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. Don't Let a Bad Break Disrupt Your College Budget Whether it's an intramural football injury or a surprise attack of appendicitis. an unanticipated sickness or accident, can result in large medical bills. And if you're like most college students, your budget doesn't allow for any "bad breaks." 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