ARTS
The Michigan Daily Saturday, January 14, 1984 Page 5

Duo blends tuneful talents

By Jane Carl
T HE RICHARD Stoltzman/Bill
Douglas recital in Rackham
Auditorium Thursday evening presen-
ted a great deal of diverse rousic with
varying degrees, of success within that
diversity.
The first piece on the program,
Telemann's Sonata in B-flat major
transcribed for clarinet and piano,
didn't translate well to the clarinet. The
pair is known for their performances of
transcriptions and other novel pieces,
but this one sounded clumsy.
On the other hand, the Schumann
Three Romances, Op. 94, was a definite
triumph. Stoltzman's sense of phrasing
is nothing short of miraculous, and the
shifting moods of the' Schmann were
wonderfully romantic and tender. The
last movement, Nicht schnell, was par-
ticularly affective, Stoltzman's aim is
to always be expressive and emotive,
and in that he is extremely successful
and delightful, but it is often accom-
plished at the expense of purity.
Douglas then switched to bassoon,

and the duo performed four of Bach's
Two-Part Inventions, noting to the
audience that as their friendship grew,
the literature for clarinet and bassoon
diminished, so Douglas transcribed all
of the inventions, with the bassoon
playing the left hand of the piano part
and the clarinet the right hand.
Douglas showed himself to be a better
bassoonist than a pianist as the pair
romped through the inventions, Stolt-
zman exuded charm and humi4ity
when his fingers failed on the G major
one. Backstage he would later conffde,
"I've never been able to play perfectly.
A lot of people can, I've heard David
Shifrin and Harold Wright do it, but I've
never been able to."
The pair turned to a series of works
composed by Douglas: Sky, a light jazz
work for clarinet and piano; Rock
Etude #16, wild, spoken scat-singing in-
volving complex rhythms;' Be-bop
Etude # 6, a written out improvisation
based on Stella by Starlight; Love
Song; and Jig, an African-Irish jazz
tune with a rock etude in the middle.
Douglas' compositions tend to be on the
simple side, and the two were obviously
having so much fun performing them

that their enthusiasms spilled out into
the audience.
The second half 6f the program
turned to music of a more serious vein.
The Berg Veir Stucke, Op. 5, was the
highlight of the evening. Stoltzman im-
bued each phrase with a character all
its own, and his passionate inter-
pretation was alternately playful and
tortured, angry and tranquil.
The fleeting thoughts of the third
movement, Sehr rasch, gave way to a
humorous ending, and the work
culminated in the dreary, dirge-like
Langsam. Here Stoltzman insinuated
the most diabolical thoughts over the
piano's repeated death knell, the sud-
denly became transparent and floated
'away with one of this -infamous
dimuendoes that seemingly has no end.
The recital ended with Poulenc's
Sonata for Clarinet and Piano. Com-
posed in 1962, the work is as
schizophrenic as the Berg, but in a
much lighter way.
The communication between the
clarinet and piano was a little off in the
first movement, Allegro tristamente,
and Stoltzman often demonstrated that
he was not a slave to pitch problems,

but the haunting, romantic second
movement erased all the flaws of the
first. Stoltzman simply floated out over
the audience and caught them up in the
romantic lushness.
The final movement was frantically
fast, causing Stoltzman to botch the en-
ding, but the encore of two Theolonius
Monk transcriptions saw a return to the
playful ease which characterizes Stolt-
zman's best efforts.
ANN AR2BOR
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This is a film about two people
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She's afraid it may be too soon.
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WINNER.

Richard Stoltzman included his own original compositions as well as the
classics in his Thursday evening performance at Hill Auditorium.

