio (Gavin Reed) and Lucentio "tongue in tail" line and Bianca's bush offering. Choir College. He has been in i self. (Richard Warwick) respectively each presented us In short, I was entertained. Ann Arbor since 1969 and, al- though he has composed several pieesinthe past, he has nev-, HA RYGRO YECOLLEGE YERS j , er attempted something on this O YE ' l L yscale., BRYANT DESCRIBES his ap- proach to music as "modern but not highly contemporary." Since he is supported by the; ..hurch he feels that his work must be "accessible to the pub- ry is set.Translated somewhat inappropriate, were consisted of large black and too old and the writing too melo- lic." As a result the music in, c terms, these be- performed with delicacy or white and silver reversible dramatic to make emotional his opera remains "tonal. The ore than shouted gusto as the situation demanded. panels. The cast mirrored the sense. Certainly by far the most old methods are given a fresh3 nd semi-illustrated This was particularly true at the decor with their black-and-white enjoyable pieces were the solo and original approach." bers. The book at- end of Act I where chorus mem- chorus outfits, over which they musical numbers, especially "St. The opera itself, however, con- nundate the reader ber Joe Kolinski delivered a donned articles of clothing sug- Louis Blues," sung by a Bessie tains a variety of sound. The ge of memorabilia. bluesy rendition of "America gestive of the character they Smith impersonator. first part is kept light and even however, the same the Beautiful." happened to display at the mo- The show runs this weekend humorous in order to create and( Is flat, and the re- The choreography was spotty. ment. The effect was stunning. and next at Marygrove College, build interest in the plot. The ather like a fourth In some of the numbers the All in all, it is probably worth- at 6-Mile and Wyoming in De- choruses present a contrast with' nt. cast was directed to give a while. One gets a nagging feel- troit. Since Detroit has a deplor- their elevated tone, stressing large, showy production, while ing of annoyance, however, a able lack of good theatre, you the dignity and solemnity of Y itself is thin and in others, it seemed to be no feeling that perhaps the form is might as well go see it. people speaking and creating a the tale of J. Ward more active than your average he public relations jellyfish.," P 7*? " clear reflection of human think- ing. The builders and "gripes"' in one scene are composed of a double ensemble that echoesf and produces a distinct dicho-c tomy of feeling.F!t This variety is also paralleled in the lyrics. The libretto of! the opera was written by Bry-j ant's son Travis, who studied} theater at Boston University; and Rider College and is pre-; sently production stage man-j ager for the Prince Street Play-1 ers in New York. THE LIBRETTO is a rather modern interpretation of the Biblical story. It focuses on two families involved with the build- ing of the Tower and explores the reasons for their interest and how it develops. The theme' of selfishness and pride whichj ultimately destroys their efforts is highlighted in the involve- ment of one family in the tour-j ist trade and the profit to be made by selling small models of the tower. Bryant points out that tourists and their exploit-, ers were much the same in those days as they are now. In fact, people in general "have re- mained the same for thousands of years." The story is "con-1 temporary and universal and, certainly relevant to today." This technique of updating an ancient tale to make it rele- vant is clearly paralleled by' the use of contemporary music in opera form. The effect is to make the classical atmo- sphere accessible to the public. Another concept that this ef- fort brings up to date is that of the arts being supported and, commissioned by the church.! Both Bryant and his son em- phasize that it is the Church's' historic and rightful role to be, a patron of the creative arts. This role has been lost throughI the ages as the Church has nar- rowed its scope to more func- tional pursuits. HOWEVER, the Bryants look forward to the day when works such as theirs will be support- ed and encouraged by the church on a regular basis. For this reason, although they are anxious to share their word with others interested in, performing it, they would prefer to see their production kept within the church, which "by bringing into existence this timeless yet con- temporary story" has "made an offering to the greater glory of God." THE TOWER.OF BABEL will be presented in the sanctuary of the First Presbyterian Church at 1432 Washtenaw on November 10-12 at 8 p.m. Ad- vance tickets are available at the church, for which donations will be welcome. The opera is fully orchestrated and has a cast of 110 including chancel and youth choirs, eight prin- cipals (including