ARTS Sunday, March 29, 1981 The Michigan Daily Page 5 'Altered States' overcomes Chayefsky By DENNIS HARVEY If you're unashamed to admit membership in the Me Generation, (or whatever it is), and want maximal stimulation now, the next best thing to ,something else is Altered States. It's almost as much un as drugs and sex, both of which it emulates (it's all hallucinatory climaxes). It may not be the Ultimate Trip (only the latest), but it does have a fiendishly good time trying. This is a film that should, by any right, have been a stilted disaster, pitting as it does director Ken Russell against writer Paddy Chayefsky - mad chi-chi sen- sibility meets the prose-ridden Everyman intellec- tual. Russell won, and his own work has, in some ways, never been better, never been this focused. ALTERED STATES has enough holes to pass as a sponge, yet it stays miraculously afloat. The flaws *ren't really worth mulling over too long - it's a hit- and-run film, best served by letting it daze and sur- prise you without bothering to think about it much af- terwards. ALAS, THANKS TO Chayefsky, at times there's all too much to think about. His dialogue keeps the characters blathering truths and questions, big ones. Typically, his figures talk incessantly in generalities abput the state of the world, even as they behave otherwise like beyoodeeful people in an Arthur Hailey novel - chic, gorgeous, committed, moving through all the nicest modern settings. (Sex is always fireworks for these folks: a roll in the hay for the leads here causes them to generate a Decathlon- worthy amount of sweat.) Russell buries Chayefsky, though, in the most ex- pedient manner possible. He plays the verbal arias at 78 rpm, hurling the characters and camera about, so we can be amused by all the talktalktalk without ever actually listening to more than a word or two of it. Credit is due to Chayefsky for realizing the potential in the central idea - a movie about mind-expansion experiments is a terrifically legitimate excuse for pure visual stimulus - but thank God the author's ranting pretentiousness wasn't allowed to make this fun concept a Network of the cosmos. The principal excuse for fireworks is Dr. Eddie Jessup (William Hurt), a researcher obsessed with mind expansion who has his first hallucinatory ex- perience while submerged in a tank of body- temperature salt water in 1967. ASSISTED BY milquetoast Dr. Rosenberg (Bob Balaban) and denounced as a fanatic by Dr. Parrish (Charles Haid), Jessup continues with increasingly dangerous experiments on his own mind. Travelling to Central America, he joins a tribe in partaking of a sacred mushroom mixture, then takes a jar of the stuff back home to couple its effect with that of the think tank. The results take him back to a primal state in one fiendishly well-orchestrated episode, terrify his still- enraptured ex-wife Emily (Blair Brown), and even- tually cause Jessup to "get it off with God" - an event that, though it finally segues into hum- drum 16mm-fest psychedelics, has a buildup nearly as exhilarating as Close Encounters' big light show. Altered States may ultimately seem a cheat, but only if you take it seriously. Tank research and out- of-body scientific experiments certainly are legitimate and fascinating territory for examination, but the movie's flirtation with the subject is strictly classy horror-flickish-imaginative thrills laced with schmaltz. THE ENDING, in particular, is wildly sentimental tripe (why do all movie Ultimate Statements add up to "all you need is love"?), insufficiently masked by a lot of noise, makeup and laser effects. The film should end ten minutes earlier with Dr. Jessup's big bang, although the subsequent excess baggage does allow a funny bit of verbal warfare between Rosen- berg and Parrish. Arthur Penn was originally engaged to direct, and fortunately Russell kept Penn's hand-picked cast of relative unknowns rather than using his own stock company of hysterics. William Hurt is, to my mind, the most extraordinary presence to debut on the screen since Christopher Reeve, and his limitations are likely to be far fewer. He makes Jessup's abstract obsessions fearfully real - you can feel the precarious force that drives him past all normal considerations in search of the infinite. Most actors would use the usual wild-eyes passion-and-sincerity inflections to convey genius; Hurt's wracked tension seems to be dredged up from personal demons. He's even more appealing in the new Eyewitness, and if his choice of vehicles stays shrewd, the next movie decade's prospects look about 200 watts brighter. THERE'S LESS indication of why Penn chose Blair Brown for the thankless role of Emily. She's pretty in a round, conventional way that looks dull alongside Hurt's gangling sensuality. Her ser- viceable performance can't offset the fact that. Emily's function is strictly of the "Oh, Bob, STOP! Think of the kids!" school of patient suffering. Ken Russell's work has never been this confident before, not even in Women in Love-which was, not at all coincidentally, the only other project in which he's had considerably less than complete control. Much credit is probably due to John Corigliano's fine score, Bran Ferran's visual effects, Jordan Cronen- weth's photography and Eric Jenkin's editing (especially since Russell still refuses to look at shot footage, leaving the editing completely to others). But the fact remains that Russell must have un- dergone some sort of transformation, if only tem- porary. Uniquely insane and amusing as Russell has always been, the thinness of his rants is, generally, See 'ALTERED', Page 7 William Hurt stars in Ken Russell's "Altered States," about a college professor's Leary-esque experiments with mind-altering drugs. The script was written by Paddy Chayefsky, but that turns out not to be much of a vir- tue. I 1 April 4th at MORE THAN A