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February 11, 1984 - Image 5

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The Michigan Daily, 1984-02-11

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ARTS

The Michigan Daily

Saturday, February 11, 1984

Page 5

'Golden Rose's

'Tommy' is a sensory experience

By Barb Schiele
THE STAGE production of Tommy
brought the audience to its feet by
the end of the second act Thursday
night. Golden Rose's exceptional han-
dling of the colorful rock opera en-
couraged everyone to join in clapping
and singing the familiar Who tunes.
Just as it was for the star of the show,
Tommy was an experience for all sen-
ses. The rock songs let you tap your feet
and "feel" the beat throughout the en-
tire show; the dancers moved and
grooved energetically together, along
with a few light explosions, and let
viewers "see" the show; The Who's
originals let you sing the show. Unfor-
tunately the sound system caused a lit-
tle disturbance throughout the first act,
making it difficult to "hear" the show.
To completely understand the story
of Tommy, or any rock opera for that
matter, you must be able to hear the
words of the songs. But during the first
act, the voices of the performance were
largely inaudible. Because of the
inadequate sound system, the story lost
a little of its impact for those who were
not avid fans and did not know the story
by heart.
If you were one of those unfamiliar
with Tommy's story, his becoming a
deaf, mute and blind after witnessing,
the death of his father, then the
opening scenes might have been con-
fusing. Behind a screen, slides of war

scenes were juxtaposed to two lovers'
passionate shadow scenes, thus
displaying Tommy's parents' relation-
ship and their association to the war.
Unfortunately, there was a lack of em-
phasis on how much Tommy idolized
his father, therefore it was difficult to
understand the justification of Tommy's
becoming a blind, deaf mute.
Despite the confusion caused by the
poor sound system, the rest of the show
was entertaining and up-lifting. It was a
refreshing change from the average
theater production in its informal ap-
proach. This informality was exem-
plified by the narrator's (William R.
Klann) nonchalant strut up to the stage
in order to signal the lights and music to
begin.
Tommy could not have been a suc-
cessful production without an outstan-
ding Tommy. It's too bad that Scott
Maynard had to walk around deaf,
dumb and blind in the first act because
his performance as the "free" Tommy
made the whole show come alive.
Maynard's acting talents, combined
with his excellent rock 'n roll voice,
made all believe in him as a savior and
free person.
Marcy McGuigan (Tommy's mother)
gave an equally amazing singing and
acting performance. Her strong voice
and concerned-mother image projected
the perfect character.
Among the top performers of the
show was "Acid Queen" (Leslie
Lorraine McCurdy), who promised to

send Tommy on a "wild trip." Her
raspy voice and engaging mysterious
laugh conveyed to the audience just the
type of trip Tommy was taking.
The magic show was a wonderful way
to illustrate Tommy's trip. Franz
Harary performed a little magic to em-
phasize the bizarre effects of LSD.
Harary, a professional magician from
Odyssey in Illusion, mesmerized the
audience slicing one of his assistants in-
to three pieces and pulling her apart. It
was a spectacular attraction which will
stand out in the minds of many when
they remember Golden Rose's produc-
tion of Tommy.
Although Mother questioned, "Do you
think its alright to leave the boy with
cousin Kevin?", leaving Tommy with
Don Grant and his torture toys was a
big mistake. Grant added a bit of
humor with his masochistic leather and
whip, and didn't leave much room to
sympathize with Tommy.
Don Rice resembled Keith Moon a
great deal in his role as the drunken
Uncle Ernie. Although the scene was
not quite as torturous as the movie ver-
sion, Rice did his share to shake up his
beloved nephew.
A few aspects of the show dared to be
a 1970 show set in the '80s. The "wimp"
image of the pinball wizard fit this
mold. For his brief appearance, Kenny
Stein played a typical ex-pinball cham-
pion, Eugene Rosenberger III. Stein's

The "Tommy" cast invite you to see, hear and feel the experience.

performance was good, but the pinball
scene lacked the fantastic lights that
you expect to see flashing when Tommy

discovers his true talent.
Special effects, such as Tommy
falling through the "mirror," rising

smoke, and a pro-juggler on a unicycle,
combined 'with the remarkable talents
of the cast, made Tommy a success.

Go dance with

yourself, Billy

Daily Classified Bring
Results - Phone 764-0557

By George A dams
M SO HAPPY I didn't pay to see Billy Idol Thursday
I night.
Don't get me wrong: I actually like his music, and
the band's performance at Hill Auditorium captured
the sickeningly sociopathic threads running through
songs like "White Wedding" and "RebelYell."
I even enjoyed watching Idol sidle along the floor to
"Dancing with Myself" while the keyboard player
fondled her leather-clad flesh.
And the concert was a feast for the eyes. Idol him-
self, with his pointed hair, torn shirt, black leather
and enough spikes to stock a moat convinced me that
Charles Darwin was on the wrong track.
The spectators looked almost as good: Swarms of
females just this side of puberty, escorted by their