Broadwa
AInn Arb
By Julie Bernstein
NN ARBOR is cultural stewpot
into which various meats and
spices are continuously being thrown.
Thursday night, Crimes of the Heart,
Beth Henley's Pulitzer prize-winning
play, (the tastiest dish I have sampled
in a while), was added to this season's
theatrical menu.
Piping hot and sauteed to near
} brilliance, it is the first of PTP's Best of
Broadway series that finally proves the
ticket series worthy of its title.
The national touring company of
Crimes is full of energy, clarity, and
seems perfectly at home on the Power
Center stage, which is often over-
whelming and uncomfortable for tired-
out road companies that travel this
way.
Comparable to Anton Chekhov's

ry

visits

or stage
Russian trio in The Three Sisters
(produced last winter by The Univer-
sity's Theater Department) there are
the McGrath sisters: Lennie McGrath,
the oldest sister (played by Caryn
We st) a neurotic spinster who bears
the bulk of family responsibility; Meg,
(Kathy Danzer) a would-be adultress,
lacking the man with whom she can
commit adultery; and Babe, (Cyd
Quilling) good, wholesome, and op-
timistic. Babe is in deep trouble
because she has just shot her husband
- because well, she was "having a bad
day.
They do not yearn for Moscow, as
Chekhov's characters did:, ' but they do
mourn over similar disappointments.
Staged in a realistic Chekhovian man-
ner, it is an on-going circus of
movement and action; every detail
becomes essential, from the swing and
See CRIMES, page 7

The McGrath sisters discuss their heartfelt passions in the PTP/'Best of Broadway' production of 'Crimes of the Heart.'


Once

By Joseph Kraus
S TORYTELLING.is an ancient art,
after all that's how Homer paid the
rent.
Just because it's ancient, though,
doesn't mean that it's dead. As a matter
of fact, professional storytelling is alive
and well and coming to Ann Arbor in
the person of Joseph Buloff.
Buloff is 86 years.-old, and he's been
telling stories in one way or another for
almost eight decades.
Although today he is best known for
his portrayal of the gentleman
storyteller on the train in Warren Beat-
ty's epic movie, Reds, Buloff has been a
respected stage star for most of his life.
Buloff began his career in- Europe
with the Vilna Troupe, a famous Yid-
dish theater company. Later, he came
to the United States where he became a
successful actor on Broadway.
He has since appearehl in over 20
Broadway productions. Some of his
more famous roles have been the ped-
dler in the original company of
Oklahoma, the Greek landlord in My
Sister Eileen and the harrassed
professor in The Whole World Over.
Not content to merely be on the stage,
Buloff has tried his hand at directing.
His most well-known directing effort
was Mrs. McThing which starred Helen
Hayes.
Buloff is even an experienced
television actor. He portrayed Pincus
Pines on the 1940s series, "The Gold-
berg's.",
Despite his extensive experience in
American drama, Buloff has remained
a part of Yiddish theater. He maintains
a permanent theatrical company in
Israel and has made certain in recent

upon a
years that his roles have been almos
alternately in English and Yiddish.
As a storyteller Buloff has his own lift
as an obvious source of material, but a
the same time he is very familiar wit]
the fold tales of Eastern Europe.
The combination of Buloff's talen
and experience as an actor, which afte
all is only another way of telling a story
and the tales he has collected or e 6
perienced directly in his 80-plus years
make him ideal for telling stories th
way people have since long before
"Once upon a time..." became a cliche
Buloff's show is the first in thi
season's celebration of Jewish Arts b;
the Hillel foundation. Tickets for th
show are available at $7.50 for student

time...

and $13.50 otherwise, or they can be
purchased as a part of the series
tickets.
Buloff will perform Saturday night
only at Mendelsohn Theater at8 p.m.

SAT., SUN.
1:00, 3:30, 7:00, 9:30
MON.:G :
1 :00, 7:00, 9:30

0

ye
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Hot stuff AP Photo
You know you're hot when Steve Martin includes you in his act. Martin
satirized Michael Jackson and his 'Billie Jean' video last Friday on NBC's,
The New Show. A few days later the Year of Michael Jackson continued
when the 1983 Grammy nominations were announced. Jackson scored
another coupe by receiving more nominations for a single album than any
other artist before him. 'Thriller' garnered a total of 12 Grammy
nominations for Jackson.
Ann Arbor Civic Theater

MUSKET ANNOUNCES ITS WINTER PRODUCTION:
H L IN AF
THE FOLLOWING STAFF POSITIONS