ARTS
The Michigan Daily Tuesday, September 20, 1983 Page 5
"Butterflies'
offe
By Chris Lauer
UTTERFLIES ARE FREE, Ann
Arbor Civic Theater's first fall
offering, is no small manifestation of'
family fun. The blind protagonist and
sharply funny dialogue provide ample
opportunity to root for the underdog,
and to cheer for truth, justice and the
American way. The fast pace of this
play's dramatic development and the
abundance of bright one-liners create
excellent audience participation, and
have made it a favorite of civic theaters
all over the country. The play opens 8
p.m. Tuesday, September 20 at the
Lydia Mendelssohn Theater, and will be
running through Saturday, September
24. There will be a matinee performan-
ce on Saturday at 2p.m.
Burnette Staebler, director of the
play, calls it "basically a comedy but
with a serious side and a happy en-
ding." In the opening scene, underdog
and all around good guy Don Baker, a
young blind man who aspires to be a
songwriter, is presented. Beethoven did
it deaf, right, so why not? But no - the
audience is slapped with the first con-
flict in the form of an overprotective
mother who wants to keep- her son at
home. Against his mother's wishes,
Don moves to a New York City apar-
tment, and meets Jill, the girl next
door.Of course it's love at first sight
(?).but slap - Jill doesn't believe in
long-term commitments: the second
rs light
conflict. "The three fight it out," says
Staebler, "but it's more laid back than
it sounds - everything comes out all
right."
The young blind man is played by
Dean Napolitano, one of Ann Arbor
Civic Theater's most experienced ac-
tors. Recently he was seen in Pippin
and in The Apple Tree. The role of Jill,
the girl next door, is done by Tracy
Komarmy, a theater major from
Eastern Michigan University, whom
director Staebler describes as "quite a
find." The ever-present mother is por-
trayed by Ann Antell, a teacher in the
Willow Run School System in Ypsilanti.
The fourth character, Don's landlord, is
played by Thom Johnson, also ex-
perienced in civic theater.
With only four characters, two male
comedy
and two female, Butterflies is not a
large production. The small number of
characters and simple set design
should give the actors more than
enough space in which to practice their
craft in the huge flaunting style of
traditional melodrama. But don't ex-
pect the villain to come out in a black
cape - the play is more subtle than
that. "The play is well written," says
Staebler, "and by the end, each of the
characters has changed for the better.
They learn to live with people different
from themselves."
Butterflies Are Free is not likely to
change your philosophy of life, but if
you like to laugh, cry, or cheer, it might
be for you. It will surely be good, clean
fun. "We like to start the season with a
heartwarmer," says Staebler.
MUSKET
MASS MEETING
for the fall production of
WEST SIDE STORY
Tuesday, Sept. 20, 9PM
Pendleton Room, 2ND floor Michigan Union
OPEN TO ALL INTERESTED IN CAST, CREW,
OR OTHER TECHNICAL STUFF
for more information, call 763-1107
Come to the Comic Opera Guild's
MASS MEETING
for its 10th Season Activities, inclkding
BABES IN TOYLAND
and
THE MERRY WIDOW
These two operettas are a great opportunity for singers, instrumentalists, dancers and artists.
Come and discover what part suits YOU, then get in on our biggest year ever
TUESDAY, SEPT. 23, 7:30 PM
ANN ARBOR PUBLIC LIBRARY
For more information, call 761-5cog
Dangerfield loses fast
cash in 'Easy Money'
By Michael Fisch
E ASY MONEY is the story of Monty
E Capuletti. Capuletti smokes,
drinks, plays the horses, eats like a pig,
and frequents Staten Island's sleaziest
bars. When Capuletti isn't partying
with the guys, he works his job as a
baby photographer. For some unex-
plained reason, Capuletti finds time for
all his "extra-curricular" activities and
can still honestly call himself a family
man - and keep his marriage going
strong. How he accomplishes this feat
the movie goer will never know.
In the middle of the movie, after a
rather slow moving stretch, Monty
Capuletti's mother-in-law dies. Her will
stands to make Capuletti a millionaire.
There is only one stipulation - Monty
must reform himself. He must abstain
from drinking, drugs, womanizing, fat-
tening foods, and gambling for a full
year. At this point the movie should get
interesting. You're really hoping it will.
Unfortunately, save a few classic
Dangerfieldian one-liners, "You're the
reason they invented double beds" the
movie doesn't deliver.
Easy Money is a vehicle for Rodney
Dangerfield to spew out one-liners.
Ninety minutes of constant
harrassment and sneers is just too
much for the movie goer to handle. The
spontaneity of Dangerfield the stand-up
comic isn't present in Easy Money.
Rodney Dangerfield needs a live
audience to be as funny as he can be.
