ARTS Wednesday, September 23, 1981 The Michigan Daily Page 7 Crowds sour party in the park By MICHAEL BAADKE Special to the Daily NEW YORK-Their fortieth birth- days only weeks away, a couple of old friends thought it would be nice to get together and sing in New York's Central Park. And maybe invite a few friends. Five hundred thousand people showed up for the Simon and Garfunkel party Saturday afternoon, and the beautiful idea of a gathering in the park turned into a mess even New York City had difficulty coping with. "ALL THESE KIDS out here messed up the traffic for hours," complained one Manhattan cabbie. "They say there's three-quarters of a million that went there." The park was patrolled by just over three hundred police and park officials, a meager force that tried vainly to keep pathways in and out of the park cleared. By the 6:30 p.m. con- cert time, they had given up. One cop told the crowd "You kids are on your own-God help ya." On their own, the kids turned the 18- acre Great Lawn area into a disaster area. At a concert planned to raise fun- ds for park upkeep, the spectators were climbing up into the trees and breaking off large branches to clear their view. THOSE WHO HAD arrived early to obtain a good view of the stage were usurped by late-arrivals who poured in- to the park by the thousands. With no place left to sit, they wandered aimlessly through the crowds, ran- domly stepping on the hands, feet, and rib cages of those who had attempted to make themselves comfortable. Soon there wasn't even space to walk, and they simply stood wedged between police lines and seated spectators, blocking the view to the stage and of- fering to fight anyone who suggested they move. Larry, a New York City native in his early twenties, tried in vain to protect the blanket area he was sharing with four friends. "Come to my home," he yelled after a particularly aggressive blanket-violator; "Walk on my couch!" The crush of the crowds soured the mood of the audience in many areas, and fistfights erupted right up to con- cert time. THE SITUATION was worse for those who attempted to leave the park. Undirected by police, and with no clear pathway out, the crowd was shoved in a multitude of directions, causing panic among those caught in the center. One girl sat down in the midst of it all, ap- parently numbed by the experience. People stumbled into and over her, unable to control their direction. The performance by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel was pleasant; for those who enjoyed their harmonies throughout the sixties, it gave the hope that such things may always live on. But the performance of the audience was a tragedy, caused by an over- ceowded park, but not justifiable by any means. Daily Photo by JACKIE BELL THE VERSATILE CAST of "Hold Me!" at the Canterbury Loft: Gail Vasku, Robert Moses, William Sharpe, Susan Schell, and Elaine Devlin. 'Hold Me" Feiffer let go of th By GAIL NEGBAUR Dancer: In my revised dance to 1981 I will repeat my dances of 1980, 1979, 1978, and 1977 ... Nothing else gets better, why should I? This line from Jules Feiffer's Hold Me!, on stage through the weekend at Canterbury Loft, explains in a nutshell why the play just does not hold together. FEIFFER IS known to many as an eminent satirist whose biting com- mentaries on modern life appear in newspaper comic strips across the country. Butwhat works for a comic strip does not necessarily work in a theater. Hold Me! is a choppy assortment of short skits that often depend for a laugh on a one-linen straight from his strip. In one shortM scene, a young man conver- sationally repeats "Me" some thirty times. Then, in response, a young woman says "I" and the scene ends. The repetition works in newspapers because the audience reads only one joke at a time; two hours of it, in the theater, combined with the inevitably awkward pauses between skits, makes for an un- satisfying production. DESPITE THE play's inherent problems, the Stage Company, the acting troupe in residence at Can- terbury Loft, gives a generally ad- mirable production. The acting is not to blame nearly so much as the script itself. The Dancer (Susan Schell) is the only one of the five actors who retains the same role throughout the play; the other four change parts in nearly every scene. Schell appears at well-spaced intervals and com- ments on society and people through both her dances and her speeches. Schell is an electric dancer; her movements are graceful and clean yet she seems to tease the audience with some suppressed passion lingering just below the surface. She is a nymph-Pan if you like. THATELECTRICITY helps carry her dance in celebration of "the spirit of renewal in the land." As she dances, a Ronald Reagan-like caricature interrupts her and an- nounces she, is about to be fired due to the economic downturn. "I'm sorry," she snaps curtly. "But you can't fire an artist." Elaine Devlin as Woman One and William Sharpe as Man One both demonstrated an uncanny ability to move from one character to another without hesitation-a talent essen- tial for Hold Me! eplot SHARPE IS A vibrant actor whose compelling eyes and strong voice make the audience want to listen to him. Perhaps, however, he is a bit too vibrant; his voice was at times painfully loud for the small confines of the Loft theater. Both Robert Moses and Gail Vasku have more trouble with their various roles. Vasku is burdened with many scenes in which the words repeat themselves with agonizing frequen- cy. Worse, she has a tendency to drop her voice at the end of each phrase, making the repetitions even more pronounced. The Stage Company is a talented acting group that has unfortunately chosen an inferior play to produce. It's worth seeing, however, for the good acting and an occasional laugh. I Subscribe to the Michigan Daily li () IN I F El IN A VERY SPECIAL e®z pse BENEFIT PERFORMANCE Saturday, October 24 8:00pm Hill Auditorium