ARTS The Michigan Daily Thursday, March 6, 1986 Page 7 A darker side of farce By Lauren Schreiber El Presidente Is Not Himself Tomorrow opens tonight at the Performance Network. Written by Danny E. Thompson in collaboration with The Street Light Theater, El Presidente is a farce about present-day situations in Central America. The comical play describes the adventures of two Central American circus clowns/Shakespearean actors, Carlos and Alfonso. The story takes place in the Banana Republic of San Guatarico (a mythical country). Also involved in the ac- tion are such colorful characters as Capitano, in charge of interrogation and torturing; Juanita, the woman with the iron teeth; an often alluded to, but never seen American ambassador; and of course, el Presidente. Cast member David Isaacson, who plays Capitano, ex- plains why such a serious issue was written as a farce, "We wanted people to examine the contradictions in U.S. foreign policy in Central America. It's also a commentary on the nature of trying to do serious plays about serious issues. "I hope the audience will go away laughing, but also think seriously about the situation. I think it will be a very controversial play." Jeff Dorchen, who plays Carlos describes El Presidente as "complex and exciting." His co-star, Randy Herman, who plays Alfonso, warns that the piece is a radical play in every sense. Though El Presidente does not present a single political view, there will certainly be members of the audience who will disagree. "People are going to have to change their conceptions of what theater is supposed to be," says Herman in regards to the unusual style of the play. El Presidente will be full of action, if anything. Countless assassination attempts, a shamanistic spiritraising ceremony, and a 7-piece salsa band onstage are all a part of the production. The fifteen members of the cast include University students and recent graduates, all a part of The Street Light Theater. This group was originally sponsored by the Residential College. Founded in 1984, their intention is to produce original scripts by local playwrights. El Presidente Is Not Himself Tomorrow opens tonight at the Performance Network, 408 W. Washington, and will continue through Sunday. Perfor- mances begin at 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. Sunday's per- formance will be a matinee beginning at 2 p.m. The Rovers: proving traditional folk can be tamed to make for schmalt- zey, AM radio fun. Schmaltze with an Irish touch By Joseph Kraus Their idea is a simple one: good Your parents probably like The traditional music tamed down for pop Irish Rovers. audiences, but done well. That for- mula has served them so well that the They were the five guys who sang five of them - two brothers, a cousin, songs like "The Unicorn" and and two of their boyhood friends - "Wasn't that a Party" and who would have remained at the top of the inter- set the folks to speaking in poor Irish national "folk music" (in heavy brogues about "the fair green land" quotation marks) scene for 20 years. they'd never seen for themselves. And you probably think you can toss Band leader Will Millar is reputed The Rovers alongside all the other to be among the corniest of the Irish schmaltze of two decades ago. jokesters, and the band supposedly works as a well-oiled comic team between songs. As with most bands of But doing so doesn't quite do the their ilk, their appeal is stronger in band justice. They have been sch- concert than on record. maltzey for an even 20 years - they wore matching terry green pullovers in the '60s and grew their sideburns in To commemorate the current an- the '70s - but at the same time they niversary tour, the band has released have remained in touch with the a new single, "Everybody's Makin' it music and traditions that fuel their Big but Me," by Shel Silverstein who own pop-folk hybrid. wrote their most famous hit, "The Unicorn." They continue to emphasize The Rovers haven't changed much acoustic instruments in a day when since your parents listened to them on heavy production and synthesizers AM car radios, but if they had. rule commercial radio. They base something would have been wrong. their sound around Irish drinking They're still schmaltzey, but they're song harmonies that emphasize the fun at the same time; and now that simple and boisterous roots of the you're old enough to fit into green music. And they tend to perform polyester slacks you're probably old either traditional songs or songs by enough to see just why your parents modern writers in traditional styles. get such a kick out of them. Most notably they have recorded The Rovers play at Hill Auditorium Ewan McColl's "The Life of the tomorrow at. 8 p.m. Tickets are $12.50 Rover" as well as "Bottle of Wine" and $10 and are available at the Union and "Wasn't that a Party" by Tom and all Ticket World Outlets in advan- Paxton. ce- Harvard this su ,mmer. June 23-August 15, 1986 Harvard University Summer School, America's oldest summer session, offers open enrollment in nearly 250 day and evening courses, in more than 40 academic fields and pre-professional pro- grams. 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They're supposed to pun- ctuate a line like . . . good night Irene, I'll see you in my dreams ... Husband and wife team Robin and Linda Williams don't agree. With a vocal style vaguely reminiscent of Richard and Mimi Farina they sustain and even create tension in their harmonies. Mingling that style with Peter Ostroushko's airy fiddle accompaniment, they offer an intriguing country-folk hybrid. The result is a surprisingly dif-- ficult album. It's easy to mistake such harmonic hijinks for sloppiness, and it's no criticism of the album to say that it loses its effectiveness when it isn't listened to closely. This is serious music, not for the background. Yet, the Williams are jokers them- selves. Their songs tend to concern lighthearted subjects like "I'M S.A.V.E.D." or to treat serious sub- jects lightly as they do in "Travelin' Shoes." The live tracks further show them to be laughing with their audiences. The finest single song on the album is an original co-written by Robin and Jerome Clark called "They All Faded Away." From its lyrics to its in- strumental arrangement to its vocals it depicts a lost childhood romance in such the haunting fashion that shows the band at its very finest. The Williams are definitely on to something here, and since they are Ark regulars there's every reason to check out this album. Be prepared to work at listening to it, but be prepared to grow to love it too. - Joseph Kraus According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the need for paralegals is about to double. Now is the time to become a part of this dynamic profession...and there is no finer train- ing available than at Philadelphia's acclaimed Institute for Paralegal Training. After just four months of intensive study, we will find you a job in the city of your choice. We are so confident of the marketability of our graduates that we offer a unique tuition refund plan. 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