Thursday, May 31, 1 973
THE SUAMMER DAILY
Page Five I
Guess Who pave way
for Maple Leaf rock
By GLORIA JANE SMITH
The Guess Who are understandably the foremost Cana-
dian group on today's rock scene. They were pacesetters-
Winnipeg musicians who broke through a long-endured bar-
rier between Canada and solid rock music.
Beginning back in 1958 under the name Chad and the
Expressions, the band received little recognition until after
personnel changes in '65 when Chad Allen left the group and
was replaced by current lead vocal and piano man Burton
Cummings.
By 1969, their recording of "These Eyes" went top five on
U. S. charts and struck gold.
Today, they are ready to release their tenth album, ap-
propriately entitled Number Ten.
Summer Daily
Airts
In their recent Detroit appearance, the Guess Who
played three cuts off this upcoming release (should be in the
racks right about now). The sound reflects a definite pro-
gression of style. They seem more musically conscious, strong-
er on their vocals.
"We're a much happier band now," Burton reflected
after the concert. "The production level is definitely up."
Happier, yes. And also internationally acclaimed.
Discussing their recent tour which stopped in Tokyo
and New Zealand, Cummings said he was surprised that
audiences there "mouthed the lyrics to all our songs . . .
even some that most of the fans here wouldn't remember."
Fans here, however, do remember most Guess Who hits.
Nostalgia was definitely a key element at their Detroit con-
cert date. Almost a decade's worth of followers turned out to
hear oldies like "American Woman", and "These Eyes" recent
cuts off their latest album Artificial Paradise and the very
new samplings off their upcoming Number Ten.
The strength of the group obviously lies in Cummings'
vocal lead and piano work which receives some tight backing
from Bill Wallace, bass, Donny McDongall, gnitar, Garry Pet-
erson, drums, and Kurt Winter, guitar.
Strong and growing stronger, the Guess Who don't con-
sider themselves ' crusaders" consciously working to set rock
standards or trends. Their influence however, can barely be
ignored. Without the glam and glitter or the staged theatrics
that supplement many rock performances, the Guess Who
lay down just plain good music.
Glo-ia Jane Smith is the Dail)'s Arts Idior.
The Guess Who
Casting a glaAir
nce to Broadway
By WILLIAM GILOVER
Grest aithors winced. A cookie-
maker grinned. Reform shook
ancient dynasty. Angels quailed,
the British retreated and com-
puter Arthur got acting waves.
Broadway during the 1972-73
s e a s o n, as usual. was busy
amassing such motley events
with its tr-0;tional zeal for the
unpredictable and topsy-turvy.
Counting over the delights and
blights of New York stage effort
is a rite associated with the pe-
rennial onset of the Jane-until-
September production halt.
Altogether, 54 shows opened,
six more than the prior season.
Box-office gross dipped though
by $S million, despite upped, ever
upping ticket scales.
Of all the arrivals, seven suc-
cumbed to critical blasts on
opening night, eight others last-
ed less than two weeks.
There was, of course, one sur-
prise sleeper to confound prog-
nosticators of doom. Seesaw,
which cost $1 million, opened to
divided yea-nay n o t i c e s with
scarcely a dime in the till, and
developed word-of-mouth endorse-
ment that rocketed it into stable
orbit.
A lot of other musicals, 10 out
of 15, vanished down the drain of
broken dreams rapidly, the- de-
loge led by Via Galactica and
Dude.
The theater's two ranking au-
thors. Arthur Miller and Tennes-
see Willias, were stung acute-
ly with disastrous critical and
public response to, respectively,
The Creation of the World and
Out Cry. A stirring revival by
the Lincoln Center Repertory of
A Streetcar Named Desire later
softened Williams' ache.
The Lincoln Center company
itself, however, disbanded after
eight years of strenuous effort
because of a board unwilling or
inable to raise inevitable deficit
funds.
Joseph Papp and his manifold
New York Shakespeare Festival
organization were enlisted to
take over next year.
*The takeover continued the
rise of the man who last year
supplanted David Merrick as
Broadway's busiest impresario.
There were some signs, how-
ever, that the Papp phenomenon
was- losing some steam. His hail-
ed song - dance version of Much
Ado About Nothing folded on
Broadway at a $172,000 loss.
The same organization's five
new exhibits in its off-Broadway
headquarters failed to turn up
a success comparable to the ear-
lier Sticks and Bones and That
Championship Season.,
The major main Stem winners
were that last-named drama,
along with the other still running
comedies, Finishing Touches
and The Sunshine Boys, and mu-
sicals Irene, Seesaw, Pippin and
A Little Night Music.
The Tony trophy as best mu-
sical went to A Little Night Mu-
sic.
Shelter was the sole melodic
offering of the season composed
got the Tony for A Little Night
Mush'.
t;th r :'n i-divida iwinners of
Bridway's s i 1 v e r medallion
wer Ben Vereen, the star of
Pionin, Aln Bates and Julie
harris for respectise drama
stiats in Btley, the only closed
shuw that made a profit, and The
last of 'Mrs. Lincoln.
Re--ersing the accent on Eng-
li' 5-lents, oly six plays writ-
ten by or starring performers
fr's t.-T -"ri-ske the Atlantic
hi, ad ot 'Sllly hl'oumed.
Off - Br,)-lws v cr)itrib'ied a
Is lf hinirIt sh'iws to the play
p-rade, 'nd like Brisdwav dis-
played declining interest in ver-
bal and visual extremism. Four-
tee-s naked men in The Changing
Room -in fact stirred no percep-
tible public reaction.
To ro--nd off appraisal of the
season, note that seen long-run
holdoa'ers from previous seines-
ters continued to thrive, along-
side 14 current season survivors.
As further reassurance -hat the
Fabulous Invalid is far 'rom turn-
ing tip its toes, a dozen projects
have already pledged production,
and several score others been
announced for 1973-74.
William Glover is a drama
writer for the Associated Press.
Debbie Reynolds . . .
making it big in 'Irene'
by women, sadly eking oi tjst
31 performances despite the pres-
ence on stage of that prop com-
puter named Arthur who could
sing and create galactic images.
Broadway at times took on the
appearance of an old movie mar-
quee with a parade of such
talents as Eddie Albert, Rhonda
Fleming, Myrna Loy, Maureen
O'Sullivan, Debbie Reynolds and
Glynis oJhns. Many soon dis-
appeared. Reynolds made it big,
of course, in Irene, and Johns
Joseph Papp .
Broadway's busiest
impressario