Fixx needs
r
ARTS
Wednesday, November 9, 1983
spair
supposed to be gut-wrenching only
because Cy Curnin was squinching up
his face as he sang the words.
The Fixx need to concentrate on their
delivery of these delicate tunes. They
have all the potential to be a great
band, but right now they don't go
beyond "promising." To be great the
Fixx must bring their personalities out
beyond the stage monitors, and into the
back rows of the concert hall. Their
emotion ends at the stage's edge.
This being their last U.S. performan-
ce, I had expected that the Fixx would
try to give more of themselves: I was
disappointed. Instead of celebration, I ยข>
felt that they had missed the point.
Live performance is an oppurtunity for
the audience to see, to feel the perfor-
mers up front, without the magic of
television fine-tuning. The audience 1 R
would have benefitted more had they
taken their ticket money, bought a Fixx
record, and stayed at home. Just as
much discovery would have taken
place. Cy Cur
w
Page 5
a
Doily Photo by Kevin Ashby
nin and the rest of the Fixx needed some patching up Monday night at the Michigan Theater.
Chevy Chase makes a bad sale
By Emily Montgomery
NUCLEAR WAR is not funny.
That's what William Friedkin
failed to realize when he made Deal of
the Century.
The film stars Chevy Chase, but even
audience members who would forego a
reasonable plot in order to see some
Chase antics will be sorely disappoin-
ted. The major obstacle in Chase's way
is that the subject matter is not
just another Vacation. Let's face it,
family trips are funny, the arms race is
not.
Besides being totally inappropriate,
the film is blatantly inconsistent. It
starts out in the classic style of a Bogart
detective movie. Chase is in a Central
American bar, eyeing Sigourney
Weaver from across the nearly deser-
ted floor and thinking aloud his "tough
guy" thoughts. The film: then turns in-
to a battle scene straight out of
Apocalypse Now and after that it's
anyone's guess.
The film marks the first comedy for
Sigourney Weaver whose previous suc-
cesses include Alien, Eyewitness and,
just recently, The Year of Living
Dangerously.' Although there wasn't
anything strikingly wrong with her per-
formance in Deal, there wasn't
anything humorous about it either.
She's waited this long to be in a
comedy, though, so maybe she can wait
a little longer.
The character that Gregory Hines
portrays fits right in with the theme of
the film itself-inconsistency. He swit-
ches back and forth between born-again
Christian to bargaining arms supplier
and the only thing that's for certain is
that he isn't certain himself just who
he's supposed to be.
I have no problem accepting the
statement that Deal of the Century made.
My only questions are why, and why in
this manner? If it was trying to point
out that weapons manufacturers are
immoral, inhumane, relentless
capitalists, then there really was no
reason because everybody already
knows that. So just what was it trying to
prove? And why prove it with a
comedy - a poor comedy at that? It
doesn't make sense.
The final scene is an airshow, similar
to the Autorama, except that the mer-
chandise is slightly more lethal. Dif-
ferent nations come to buy weapons to
fight off other nations and to subdue
their own. Everywhere is selling,
selling, selling, and in between all this
confusion are carefullly inserted ex-
cerpts from Reagan's public announ-
cement on the subject-laughably
ludicrous in the context. The point is,
Reagan gave us ample opportunity to
belittle him in the privacy of our homes.
Why pay $4.00 for the privilege?
The underlying irony to all this is that
there really isn't any "Deal of the
Century" and if there is, it certainly
isn't this movie.
2 INDIVIDUAL THEATRES
5h Awe ar abe"' 761-9700
$2.00 WED. SAT. SUN. SHOWS BEFORE 6 PM
The West Side gets a new look
Chevy Chase hustles arms in the new comedy 'Deal of the Century.'
The New World isn't
the pro mised land
By Sarah Ellin Siegel
W HAT'S NEW FOR West Side Story?
The great music is the same, the
basic themes are the same, but
Musket's production will feature a very
contemporary veneer.
Jerome Robbins, the director of the
Bernstein and Sondheim musical during
its first run, took the theme of
Shakespeare's 16th century, Romeo
and Juliet. The orginal production,
however, placed it not in Mantua in the
late 1500s, but rather in Manhattan in
the 1950s. The action' revolves around
two gangs: the Jets - native New York
slum dwellers, and the Sharks - recent
Puerto Rican immigrants, who replace
the Montagus and the Capulets.
The casts of the two plays differ only
in, name and era. Both are equally
passionate and impulsive; both choose
between loyalties to different social
classes and fidelity to love's instincts.
