arrowing 'Journey'
By ANDREW ZERMAN IF ONLY we could dismiss it as soap
opera, if only we could comfortably say,
FN Long Day's Journey Into Night Eugene "This is too excessive. This isn't really true
O'Neill, who started American drama, . . ." But O'Neill won't let us. The char-
most successfully overcomes his inelo- acters are too real; the impact too great.
quence, his creakiness and melodrama to
create the quintessential family night- The American BicentennialTheatre pro-
f ar. duction of Lonig Day's Journey Into Night
The. .r l is being presented at Power Center through
The journey is long, yes, and exhausting'this Saturday, h
miserable, and harrowing even in its oc- Kennedy Center ashpeningsand the
casional redundancy and monotony. Iso- Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.
lated by fog from the rest of the world,
the Tyrones are imprisoned in a shabby Appearing as James Tyrone and direct-
summerhouse with two stupid servants, lng this production is Jason Robards, our
withther gilts reretand espir nd, foremost O'Neillian actor. This cast of lu-
wit their guilts, regrete and despair and, mnre loicue h nentoal-
r fmost unbearably, with each other. nminaries also includes the internationally-
renouned Zoe Caldwell, Tony-winner Mi-
For four hours, we must watch them chall Moriarity and Walter McGinn.
destroy each other as they reveal their
personal anguish and futilly try and es- AS THE ravaged mother, Caldwell gives
cape from life with liquor and morphine, the most remarkable performance, easily
Jason Robards until, at the end, they are all in a stupor. dwarfing memories of Katherine Hepburn '
features
stellar
cast
in the movie. Incessantly patting and
clutching her dress, snuggling impulsive-
ly up to the son she knows has consump-
tion, always moving and speaking with a
touch of the addict's jitteriness, Caldwell
is unforgettable.
Moriarity, perhaps the most exciting
young American actor today, emphasizes
the humor and ironic deatchment of Ed-
mund, the character based on O'Neill him-
self. Though Edmond descends into hell
with the rest of his family, there is a pos-
sibility for optimism with Edmund.
After all, we know that he will grow up
and turn this wretchedness into art. We
cannot forget that this play is the story
of O'Neill's life and it seems Moriarity
has used that to mold an Edmund who is
something of an observer, the only char-
acter with any chance of escape in the
future.
PERHAPS the memory of Robards him-
self as Jamie has been too vividly etched
in my memory from several viewings of
the movie, but I found McGinn lacking a
certain dynamism and thrust.
Robards, now playing the older genera-
tion, makes the transition from the role
he perfected - that of the dissipated loaf-
er - to this new role beautifully. He vali-
antly tries to be the imposing, dignified
patriarch at the same time that he is a
failure; a man who, like his older son, had
enormous potential that was never recog-
nized.
ROBARDS as director is not quite as
successful. I don't think the play's length
is an insurmountable obstacle but Robards
seems determined to make it so.
Throughout the play, and in the third act,
especially, there is far too little niovement
The production, visually, is unforgivabl3
static.
THE PACING could be tighter and quick
er in places and probably will be by the
Washington opening. Again, this situatior
is most dire in the very long third act.
am convinced the play can be gripping
for every minute of the four hours but the
director must make special efforts to see
that it is. Robards simply hasn't made
enough effort.
I don't mean to detract from the qual
ity of the performances, which do shine
through the dull staging and line flub
bings. Unless you'll be in Washington ovel
Christmas, get a good night's sleep anc
see Long Day's Journey. I won't deny ji
has its trying moments but, I assure you
there's a pay-off.
inO NTHE MICHIGAN DAILY
music"review Wednesday, December 10, 1975 Page Five
76,000 FANS JAM PONTIAC STADIUM:
Who concert: Blast from the
past
By JEFF SORENSEN the rock pantheon of oldies, EVEN THOUGH Peter Towns- the Who together more than views with the rock press, ha
Special To The Daily The Who's 1975 rendition of j hend doesn't smash his guitar anyone else with his rauccous, indicated that he's having trou
PONTIAC - Members of the those hits is beginning to sound 4 anymore, The Who still offers fast-paced drumming style. ble writing new material an<
popular British rock quartet, like old hat. In many cases, The more entertaining theater than The other band member, bas- that he's finally getting tired o
The Who, drove a crowd of Who's performance of their any other rock act performingI sist John Entwhistle, maintains performing on stage.