BOOKSTORE a *Acting not too hot in 'Orpheus in Hades' L' I J G 1.JVFJ ITV. MI !'If A I PZiJF'-'rvc~t r By WALTER SHWAYDER Gee this is fun; are we ever going to take off? Friday night's performance of Or- pheus in Hades by the University of Michigan School of Music Opera Theatre was a very stylized production. It was humorous, it was played with Slots of energy and it didn't go anywhere, except sideways. The singing was well done, while the acting was poor-not so much because these singers didn't innately know how to act (which they didn't) but because it was apparent that they had spent more time getting their vocal lines down than they had working on their acting, put- ting their sung lines into the character. THIS IS THE bane of college opera; the singer is usually more concerned ~abut what their voice is doing than their body. Therefore, it is necessary for.a stage director to instruct the ac- tors on what he wants them to do, when and where. What I saw last night closely resembled (from what I've read) 18th and 19th century opera ac- ting. The singer comes stage center, plants his or her feet and belts out a tunfe. When the song is finished, they return to the action and the scene. Such antics would generally summarize the acting style of Friday's performan- ce. Special performances worth noting were those of John Styx, a fallen king in Hades (Hell) and the gods Jupiter and Mercury. John Styx was the cell guar- dian of Eurydice (the lovely heroine) when she is locked up in Hades. His per- MANN THEATRES urcLLAGE 4 375 N. MAPLE 769-I300 Daily Discount Matinees TUESDAY BUCK DAY formance was effective opera, connec- ting the sung line with role. When he sang, his actions and expressions were inappropriate to what he was saying. Unfortunately, he appeared to have lead in his feet, not shifting around while singing, but focusing instead on something in the direction in which he was singing, making it apparent why he was focused in that direction. THE SAME WAS true for Jupiter, played by Thomas Scholten. At first, he showed the restraint, control and elderly calm befitting the head god. Un-. fortunately, he changed later by adop ing some Steve Martinesque traits. Mercury's "flying" entrance. was delightful, and it seemed as if he did have wings on his feet. Mercury, (well played by Bill Anderson), was ob- viously enjoying what he was doing, making his performance the theatrical high point of the opera. Overall, the singing of the opera was well done. Some voices were more sparkling than others, but it certainly was a good show of vocal agility - especially the coloratura singing, which was superbly executed by Eurydice (played by Carla Con- nors). THE UNIVERSITY Philharmonia accompanied the opera. Their fine per- formance showed what they had adequately rehearsed the show. It is unfortunate that young singers' voices are not strong enough to over- come the sound produced by a 35- member orchestra, as was sometimes the case last night. Although it was ap- parent that the orchestra hadn't rehearsed enough with the singers, Conductor, Gustav Meier did a com- mendable- job coordinating the or- -chestra andsingers in performance. While watching this production of Or- pheus in Hades, it is important to keep in mind that this is a college produc- tion. It will only be as good as the local talent allows, since the performers are also studying other subjects, and don't have the time available to work on developing all aspects of a theatrical performance. In this production of Or- pheus, because most of the performers are opera students, they spent the majority of their time honing their singing ability. It is unfortunate that more emphasis is not placed on the ac- ting of the role and the visual setting of the stage. INDIVIDUAL THEATRES S,1* A.e. at lberty 761-9700 -BARGAIN MATINEES- WED. SAT. SUN $2.00 til 6 PM 1 WEEK ONLY! yr1 r.Y .: (/*'{. [ -* v L.. L c. ./G.t r pre. enilS eANN \IARBOR 1 ACADEMY G AWARD NOMINATIONS ROBERT DUVALL THE GREAT 3 CADEMY AWARD £ NOMINATIONS April 29,30, May 1 and 2 at 8:30 Hill Auditorium The Philadelphia Orchestra Eugene Ormandy, conductor laureate Aldo Ceccato, guest conductor Wednesday evening, April 29th Eugene Ormandy, conductor Judity Blegen, soprano Barber: Second Essay Mozart: Exultate, Jubilate Rachmaninoff: Vocalise Stravinsky: Pastorale Ravel: Habanera Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 Thursday evening, April 30th Aldo Ceccato, conductor Ani Kavafian, violinist Rossini: Overture to "Semiramide" Bruch: Violin Concerto in G minor Dvoi'ak: Symphony No. 8 Friday evening, May 1st Aldo Ceccato, conductor The University Choral Union Donald Bryant, director Faye Robinson, soprano Katherine Ciesinski, mezzo-soprano John Gilmore, tenor John Cheek, bass-baritone Mozart: Symphony No. 41, "Jupiter" Rossini: Stabat Mater Saturday evening, May 2nd FRI.-7:25, 9:40 SAT. SUN-5:00, 7:25, 9:40 WREE! I AT AND SUN ONLY ONE ADMISSION ..... FREE WITH f :;: x THIS N ENTIRE / -- AD: EVERYONE ' ; <:; WITHOUT '\ -... ; THIS AD $1.50 HUGOTHE HIPPO AT: 1:30, 3:00 u , _ A CBS ThetncoiFeins PesRneo;,on - A MARTIN RITT RONALD SHEDLO Prodcnon SALLY FIELD TOMMY LEE JONES "BACK ROADS" AsoSpoygDAVID KEITH wrylie,,by GARY OevOB Mysc by HENRY MANCIN lyicsby ALANa od MARILYN BERGMAN Derp8 of ogopby JO .iN A. ALONZOI. A sC Piodued by RONALD S-'DlO Owered by MARTIN RITT R- ; 1 1:15 3:15 5:15 7:30 9:30 As timely today as tite day it was written. j~I A ,COLUM1tA rPICTURES RELEASE 1:15 4:30 8:00 INDIVIDUAL THEATRES soh A e at LberT 701-9o0 7 CHEAP FLICKS EVERY FRI & SAT ALL SEATS $2.00 Eugene Ormandy, conductor Gyorgy Sandor,pianist Harris: Symphony No. 3 Bart6k: Piano Concerto No. 3 Bart6k: Concerto for Orchestra Single Concert Tickets Available by mail, or counter sales. $ 15 - Main floor, center sections $ 1 - First balcony, side sections Nothing's going to wond in your way. 1 "d i I