In the up-coming production,
however, the two social groups follow
neither Shakespeare's nor Robbins'
conception of them. Instead, the Direc-
tor Kelly chose the Jets to be punked-
out Manhattanites and the Sharks to be
slickly-dressed modern Latin immigrants
ts. The action takes place neither in the
16th century, nor in the '50s, but in the
glorious '80s.
Don Grant, a sophomore who plays
one of the Sharks, explains the
reasoning behind doing an '86s version
of West Side Story, "Prejudice is
always there, so this will work."
Maria, played by senior Patrice
MacGriff, says that she is looking for-
ward to these performances because,
"The show is so beautiful and deals
with issues that are definitely still
around."
Choreographer Ruth Klotzer and
Vocal Director Nancy Muller face what
they consider a surmountable
challenge as the rehearsals for this
show have been condensed from the
usual eight to six weeks because of
Power Center space availability. The
cast has been practicing four hours a
night, five days a week. Executive
Producer Brian Uitvlugt says, "En-
thusiasm is really high with this show.
Whereas with lost of shows you have the
actors saying, 'Jeez, I spent six weeks
with this. Was it worth it?' That's not
happening this time," Uitvlugt said.
"Everytone's really looking forward to
this performance week."
Uitvlugt also believes that opening
night is always the last dress rehearsal.
Tony, played by junior Greg Watt,
disagrees, "I think it will definitely be
an up-to-par performance . . . I guess,
though, that Brian sees it from the out-
side, and I see it from the inside. After
opening show you say 'Oh shit, I did this
wrong and this wrong and this wrong,'
and so on Friday night you're all set.
Friday's show is the peak."
If the performances go like Sunday's
charged orchestra rehearsal, then
something's coming, something good.
West Side Story plays the Power Center
Thursday through Sunday, at 8 p.m. (2
p.m. Sunday). Tickets are $6.50 and
$5.50 and are available at the Michigan
Union Box Office.
Read
and
Use
Daily
Classifieds
(PG)
ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S
GRACE KELLY
JAMES STEWART
RAYMOND BURR
..'
R I
THURS. 7:15, 9:15
WED. 1:15, 3:15, 5:15, 7:15, 9:15
SEAN CONNERY
REGULAR PRICES
THURS. 7:00 9:30
WED. 1:00, 3:30, 7:00, 9:30
By Gordon Jay Frost
A CONFESSION: I fell asleep during
the Beethoven. It wasn't that the
New World String Quartet was boring
- they were quite good - but my lack
of sleep caught up with me. Unfor-
tunately, despite a wealth of technical
skill and a good program, these men
were just not exciting enough to keep
me awake during a slump of
exhaustion. Nor could they keep the
man next to me away from his new
paperback computer book. There must
have been something wrong in the at-
mosphere.
Truthfully, the ensemble came out on
stage like the Harvard MBA Quartet,
complete in three-piece suits. Where
Sdid they find those suits in Grand
Rapids? This image doesn't lend them
any integrity, however, which is unfair
Sto their musicianship - almost as un-
fair as those creaking chairs that
Rackham forces the visiting musicians
to sit in.
Another irritating factor, which
slowed the performance down a bit,
Swas the performer's insistence upon,
tuning between movements. If they
were out of tune at the beginning, or
were "just testing" in the midst of the
Berg, it might have made more sense.
As it stood. it was only unnecessary and
at times so crisply that the notes
seemed fragile. His bowing was full to
the point of being theatrical. Bruce
Galbraith, Director at the Interlochen
Arts Academy aptly described Macom-
ber's playing: "not beautiful but strong."
strong." Any brittleness was filled by
the violist, Robert Dan, whose perfor-
mance was unusually full and sweet for
that instrument. Supremely relaxed
with his part, he lent a quality lost to
many ensembles or too easily relegated
to the 'cello. In that area, Ross Har-
baugh was marvelously adequate.
More of a student than a master, he was
always with the score and ensemble but
not fully with the music. Technically,
he is in no way lackluster, it is simply
that, within the context of the group, he
exhibited little force. The second
violin, and newcomer to the group,
Vahn Armstrong, put on an impressive
show. His playing was even-toned,
close to the ensemble, and relaxed.
In the end, it was all too much. Good
young musicians do not necessarily
make good concerts. These men are
brash, slick, well tuned and acutely
proficient but they unfortunately lack
a certainwarmth. This will probably
come with time - or a different
reviewer. But one thing is certain: this
quartet was not to be heard when low on
caffeine, short on sleep, or while sitting
next to a symbol of technocracy.
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