ARTS Thursday, September 13, 1984 f The Michigan Daily Page 5 Titanic Caberet to set sail at The Quad By Emily Montgomery When was the last time you spent some time with the crew aboard, the sinking Titanic? Unless you'ye lead an extremely peculiar existence, probably never, right? Well the Brecht Company is of- fering the opportunity to all brave souls tomorrow night with the opening of their latest production, The Titanic Cabaret. This production marks a change for the ensemble in many ways, the first being a change in playwrights. Up until now the company has devoted itself almost entirely to the works of Bertolt Brecht. Titanic Cabaret is an original work written in the Brecht tradition, by company members Blake Ratcliffe and Jeff Wine. Another change is in the location. In- stead of the usual stage-house setting, the play will be performed in East Quad's Half-way Inn to help create the feeling of being in a dining/entertain- ment room on the luxury liner. A cash bar will be operating before and throughout the performance,- to add to the atmosphere. "We're taking the ideas of Brecht and pushing them further than, from all I know, he ever even pushed them," ex- plained Ratcliffe, in reference to the idea that the audience will actually be sitting in and around the "stage" of the play. Bertolt Brecht is known for produc- tions which were designed to evoke audience participation. The Brecht Company plans to take that one step further with this play. "They will feel like they are actually part of the passengers aboard the Titanic," Rat- cliffe said. On the direction end, still another change has been made. Jeff Wine, who played the lead in A Man's a Man last fall, steps off-stage and into the Direc- tors chair for Titanic - a position held solely by the company's Artistic Director, Bob Brown, for all previous productions. The, direction style, however, has stayed consistant with the Brecht idea of improvisation. "The cast is so talented," Wine said. "I gave them ideas and they would just make them bloom. Then they would give us ideas and Blake and I would go home and incorporate them into the play." The main conflict of "Titanic Cabaret" (besides the vessel's certain submersion) revolves around a bet made between the Vaudville show's emcee William Steale (a take-off from William Stead, a passenger aboard the real Titanic), and Colonel John Jacob Astor (Matt Tamlanovich), who was an owner of the, Titanic. The bet entails whether or not Astor will laugh by the end of the cabaret show. If he does, Steale gets to keep the low rent lease on his Vaudeville theater - back in New York - to which Astor is the landlord. And if Astor does not laugh, Astor will be entitled to raise the rent. A five-piece ragtime band will add to the excitement, playing all original numbers which were composed by Paul Hodgins, a former University Music School student. There will be two performances, held 7:30 and 10:30 nightly, on Friday and Saturday of this weekend and next, Sept. 14, 15, 21, and 22. General Ad- mission is $4 and $3 for students and seniors. The "Halfway Inn" is located at 710 Church St. For reservations or more information call 995-0532. Aaron Alpern and Jeff Dorchin play Spike and Mike, the Vaudevilleans in 'Titantic Caberet.' The play will be perfor- med at the Halfway Inn in East Quad beginning September 14. Records MICHIGAN STUDENT ASSEMBLY The MSA will be interviewing for positions for its BODGET PRIORITIES COMMITTEE Budget Priorities Committee reviews, allocates and facilitates the funding of group events and projects. The Committee meets on a regular basis monthly and on an as needed basis. GET INVOLVED IN STUDENT GOVERNMENT Applications available at 3909 Michigan Union DEADLINE FOR SUBMITTING APPLICATION: MONDAY, SEPT. 17, 1984 - 5:00 P.M. for further information, contact Laurie Clement or Marc Wernick, 3909 Michigan Union-763-3241 Passion Puppets, "Beyond the Pale"(Stiff/MCA) Ye Classic Dupe #5 is putting the good song (or songs, if lucky) at the begin- ning of an album; hopefully somebody will get suckered into- buying before finding out that the rest is sub-bad. Such, is the case with the Passion Puppets' first stateside release, the album Beyond the Pale. The opener, "Like Dust," while far from great, has an agreeably hard edge, is melodic as hell, and has an agreeably unpretty lead vocal. Hard pop of a commercial-enough- for-FM but against-your-better- judgement nature, it promises a lot. ,The second track, "Overland," has an equally Bigtime Production quality that leads to suspicion; but here again there's a solid hardpop sensibility, with gorgeous sweeping choruses and quirky intonation on them-oh-vah-la-hand. Oh man! Can this be that rare thing, the indifferently-marketed, untalked- -about major-label release that really good ? So much for idle hope., The rest of Beyond the Pale is a progressive slink toward instructive mediocrity, into the Land of a Thousand Derivations; proof at last that the- U.K. has as many slick/boring pseudo-wave bands as the U.S. Passion Puppets are the sort of band who get signed because they sound just enough like each last-year's sensation to offer a vague hope of big sales-the misfortune is, of course, that they don't sound enough like themselves to create an identity, and their songs sound like all the ones you forgot on better albums by other bands. There are echoes here of The Tear- drop Explodes, of everybody and their brother's band elsewhere. They have their de rigeur sensitive songs and their } rock-me-to-death-wave songs. They have those appropriate haircuts and cute British boy looks, as evidenced by the cover art. They have their oc- casional clever line ("Someone's inside 'my head/That I don't know"), but mostly they sing about Love, as usual. (Quoted, shamelessly, on the back cover: "... But you're not alone/We're Wall inside like you/And if you want you know/ That we can break out to/Paint it red for fear-/Fear of being touched.") They play crisply enough, with vocals (by Ray Burmiston) that are, if not par- ticularly inspired, at least not facelessly pretty-boy Brit pop. And they're produced (by Peter Walsh and Roger Becherian) so cleanly (with a supporting cast of thousands on sax, flute, violin, et. al.) that you could (and should) eat potato salad off the disk without fear. Unfortunately, there's nothing but innocuous cliche underneath all the gloss after the first two likeable song-various -forms of pretty boredom. The Passion Puppets, like so many major-label debutantes, have ANN I INDIVIDUAL THEATRES 5th Ave ot iberty 701-9700 DAILY MATINEES DAILY FIRST SHOW $2.00 "'UNDER THE VOLCANO' IS INTELLIGENT... BEAUTIFULLY ACTED AND DIRECTED" -USA TODAY ALBERT FINNEY JACQUELINE BISSET ANTHONY ANDREWS NO ONE CAN LIVE WITHOUT LOVE! THURS. 1:00, 7:30, 9:40 FR. 1:00, 7:30, 9:40, 11:30 P.M. ENDS TONIGHT! "CONFIDENTIALLY YOURS" at 1:00, 7:15, 9:15 been taught to use the studio well-they certainly sound OK, as long as you're not listening very closely. The moment you begin to pay atten- tion, it turns into the Reader's Digest Condensed History of New Wave Ban- ds-faceless songs trying to steal an identity piecemeal from a Rolodex of sources. One hates to write off a band that demonstrates (if only for a few minutes) some talent, but the Passion Puppets so far justify only claim to puppetry; there's very little passion to be found on Beyond the Pale. -Dennis Harvey "RI "A. "A. STARTS FRI. ICHLY ATMOSPHERIC..." -Sheila Benson, L.A. Times VERY GREAT FILM." -Judith Crist, WOR-TV MARVELOUS MOVIE..." Dino Lalli, KNBC Channel 4 News He m0ht hear yu P . 1:00, 7:10,9:20,11:1SP.M. Students! Work Smart. 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