Stephan Bry- ant, the younger son of com- poser Donald Bryant), dancers, and a puppeteer. The producer is Millie Daniel- son, who also designed the ex- tensive set, which completely covers the chancel. Production Coordinator is Nancy Houk and Mary Martha Beierwaltes is in charge of costumes. PUMPKIN PIES !! an autumn tradition. We make 'em better than your Granny! SUGAR BIN BAKERY corner of Liberty and Main 300 S. MAIN 761-7532 Update By JEFFREY SELBST .S.A., Dos Passos' great novel of the 20th century, was first put into dramatic form in 1959. Now, Marygrove College's The Theatre has updated this ver- sion for the 70's. Billed "a new musical version," it is no niore than the original play with a' few Best-Loved Songs thrown in. This is not to say that the production wasn't splendid, be- cause it was a visual delight. The problem, as I _ see it, is which the sto into dramati come no m{ headlines an musical num tempted to in with a barra In the play,l technique fal suit looks ra grade pagean THE STOR cliched. It is1 with the antiquated form in Morehouse, t which the show is presented. It exec who struggles to the top is "reader's theatre" at its sil- and then finds out that life is liest. Each member of the Gre- Emot- There is nothing new cian-style chorus stands up and here. Sinclair Lewis did that too, narrates a part of the story. and rather better. So what made This is then acted out in silhou- the novel so great? Nothing but ette in the background. meticulous characterization andI Dos Passos, used two tech- story flow. niques in his story-the 'Camera This can't be done in two Eye' and 'Newsreel.' These are hours, though the cast perform- used to enlarge the reader's un- ed in earnest and spirited fash- derstanding of the times in, ion. Musical numbers, while PianistLaredo excil THE EVENING left me w dering. What can you say ab something like this? Wast on- out the u arneri flawless - again By SCOTT EYERLY A GOOD pianist with a poor piano is like a good speak- er with a hoarse voice - the result is not terrible, but frus- trating. A performer suddenly finds his or her expressive range constricted while the au- dience finds its expectations confused. Thus pianist Ruth Laredo de- served her enthused ovations last Sunday, for she success- fully performed a program of Romantic music on Rackham's fussy Steinway. Wearing a bushy white dress (fairly tasteful by virtuoso standards), the attractive La- redo began her program with Beethoven's Sonata in E - flat major ("Les Adieux"). Her ap- proach was rather careful in the first movement, becoming more extroverted as the piece grew. Often she dropped her head low towards the keys, at other times flinging her long arms behind her to snap off a phrase. Mostlydue to the piano, partly due to Laredo, the cre- scendos did not reach true Beethoven fury, but many very, soft, introspective passages were outstanding. The end of the first half was devoted to Seriabin and Rach- maninoff, both composers with whom Ruth Laredo is closely identified. She is the first pia- nist to record all of Scriabin's sonatas and is presently record- ing Rachmaninoff's complete solo piano literature. The for- mer's P em, Op. 32, was a brief, quickly forgettable piece, but his ninth sonata, The Black Mass, was quite impressive. This is a very difficult work technically and emotionally, an uneasily unwinding chromatic mobile that blows up in one great climax, to slowly subside in the depths of bass piano keys. R A C H M A N I N O F F was represented in Three Etlides Tableaux: No. 2 in C minor, No. S in E-flat minor, and No. 9 in D major, each be- ing played with the flair needed to survive musically. No doubt this excellence stemmed from the direction of the great Ro- mantic pianist Rudolf Serkin, with whom Laredo studied when at Curtis. A native Detroiter, Laredo also went on to her New York orchestral debut with the American Svmnhony Orchestra under Stokowski. Clearly, the best part of the 2 r _ ,. , .E I E . C i! .; . sI show good because its produc- By SUSAN BARRY opening Allegro evoked a surg- tion was good? It certainly didn't JT IS DIFFICULT to improve ing sensation as it rose and fell leave any satisfactory feelings, on a flawless performance in intensity. The melody then1 while on the other hand I knew - but the Guarneri Quartet did began to drift and the move-a I'd seen a good cast put out as just that in the second of its ment closed with rapid, distin-1 much as it was capable of doing. series of Beethoven's string guished chords. The set contributed to the quartets last Saturday night at The Allegretto was more hu- professionalism of the work, and Rackham Auditorium. The per- morous and contained an un- --- formance was not only perfect, usual and playful scherzo. The it achieved such a degree of Adagio presented a poignantI smoothness in its accuracy that contrast