The Michigan Daily-Saturday, May 19, 1979-Page 7 Chaillot home of fie Civic show By JOSHUA PECK Those who believe the Bible when it proclaims that "the meek shall inherit the earth" have got another think coming. As playwright Jean Giraudoux points out quite clearly in The Mad- woman of Chaillot, you're nothing if you're poor. Only the magical qualities of money can make one important and, above all, powerful. Through the idiosyncrasies of an ec- centric old countess, Claribel Baird in the current Ann Arbor Civic Theatre production, Giraudoux ironically shows us that even problems as difficult as saving humanity can be solved in the course of an afternoon's tea party. Ms. Baird, replete with venerable grace and subtle insanity accentuates the sarcasm with which Giraudoux mocks the forces of good and evil. IN THE play's first act, the poor townspeople of Chaillot are presented with a problem. The rich and powerful president of a sort of phantom cor- poration - it has a board of directors, a broker, and thousands of shares of stock, but sells no product or service - wants to drill for oil in Paris. It seems that this corporation has far too much capital to spend, but not quite enough to take over the world, its ultimate goal. While the play's first act, in one respect, is merely an overlong ex- position to set up the fun and games of the second, it does have a philosophical point of its own: the focus is the illusory nature of objects' titles; the fact that names are too often divorced from the objects they represent. Instances of this notion are plentiful here, and together comprise the strongest element of a generally sturdy Civic production. First, there is the corporation-that-is-not-a-corporation; then the Countess, called "mad- woman" by townspeople who later in- dignantly rebuke an outsider who asks if she's crazy; thirdly, there is young Pierre, whom the Countess insists on calling "Roderick" one hour, "Valen- tine" the next, and so on. Again and again we are shown that things are never what they seem, but more, that concepts, people, objects, as often as not, have nothing to do with the iden- tities their names suggest. It is but human folly, we then infer, to attach importance to appellation. And yet, we are all guilty of just that. THE MADWOMAN of Chaillot, like Brecht's Threepenny Opera (which preceded it by 17 years), cites discon- certingly bitter difficulties and im- possibly whisks them away. In Brecht, the villainous hero Macheath is saved from the noose at the very last instant by the intrusion of a messenger from Queen Victoria, who gladly proclaims the protagonist's clemency. As the cast itself sings, "In real life the ending isn't quite so fine, Victoria's messenger does not come riding often." Giraudoux toys with the same idea, but makes the obliteration of tai problem so tran- sparently ridiculous that he is able to dispense with pointing out the hopelessness of his solution. The Countess' plot involves tricking all the world's bringers of Evil (18 in number!) into marching downanendless, unascendable stairway. The sub- sequent disappearance of all unhap- piness from the world is so patently ab- surd that one can practically see Giraudoux cynically grinning and whispering, "Don't you wish it could be long as does the sun. With a cast of 40, 14 of whose roles are substantial, AACT has mounted a sur- prisingly good production. The com- pany has presented more than a few shows with far smaller casts, with per- formances of far lower caliber than Madwoman's. Here, there are trouble spots, but none puts a serious dent in the show's overall vivacity and wit. Director Roger Wertenberger has done this way?" By process we are left with the grim have an ineluctable stranglehold on the rest of exploiters and exploit The Madwoman of, Jean Giradou M'"deleseho "Th May 16S-20 Irma ................. President ............. Prospector............ Pierre ......... Baron .......... Broker ................ Ragpicker ............. Sewer Man ........... Deaf Mote ..... . Madwoman of Chaitot. Madwoman of Passy.. Madwoman of St. Sulpice............ Madwoman oflLa Concorde.......... Ro of elimination, well with the playwright's sometimes itruth: the rich vertiginously high-fallutin philosophy , permanent in keeping his characters' motivations of us; the roles free of the esoteric altogether, and let- ted may last as ting the action speak for itself. Ms. Baird, truly Ann Arbor's Grand chaillot Old Lady, plays a charming and subtly ax wise Countess, but cleverly restrains ace herself enough to keep her colleagues from looking silly. Alex Miller's scene ...Debbie Mueller with Baird early in the second act is the .... William Cross show's best, skirting playfully around oger wertenberger the title-object idea mentioned above SellPooter with a dozen contradictions. .....Dave Gilbert Debbie Mueller and Dell Potter, Howard Weinblatt whose long-hoped-for kiss at play's end ... Fr. Alex Miller is supposed to represent Man's Hope, CtietBard were hopeless. Alice Crawford's set has ..... Nancy Huesel intrinsic and elementary problems with entrance and exit lanes, and Dan Hur- Marina Weidman tado indulged in a bit of uncalled-for ...Sandra Hudson grandstanding. The Madwoman of Chaillot, however, reitor; Alice flaws, philosophy, and all, is possibly SusanAlford, Civic's best since 1976's superb The SButler, Night Thoreau Spent in Jail. That's a hefty compliment for a show with twice the complexity and thrice the cast. Roger Wertenberger, di Crawford,scenicdesigner; costumedesign;Brad lighting designe Claribel Baird enacts the part of the batty Countess in Ann Arbor Civic Theatre's "The Madwoman of Chaillot." Saturday, May 19 Aud. A, Angell Hall MISSOURI BREAKS (Arthur Penn, 1976) Under the powerful direction of Arthur Penn, the brilliant talents of Brando and Nicholson are employed to transform Thomas McGuane's script into a strikingly unusual western. Brando makes a unique and surprising entry as Lee Clayton who is hired to do away with horse thieves like quirky Tom Logan (Jack Nicholson). Beautifully filmed, loaded with surprises. (126 min.) 7:30 & 9:40 Cinema ils accepting new member applications- Pick them up at any Cinema it film showing.