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Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November 20, 1986
UAC brings Broadway
classic to Ann Arbor
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By John Ganun
"For the story is not ended
And the play is never done
Until we've all of us been burned
a bit, and burnished by-the sun!"
So goes The Fantasticks, Off-
Broadway's longest running mus -
ical, which will be presented at
Lydia Mendelssohn Theater this
weekend as University Acitivities
Center's Soph Show presentation.
Subtitled "A Parable About Love,"
The Fantasticks is a play with
such a universal theme that it has
run non-stop in New York since it
opened in 1960.
The show's popularity (it has
played in more than 5000 American
cities and 50 foreign countries) rests
on its essentially simple plot: boy
meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses
girl, boy gets girl back. In this
case, the boy is named Matt, and
the girl is named Luisa. The re -
maining cast consists of a narrator
named El Gallo, the fathers of the
children, two actors, and a mute.
With only these eight characters,
the show takes on an intimate
quality not usually associated with
musicals. Because of this in -
timacy, a show like The Fan -
tasticks should ideally be presented
on an arena or thrust stage. Since
Mendelssohn doesn't fit this
description, a large apron has been
added to extend the stage beyond the
proscenium that brings the actors
closer to the audience.
The score, which includes the
classic "Try to Remember," is
written by Harvey Schmidt and
Tom Jones. Within this opening
song, the underlying theme is
exposed in such thought-provoking
lyrics as "Deep in December it's
nice to remember without a hurt the
heart is hollow." Through their
underscoring and songs, Schmidt
and Jones create a mystical, stylized
feeling throughout the show while
presenting characters who are
realistic yet at the same time
stylized also.
Ty Hreben, a student enrolled in
U of M's musical theatre program,
has directed the cast of under -
classmen for a six week rehearsal
period, with Friday, Saturday, and
Sunday nights not necessarily being
exceptions. (When asked how long
rehearsals lasted, one cast member
replied,"Well, we have to be out of
Mendelssohn by 1:00 am.") Prod -
ucing team Dave Turner and Pam
Kaplan have assembled an exper -
ienced production crew and are
heavily stressing advertisement.
This years' Soph Show promises
to be a worthwhile production of an
American Musical Theatre classic.
The Fantasticks opens tonight at
8:00pm and runs through Saturday
night, with an additional per -
formance on Saturday afternoon at
2:00 pm. Tickets are available at
the Michigan Union Ticket Office
and all Ticket World outlets.
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UAC presents its production of 'The Fantasticks' tonight through Saturday.
Haskins speaks on 'Love and Rockets' blastoff
By Danny Plotnick
Love and Rockets, in the midst
of a 42 date, 11 week tour of the
U.S. and Canada, will be pullin'
their train into St. Andrews Hall
tonight and tomorrow night for
some locomotive powered rock 'n'
roll. They're touring in support of
their new record "Express", which
their drummer Kevin Haskins, in a
phone interview last week,
describes as "more of a rock 'n' roll
album" than their debut
release,Seventh Dream of Teenage
Heaven.
Love and Rockets are three
fourths of the legendary Bauhaus,
who may be best known for their
appearance as the "disco group" in
the modern day vampire flick The
Hunger. Bauhaus did a wild caged
version of their classic hit "Bela
Legosi's Dead," which has been
recently covered by a band not
worth mentioning. Of this adultered
version, Haskins says "I think it's
quite amusing-I think it's meant
to be amusing." As for Bauhaus
being an influencing factor on new
bands today, Haskins says that
many of these bands "take one
aspect [of Bauhaus] and magnify
that, which wasn't part of what we
were about." Nonetheless, he adds
that "It does feel good" to know
that be was able to influence other
bands' musical directions.
Love and Rockets is now Daniel
Ash on guitar, David J. on bass,
and Haskins. This year they are
touring as a three piece, without the
aid of keyboards which often crop
up on their studio releases. The
resulting live versions of their
songs will therefore differ from
their studio counterparts. But not to
worry-as last year's show proved,
the live sound is engaging as well
as intriguing. Haskins points out
that "when we're writing we're
always conscious of the fact that we
have to play these songs live as a
three piece." On both records, the
songwriting process is geared more
towards the live set with the studio
embellishments added later. Haskins
adds that this happens "even more
so with "Express". With the first
album we hadn't actually played
live before we recorded it, and I
think that shows."
Last year's show contained
several surprises which included
cover versions of Pink Floyd's
"Lucifer Sam," Tones on Tail's
(Ash and Haskins were both
members of that band) big hit
"Go!," and Daniel Ash's karate
lumberjack attempt at kicking down
St. Andrews' Christmas Tree. Love
and Rockets has since released a
vinyl version of "Lucifer Sam" and
needless to say they're "still doin'
Lucifer" as well as performing two
new tracks. They've also been
"working on lighting the show."
Don't expect an E.L.O. mammoth
extravaganza, but expect something
a bit more exciting than St.
Andrew's usual fare. It's not yet
Christmas so don't hold your breath
for any more Christmas tree antics,
but maybe St. Andrews will supply .
some papier mache turkeys or
cranberry sauce.
Haskins does feel that Love and
Rockets has been "getting a wider
range of audiences" than on the
band's previous tour, and tours with
Tones on Tail and Bauhaus, which
is in part due to their record
company's support of the new
album.
Their busy tour schedule aside,
Love and Rockets have been able to
get away from the road to engage in
fun American activities like "see
Niagra Falls and things like that."
But don't expect to bump into them
at McDonalds. He adds, "some days
I'm repulsed by McDonalds," but if
forced to order he'd have a Big Mac.
Daniel Ash, on the other hand, has
completely "given up on
McDonalds." No one's quite sure
what David J. is likely to do there.
Oh yeah, Kevin Haskins was
quite adamant about the fact that
"The Bubblemen are coming." I'm
not sure I know what that means,
but don't say I didn't warn you.
r D
Support the
March of Dimes
BIRTH DEFECTS FOUNDATION
AN INFORMATIONALMEETING FOR
The University of Michigan-
Cornell University Academic Year
Program in
SEVILLE, SPAIN
will be held on
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1986
5:30 p.m.
229 ANGELL HALL
All interested persons are cordially invited to attend!
For information E
CALL: CENTER FOR
764-4311 c,- WESTERN EUROPEAN STUDIES
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