Entertaining as he is on the stage, most
of his work in- Easy Money is
suprisingly stale.-
Contrast this with his portrayal of
Czervick in Caddyshack, which was
particularly enjoyable. In Caddyshack
it was not necessary for Dangerfield to
carry the movie. All he had to do was
come on the screen, chop a few people
down to size, and walk back off, his
presence felt.
Many people believe that the plot of a
comedy can be sacrificed so long as the
movie is funny. The plot in this movie.
was brutally murdered, (with Danger-
field's help - he co-wrote the script)
even so it delivers but a few good
laughts. Unless you're a diehard Rod-
ney Dangerfield fan, or really drunk,
don't see Easy Money.
$* 144
FRANKEN
DAVIS'
Oct.6, 8pm
Power Center ,-g
8.50 c5Tc a
&
Rodney Dangerfield is forced to overcome his licentious lifestyle in Orion
picture's latest release 'EasyMoney.'
'Wisdom Amok'ponders absurdity
Join the
Daily
Arts Staff
1
ri
By David Kopel
A NY PLAY whose lead character is
a crippled, hunchbacked, ex-
zymatous, bisexual Abbess of an insane
asylum filled entirely with lunatic nuns
of both sexes must have some in-
teresting ideas. As an experimental
play, Wisdom Amok shows off much
-creativity, but ultimately sinks,
®weighted down by the playwright's ex-
cesses.
Sent into the asylum full of nuns is a
priest with an affinity for alter boys,
Father Augustine Wisdom. Step by
step, the nuns destroy Father Wisdom.
The insane-asylum motif gives author
Albert Innaurato a chance to string
together more than a dozen unconnec-
ted scenes, some of them brilliant, but
more often, than not they're just plain
awful.
The evening begins promisingly
enough - the asylum's nurses
(imaginatively costumed) lead the
audience to its seats, while the nuns
cavort on and off the stage. Whenever
onstage, the nuns are a delight to wat-
ch, as each one finds his or her own
mode for hysteria.
Several scenes came off well, and left
the audience almost as hysterical as the
inmates. Among the best were a double
entendre-filled "Speech on Abortion,'
and a baseball game played with
medeival weapons.
Unfortunately, Innaurato obscures
the verbal agility and wit by burying
them under a very long series of dreary
monologues. The monologues in the
first half aren't every good, and by the
end of the second act, two-and-a-half
hours later, they begin to cause pain.
The hunchbacked Abess observes
"being eaten alive is far less
aesthetically pleasing than any action
on stage." She's wrong.
The play's two leads don't help much
either. Rain or shine, Father Augustine
Wisdom's voice always has a pained
quiver - for every single line in the
whole play. It's a shame, because there
is some genuine emotion behind
Christopher Flynn's acting (especially
his feelings about homosexuality); but
the tremor can drive one nuts after a
while.
Father Wisdom's antagonist, the Ab-
bess (played by Alison Maker), has her
virtues too. When she is with her
lesbian lover Nuncle, the Abbess,
despite her evil, is almost touching. The
wicked witch routine wears thin long
before the play ends, however.
The problem is less the Abess' than
the play's. Every actor picks a fairly
narrow character and sticks with it the
whole show. There's nothing inherently
wrong with the choices - the female
nuns in particular have a keen eye for
mania. But because all the characters
are monochromatic, interest wanes
eventually.
The production of Wisdom Amok
displays an immense amount of raw
talent. But the play needs some drastic
editing (The length can be shortened
by an hour) to eliminate some of the
flabbiest theater I've ever seen.
Wisdom Amok will be at Performan-
ce Network (408 W. Washington) on
Sept. 21-24 at 8 p.m., and Sept. 25 at 6:30
p.m. The explicit sexuality and
grotesqueness of Wisdom Amok might
make it unsuitable for some, so let the
buyer beware.
I
Slap that. studded wrist
TORONTO AP - Police detained and
questioned singer Grace Jones for an
hour Monday because she was carrying
a studded wristband, considered an
illegal weapon in Canada, officials say.
Detective Sgt. Jim Weaver of the
Peel Regional Police Department said.
Ms. Jones, 33, was detained after
customs agents found the item in her
luggage at Toronto international air-
port. The New Wave artist was about to
board a flight for New York.
"They found one of these spiked wrist
bands which are illegal weapons in this
s country," Weaver said. She was
released without charge after she
agreed to surrender the jewelry to be
destroyed, Weaver said.
Just before her arrest, Ms. Jones said
in a telephone interview that the
jewelry was purchased in Paris and
consisted of a 1 -inch-wide leather
strap with quarter-inch spikes.
"You wear it, it's jewelry. Even all
the fashion designers, they're making
this for jewelry now. It's fashion,"
she said.
The singer, in Toronto to tape a
variety show for Home Box Office cable
telivision, took a later flight home to
New- York.
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