Friday, July 8, 1977
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Five
TH.IHIA.AIYPreFv
Cinematic heresy
By OWEN GLEIBERMAN sy
[F ONE WERE TO pass judgment on The Exor-
cist, it would probably be that it was essentially
a trashy piece of entertainment, playing on pure
sensationalism. Still, one can look at its good V
side and regard it as an extremely well-told mo-
dern horror tale, laboriously constructed in a do-
cumentary-like style that implies that what hap- +
pened to Regan MacNeill could happen to any of
us. And in general, The Exorcist succeeded in ef-
fectively stirring up the most hardened of view-
ers.
Exorcist II: The leretic is certainly no less
trashy in concept than its predecessor, it is even"
more so. However the real difference between the
two pictures lies not in concept, but in execution; -
Exorcist II: The Heretic is devoid of any scare
tactics (more often it is laughable) and is quitep
simply a failure from beginning to end. Burton
The plot is extremely vague; the demon doesn't
exactly re-enter Linda Blair in the manner of part long amount of time, accentuated by th
one, it sort of enters her subconscious. This vague beep-beeping of the machine. In addition
device proves it was obvious that the people res- the wh6le idea of such a machine is tota
ponsible for the film were literally scraping ntoput crous; this film abounds in things that
together a plot, and what they came up with is a supernatural, but are even more preposte
poor excuse for a movie. cause they are supposed to be real.
THE FILM IS unbelievably poorly put together; The film is interspersed with flashb
there is absolutely no natural dramatic flow of somewhere in Africa, where Pazuzzu,
events, rather it is more a case of ideas being mon's name) displays itself in the form of
thrown in almost randomly. Director John Boor- These sequences are, for some reason, h
man seems to have no idea of how long a se- ally stagey, but whatever effect Boorman
quence should be sustained. ing to achieve, the backdrop of yellow
In a scene near the beginning, Regan, her psy- doesn't make it.
chiatrist (Louise Fletcher), and a priest (Richard The climax (back in the house wherel
Burton) who is out to investigate what happened took place) is a poor, poor attempt to res
during the exorcism of the first picture, all hook frenzied esorcism of part one, and it cc
up to some gadget that is able to connect two generating as much excitement as an:
people's minds. The scene lasts an excruciatingly made disaster epicof the last few years.
Records in Brief
HEART'S NEW ALBUM, Lit-
tle Queen (Portrait JR 34799)
takes up right where their pre-
vious one, Dreamboat Annie
left off. The group continues to
offei a pleasant variety of rock
tunes; from songs featuring
Roger Fisher's light heavy-
mec<l euitar to Nancy Wilson's
soft, folky acoustic axe.
Tie Seattle - based group has
existed in various guises - for
over seven years, but only lead
gui aist Roger Fisher and
Ste e Fossen on bass remain
in tie present line-up. Two and
a half years ago the current
six - piece band burst onto the
rock scene with their better
than platinum (2.5 million units
sold) LP Dreamboat Annie,
which contained their hit sin-
gles, "Magic Man" and "Crazy
On You".
Naturally, much of the at-
ten on paid the group centers
around the Wilson sisters, they
even take the front and center
positions when the group hits
the stage. As leyboardist Lesse
puts it, "It's easier to market
two beautiful girls than four
ugly guys."
THE NEW LP, despite the
lads' self - confessed aesthetic
abs-wes, has already been cer-
tified gold ($1 million in sales)
and hagins with a bang with the
hot, driving single "Barracu-
da'" currently soaring up the
FM playlists, and featuring
Fisher's lead guitar in a tune
that glides effortlessly along.
Then, with "Love Alive,"
Hert shifts gears to a soft folk
gui ir sound that reminds you
of something Gordon Lightfoot
might do, while "Cry To Me"
reca'ls moods similar to Joni
Mitchell's "Blue".
The title cut, "Little Queen"
thunsTs along with Fisher's gui-
tar firmly back in the limelight.
The group makes a slight but
inte;,testing transition midway
through the song, going from
the choppy, heavier rock sound
to something lighter and more
airy.
Their ability to make such ef-
fortless transitions prevents
Heart from becoming a faceless
member of the rock ranks. With
"Bar' acuda" receiving well-
deserved airplay, and their lat-
est release already gone gold,
only a week after its release,
andt it won't stop there), Heart
will continue their rapid esca-
lation up rock's ladder of suc-
cess.
--Tim Yagle
he beep-
to this,
ally ludi-
are not
eius be-
backs to
(the de-
f locusts.
ntention-
was try-
sky just
part one
stage the
omes off
y badly-
4RiSI
'Kate' captivates
By RICHARD LEWIS
THOSE WHO REMEMBER Cole Por-
ter's Kiss Me, Kate only as "some dumb
musical they wore tights in back in high
school" would do well to see the Michi-
gan Repertory's professional-looking pro-
duction of the play, which runs through
Sunday afternoon at the Power Center,
Despite minor flaws, primarily vocal,
this production is fast-paced, colorful and
intelligent.