76,000 enthusiastic fans to a standard re p e r t o i r e hasn't today, including the Rolling an inscrutible image as he After all, one can't go 01
near-frenzy with a dynamic, changed significantly in six Stones. While that other British sticks to the background both singing lines like "Hope I db
fast-paced concert in Pontiac years. Old standbys like "Sum- band features almost exclusively j musically and onstage. before I get old" forever. Th
Stadium Saturday night. mertime Blues" feature ar- the histrionics of Mick Jagger, Still, showmanship isn't every- members of The Who simpl:
Nevertheless, the performance rangements that are virtually all the members of the Who pro- thing. The Who put on a com- have to face the fact that a
revealed that the Who seems to identical with the version on. ject a unique image on stage. petent recitation of their oldies, they get older, they must groN
be marking time musically. The the groups' 1970 concert album Without a doubt, lead singer but I yearned to hear more of musically as well.
show featured very little of the Live at Leeds. Roger Daltry is the most flam- their recent material. If they choose to repeat them
group's recent material - only However, it must be adimtted boyant. Widely reputed as a sex The group didn't play a single selves as the evidence from th
two of the songs performed were that it was those classic Who, god for the teenage set, Daltry cut from either Quadrophenia, Pontiac Stadium concert sug
written in the past four years. songs that delighted the Pontiac twirls his microphone, looks Odds and Sods, or Who Came gests, the group will eventuall:
Instead, they chose to focus on Stadium crowd. After years on pretty, and belts out some of First, while the two songs they become, like Elvis Presley o
their earlier hits like "Can't the road, that repertoire lends the most infectious, gritty vo- performed from their latest al- Chuck Berry, a commerciall
Explain" and "My Generation" itself almost perfectly to The cals in rock 'n' roll. bum, The Who by Numbers, successful museum piece, an
-as well as material from their Who's high-powered stage act. Townshend, on the other hand, were particularly weak. nothing more.
rock opera Tommy, composed Unquestionably it was The concentrates most of his en- THE FACT that the group has -- ----- - ->
in 1969. Who's nearly-infallible sense of ergy on his electric guitar. returned to the oldies on stage
showmanship on stage that cov- DRUMMER Keith Moon rep- raises some serious questions Pe r E
ALTHOUGH many of those ered up for lack of new musical resents pure chaos even though about the group's future. Towns-
songs will stand high in directions in their act. it is he who holds the sound of hend, in several recent inter.
- -- -- ----- ------ - --- - - --- The University of Michigan
PROFESSIONAL THEATRE
PROGRAM Presents
Tolefo SvmDnhonv--brisk temDoSITarporationyAmerican
he Kenedy C nte i en-o
-m- I6/i1./% t l.-,, i- ll '& r J L M N4./ITm-m *I aw -A- E f- MWA v%. d- - -p r %r"%I
Doily Photo by KEN FINK
Keith Moon of The Who
Pereussionists add spark
to Gill Scott-Heron concert
By TOM GODELL horns repeatedly had a difficult
time playing in tune. The sec-
FRANZ SCHUBERT composed and movement, taken at a more
eight symphonies . . or: moderate tempo, was heavenly.
was it nine? More like ten. NoI
matter. Last Friday night, the The second portion of the pro-
Toledo Symphony presented the gram featured two of the or-
one in B minor, always number- chestra's finest performers: Ka-
ed eighth, sadly called "unfin- thryn Stepulla, the orchestra's
ished." assistant concertmaster, a sen-
I say sadly because it is more ior at Wayne State, and Debra
than an even bet that Schubert Fayroian, principal cellist and
completed all four movements Michigan grad.
of the work, and the pages of Sadly, the pair did not live up
the final two were somehow to their potential in their per-
scattered about Vienna, page 2 formance of the Brahms Double
of the schaizo having been dis- Concerto. They simply lacked
covered as recently as 1969. the power to carry over the or-
Without question the finale chestra that Brahms requires of
was incorporated into the Rosa- his soloists. Intonation problems,
munde music (the lengthy in- too, marred the performance.
terlude after act I in B minor). P
But, with a nickname like "un- THE PAIR also lacked some-
performance of Rachmaninov's
Third Piano Concerto - without
a doubt this composer's most
self-indulgent work, represent-
ing overblown late romanticism
at its worst.
The soloist was Horacio Gut-
ierrez, winner of the silver me-
dal in tho 197n Trh iknvskr
i to perform. Yet he didn't miss a
note; the performance was flaw-
less. I was most impressed by
his straight-forward, no non-
sense approach to this music.
His dead-pan delivery drained
the music of much superfluous
emotion.
By STEPHEN HERSH
AIL SCOTT - HERON'S mid-
night concert at the Michi-
gan Theatre Friday night made
for a generally boring evening
that featured little music and
too much political rap.
This was evidenced by the
fact that the most exciting mo-
ments of the evening consisteds
of Scott-Heron bobbing with the
rhythms of the energetic per-
cussion section.
The driving sound of those
passages had all the fullness of
a populous percussion section
like Santana's-despite the fact
that there was only one drum-
mer and two players of miscel-
laneous exotic instruments.
THE PERCUSSION w o r k
really overshadowed the stuff;
that's generally considered to{
be Gil's main attraction - his
rhythm 'n' blues.
The bass playing, and the pi-
ano work by Gil and Brian
Jackson, was generally in-
spirited. They did occasionally
pick up momentum, when the
percussionists got an infec-
tious backbeat going.
That was the case during
"Deaf, Dumb and Blind." The
bassist thumped out a rocking,
straight - ahead beat, apparent-
ly egged on by the rhythm mu-
sicians. And Gil fell into the!
groove too, bouncing with the
microphone in his hands, bend-
ing up and down at the knees in
front of the piano, pointing or
waving with one hand and then'
the other.