with its melancholy; 1 + xW it was often necessary to re- minor chords that became sooth-~ mind one of the fact that it was ing toward the end. The quar- j actually a combined effort of tet was resolved in a rapid, live- performance came last: Ravel's four distinct and independent ly tune which summarized the Valses nobles et sentimentales musicians. effects of the preceding move- and La Valse. While she played The first quartet, Opus 18 in ments. the former very well, La Valse A major, No. 5 was as soft The first two quartets were1 was Laredo's grandest achieve- and sweet as anything Beethov- markedly melodic and pleasing; ment. She emphasized all the en has ever written. In the to the ear. While the first in' lusty Viennese momentum, mix- opening Allegro, first violinist these series of concerts stress- ed with Ravel's idiosyncratic Arnold Steinhardt handled some ed diversity these first two quar- touches, such'+as brutal down-!, brief solo phrases with the tets were so tonally similar that beat crashes on the very low- maximum tonal richness that their unity was most striking. est note clusters. At the end his authentic Guarneri instru- Op. 130 in B flat major was o ment afforded. The lively melo- more ponderous and intricate. of this super-waltz, written both dy slid gracefully from one in- In the Adagio the tumbling and in parody of and homage to the strument to the other with a trilling scales highlighted scat- mighty Strauss tradition, sev- lightness and ease that was tered fragments of melody that eral "Bravos!" rang through breathtaking. were variably developed or sub-, The Grosse Fugue which com- prised the finale was more heavily punctuated. Rapid, dis- cordant sections were followed by slow and smoothly weaving sections although the major changes seemed to occur in in- tensity rather than in tempo. The audience received all three quartets extremely warm. ly and called the Quartet back onto the stage four times to acknowledge their excellence. Thy next concert in the series is scheduled for February 19. and 20 and at that time Op. 18, No. 1 in F major; Op. 74 in E-flat major; and Op. 131 in C-minor will be performed. ANN A00FL 00 TONIGHT an unscheduled showing of MARTIN SCORSESE'S TAXI DRIVER Starring Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle, the existential American Boy in New York who lives for the one moment in his life that will ever mean anything. Cannes Festival G r a n d Prix Winner. AUD. A ANGELL HALL 7:00 & 9:00-$1.25 Chi Psi Fraternity PRESENTS A Special Midnight Concert WITH THE David Bromberg Band N ;. s f x -0 the applause. A slower, more serious melo- dued into the background. dy emerged in the Menuetto. THE PRESTO was light and As an encore Laredo played This effect was continued in the rapid but more somber than Gopening of the Andante which lively. The Andante was slow noting that "it is still the Bi- then weaved into a series of and heavier and was followed centennial year" and that Rav- variations that were humorous- by a slightly more melodic Al- el and Gershwin were good ly grandiose. The Allegro re- legro. The Cavatina reintroduc- friends. Her performance was capitulated the major themes ed a somber theme and the sum tred to ers an wih with an uplifted quality. effect was of a series of more very true to Gershwin, which THE SECOND quartet, Op. or less serious moods superim- is not common among classical 59 in F major, No. 1, was more posed over each other in a musi- pianists. distinct in its dynamics. The cal collage. WIN A FREE WINDJAMME R CRUISE GARGOYLE, U. of M.'s own humor magazine, is giving away a free 6 day Windjammer Caribbean cruise. To win, put your name, address and phone number on a card or paper. Write "I READ THE GARGOYLE" across the top and leave the card with any participating store on State St., N. University, S. University or Liberty St. The cards will be picked up and a winner will be chosen. Full rules and information may be found in the Fall 1976 GARG or at the Student Publications Building. THE DEADLINE IS NOV. 10, 1976. I j t Dial 763-5100 November 13 beginning at 6 p.m. November 14 ending at 1 p.m. for" 29 hours of fund raising ove r ..y. 1i0 91.7 fM Live performances Special Guests Premiums of: autographed books, records, pictures Gourmet dinners flying lessons s'tickets Gol$30,000 tsupport the Program Guide 0 to purchase new records and tapes a toi fund coverage of speciol concerts and news events Don't forget 16i3-5100 INGMAR BERGMAN'S 1964 THURS: PLANET OF THE APES CINEMA GUILD TONIGHT AT 7:00 & 9:05 OLD ARCH. AUD. Admission $1.25 THE SILENCE The third film of Bergman's religious trilogy depicts a world in which God is silent. Two sisters arrive in a large city in which a strange language is spoken. They choose different ways to express their sexuality. The choices are promiscuity, masturbation, incest and lesbi- anism.