Intelligence, which would almost cer-
tainly undermine the success of a Jerome
Kern or Rodgers and Hammerstein musi-
cal, is important when approaching Kiss
Me, Kate. Not only is Porter's remark-
able verbal dexterity at its height in
these lyrics ("In dear Milano, where are
you, Mono, / Still selling those pictures
of the scriptures in the Duomo?") but
Bella and Samuel Spewack's book is far
more sophisticated than most of those
offered by their contemporaries in 1948.
'KATE' RECOUNTS the on- and off-
stage problems that arise during a pre-
Broadway performance of a musical
version of Shakespeare's The Taming
of the Shrew. The director of this musi-
cal within a musical, Fred Graham, has
cast himself as Petruchio and his ex-
wife, Lilli Vanessi, as Kate.
During the course of the, play it be-
comes apparent that Fred and Lilli are
every bit as arrogant and hot-tempered
as their respective onstage characters,
as the SiOwacks skillfully interweave
"performance" and "reality" scenes.
Meanwhile, various comic characters, -
including a doddering Southern senator
and a pair of singing and dancing gang-
sters, pop in and out of the action to
keep the pace up.
The score amply demonstrates Porter's
versatility, ranging from big chorus num-
bers ("Another Op'nin, Another Show,"
"Too tDarn .Hot") to a genuinely touch-
ing lovesong ("So in Love") to a Bowery
waltz tune ("Brush Up Your Shake-
-'peare"). Throughout, the unique Porter
Urbanity shines through.
THE CRISP TEMPOS of Judy Brown's
small but capable orchestra help keep
this production moving, but much credit
for the smooth, flowing quality of the
show is due to D. Kenneth Beyer's set
design. By sticking to a simple, station-
ary unit, augmented by two swiftly-mov-
ing wagons for the dressing-room scenes,
sets can be changed in seconds. Thus,
the pace of the show is never held up
by musical bridges between scenes.
The one drawback to Beyer's design
is that it is built out over the orchestra
pit, forcing the orchestra to play from
offstage. In consequence, the overture
was a bit hard to hear on opening nights,
and the chorus were sometimes unsure
of their cues.
If Lilli Vanessi/Kate were a standard
musical comedy heroine-a sweet little
songbird who, although a bit unscrupul-
ous in her attempts to snare the baritone,
is a model of womanly virtue-Sally Bub-
litz would be all any audience could want.
Bublitz has a bright, agile voice and a
charming presence. Unfortunately, Lilli is
something of a temptress, and this is lost
in Bublitz' interpretation of the role, Such
songs as "So In Love" would ,appear to -
demand a more sultry, throaty delivery
than Bublitz offers.
JOE D. LAUCK, as Fred Graham/Pet-
ruchio, captures the character's suavely
domineering quality perfectly. His voice
is rather rough, and he was occasionally
out of synch with the offstage orchestra
during Tuesday night's performance, but
Lauck performs with such assurance thath
these flaws are forgiveable.u
Susan Dawson makes a delightful Lois
Lane/Blanca although her delivery of1
"Always True to You In My Fashion" -
was slightly muffled on opening night.F
Jeffrey R. Guyton is graceful as Bill
Calhoun/Lucentio and John Wlojda is.
very funny as Senator Harrison Howell,b
as are Ron "OJ" Parson and Bruce T.,
Gooch as the Gangsters.a
The fine costumes are by Henry vano
Kuiken and the choreography by TeDee t
A. Theofil, is only occasionally-silly.
Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate, running evenings through Saturday and on
Sunday at 2 in the Power Center.
Weekend music highlights
By DAVID KEEPS single, "Lady Shine The Light", on the
Detroit arcsamirwaves.
BLACK OAK Arkansas, Brownsville The rock Irst is held in conjunction
.station, and Billion Dollar Babies with the 10 Oav "Great Fair" which runs
headline a major rock festival this Sat- from July 8-7, and features rides and
urday at the Pontiac Silverdome. The amusements as well as the rock extra-
gig starts at 1 p.m. vaganza planned for Saturday. Admis-
Also joining the line-up will be: The sion to both she fair and the concert is
Michael Stanlev Band, Rex, Leslie West, $5, parking, a mere 50c.
and Detroit groups Salem Witchcraft,
Frijid Pink and Bogart. In the Ann Arbor area, tonight and
Both Brownsville Station and Billion tomirrow, jaz pianist Martin Simmons
Dollar Babies, formerly Alice Cooper's app"sars at the Ark. Admission is $2.
band, are returning to the Detroit area Onct Upon A Time occupies a weekend
after a long absence, and concurrently, residency at Second Chance, while the
after the release of their latest albums Tillon-Piersn Band plays Mr. Flood's
on Pr vate Stock and Polydor respec- tonight and tomorrow and Sharon Arch-
ively. Brownsville Station is currently ambeau makes her Ann Arbor debut
enjoying the distincti n of having a hit there Sunday.