impressively convict-like boyfriends, arrived in
various so-called "punk" combinations to watch the
titanium-throated megastud with seemingly anar-
chist leanings.
Billy sounded pretty good, too. That is, when he was
singing.
You see, his songs are trashy enough; that's part of
their appeal. But really, Bill, I'm not interested in
hearing about your sexual experiences with your lit-
tle sister.
Neither am I interested in your little sister's adroit
at various lurid activities, or in how her genitalia
(Bill used another word) compare with others you've
encountered.
Billy the Idol told us that he and a fellow musician
"picked up some women, (past tense of crude word
meaning 'to have sexual intercourse') them, and
then wrote this song." That one really bowled me

over. I was touched that Idle (soiry) thought enough
of me to share the intimacies of the creative process.
You see Billy, you're gross.There's nothing wrong
with preaching chaos.There's nothing wrong with ex-
pressing a violent distaste for contemporary society.
And there's nothing Avrong with doing it with color.
But when any performer aims simply to disgust an
audience, you have to question the sincerity (and
talent, but that's obvious) of the artist.
Billy Idol tries too hard to nauseate his audience.
And as any decent punk knows, there's a big differen-
ce between rebellion and name-calling.
Shame on you Billy. You painted yourself as a
disgusted individual commenting on a world gone
berserk, but your aspirations Thursday night were
limited to invoking the audience's vomit.
I have to hand it to you, though.,It worked.

MAKE A PERSONAL CONTRIBUTION TO ISRAEL
BE A SUMMER INTERN
AMISHAV, ISRAEL
MID-JUNE TO MID-AUGUST, 1984
Stipend Plus Expenses
Sponsored by Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago,
Hillel-College Age Youth Services for Chicago area up-
perclassmen who are fluent in Hebrew and have prior com-
munity service and Israel experience.
Contact Lew Nemes or Maria Baker at
Hillel - CAYS
1 South'Franklin St.
CHICAGO, IL 60606
or call (312) 346-6700, Ext. 2506

'Records

DeBarge - 'In a special Way'
(Motown)
The first time I ever heard
DeBarge was when they performed
on the "Motown 25" anniversary-
special. It is especially embarrassing to
admit this, because the band members
grew up in a house ten minutes away
from in Grand Rapids. But they've sin-
ce moved to Hollywood and have done
very well.
On the special, Motown touted the
quintet as one of the first of the new
breed of Motown superstars. The
group's t ird Motown release, "In a
Special Way" does much to back up this
claim.
DeBarge is a multifaceted group,
specializing in romantic soulful ballads
1 heavy on keyboards, but this doesn't
Correction
The number for information about
the Hillel-sponsored performance of
Hannah Senesh: Portrait of a Warrior
Woman is 665-5137. The number was
incorrectly listed in yesterday's
Weekend Magazine.

stop James DeBarge from contributing
three songs that challenge the band to
perform in a more funk-oriented vein.
Janes opens the album growling out
the lyrics to his "Be My Lady." James
mixes straight-ahead funk with Latin-
influenced rhythms. The hot horn sec-
tion competes with Michael Bod-
dicker's synthesizer and the back-up
vocals by the rest of the band are in the
crisp upper registers that are at the
heart of DeBarge.
Eldra DeBarge still manages to out-
strip James and all his other siblings, in
both writing and vocals. Eldra has a
knack for writing a romantic song
without becoming smarmy or boring.
Vocally he is possessed of a
magnificent, soaring upper register. He
is remarkably free and unstrained
while singing notes that would make
even Frankie Valli cringes. It is no coin-
cidence that the two hot singles off this
album are written and sung by Eldra.
"Time Will Reveal" balances Eldra
with Bunny, Ranky, Mark, and James'
four-part harmony. High schools looking

for prom themes will do well to select
this song. It is purely and
unapologetically first-rate slow-dance
material.
"Love Me in a Special Way" is
probably the only song that will beat
"Time Will Reveal" when prom-theme
time comes. Maybe it's just the har-
monica solo, but this song reminds me
of Stevie Wonder's ballads.
The next single should be "Queen of
My Heart," yet another ballad in which
Eldra's pipes are showcased. While he
shines as a balladeer, Eldra also
demonstrates an almost-equivalent
proficiency with pop-funk on "I Give Up
on You." The song is a James DeBarge-
Bill Preston collaboration. Preston's
influence is heard in the keyboards,
especially the horn-mimicking syn-
thesizer. This song is hot. Guitars in-
terlock and interweave with chiming
synth. Eldra gets to ad-lib, and the
Latin influence is again present in the
drumming.
Bunny's lone contribution, "A
Dream," is a ballad that suffers by

comparison to Eldra's work. The
writing simply is not as solid. Bunny's
vocals, however, are excellent, and one
wishes that her talent was not limited to
this one cut.
My only complaint with In a Special
Way is that an album comprised
largely of ballads invariably tends to
wear on me after three or four of them,
no matter how good they are. DeBarge
would do well to mix in more upbeat
dance-floor material to contrast the
ballads with.
DeBarge is a refreshing dose of
squeaky clean romanticism. They have
developed a distinctive sound, yet they
are versatile enough to apply that
sound to different musical genres.
I hope DeBarge is able to maintain
and improve upon this level. If they do,
they may well deserve the hype that
has been lavished upon them.
- John Logie

MARTY'S ... GOES DUTCH TREAT WITH, THEIR NINTH ANNUAL.. .

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