T H E saxophonist then join-
ed the rest of them, blowing;
with raucous abandon. And per-
cussionist Tony Duncanson pro-t
pelled the pace even more byr
beating out a long solo on a!
drum strapped around his neck,
shaking his head to throw his
colorful yarn cap back into
place.
But none of the other num-
bers had as much energy.
"Time after Time" came close,;
repression and assassination.
He touched on the tangled re-
lationship of "the three C's -
CIA, Chile, and Cuba" and cast
doubt on the official explana-,
tio'ns of the assassinations of.
political figures in the past de-
cade.
Yet the topicality of Gil's
speech could not disguise the
emptiness of his playing. If:
aUl in eIV .L7/ a v iixuviCy
Competition in Moscow. Born in Gutierrez produced a beauti-
Havana, he first soloed with the ful tone that was precise and
symphony there at the age of dynamic, but lovely and lyric
11. He soon moved to the United when necessary. Once again,
States, attended the Julliard the orchestraaniment
School of Music, and became a Was superb-orchestra and solo-j
U.S. citizen in 1967. iist dialogued beautifully, as if
they had been playing together
HE CHOSE a brisk tempo for years, not just days. Gutierrez
the first movement of the Rach- made the concerto a joy, and
maninov, thereby making the the concert an unqualified suc-
music that much more difficult cess.
tennial Theatre
Jason .Zoe
Robards Caldwell
Michael Walter
Moriarty McGinn
LONG
DAY'S
JOURNEY
INTO NIGHT
written by: EUGENE O'NEILL
directed by: JASON ROBARDS
DECEMBER 6-13, 1975
POWER CENTER
for the Performing Arts
Tickets available through the
PTP Ticket Office, Mendels-
sohn Theatre Lobby. Hours-
Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-l p.m.,
2-5 p.m.
Call 764-0450 for
Mrre information
i
Scott-Heron could only infuse finished" attached, few bother thing in feeling, which was es-
his band's music with the rhy- to reconstruct the work and per- pecially noticable in the lovely
thm and energy of his rap, he form it as it should be-com- slow movement. The finale was,
would create a performance of plete. Thus, Serge Fornier chose without question, played best.
powerful musical and visual to follow the crowd and perform Brahms' typically mellow mood
strength. the first two movements alone, was conveyed perfectly by the
dark tones of Fayroian's cello.3
I
MIMETROUPE
directed by MICHAEL FILISKY
DECEMBER 11, 12, 13-8:00 P.M.
ARENA THEATRE, U of M
$2.50 GENERAL ADMISSION
$1.75 students, senior citizens, and unemployed
Reservations: 663-1068
i
i
J
I
4
kt
t
with some energetic singing by NEVERTHELESS, the
Gill. But that tune seemed to POLICE OFFICER NEVERTHELSS, the per-
LIESBIESllm.c was a good one. The
owe its drive to the percussion- NEW YORK (AP) - Sgt. Al tempos were brisk, making the
ists. It was spearheaded with Toefield, director of the New music sound hypertense and im-
a conga solo by Duncanson, his York City Police Department's pasisoned. Unfortunately, as a
hands moving at a lightning ; Youth Dialogue Program, has a result of this approach the lyric
speed. His solo grew into the hobby - bicycle riding. An ex- element of Schubert's writing
final percussion passage. competitive bicycle rider, he was strained, and the music.
Ths , Awas manager of the U.S. Olymp- failed to sing. The strings, as
The encores, There Ain t No C Bicycle Team and helped we have come to expect, played
Such Thing as Superman, also aetewfr CnrlPr magnificent)y In contrast, th
moved with a measure of jump.; pave the way for Central Park. agifcety. I otat he
But te ody i theconcsrt wasmto be closed a few hours a week .. - .. -. -.
But the body of the concert was to traffic so bicycle riders can
almost bland. The music go around unhampered by cars.
relatively unvaried, with most gs a a mpere by car.
of t e ian sol s sou ding As a labor of love he is coor- H L DAUA
of the piano solos sounding dinator of the annual Pepsi-
more or less the same, and Cola Bicycle Marathon, which
most of the chord patterns castI takes place in Central Park DEC. 21-
in the same mold. over the Memorial Day week-
end. It attracts some 10,000
GIL STARTED off the con- cyclists from all over the na- BILLIARDS a
cert with a rap, delivered in jtion. He says he is pleased that'.
a staccato rhythm that fore-! many members of his Youth
shadowed the beat of the mu-. 4Dialogue Program, which pro- M PNBOWLING
sic. He spoke in general and : motes better understanding be-
specific terms about politics, I tween police and youths, enter. at the
OPEN
the m v i ATBRIAR D CLOSED ONLY DE
0 J.C.PENNEY 9769-87800 1-94 & S.STATE, ANN ARBORM
The accompaniment, as usual,
was very good, if a bit heavy.
The concert concluded with a'
Mt. Rainier National Park in:
Washington contains 241,992
acres and contains the greatest
single-peak glacial system in
the United States, radiating
from the summit of an ancient
volcano.
ATION SPECIAL
-JAN. 3
t $1 per hour ="
win a free game
UNIO
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24, 25, 31,JAN.
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