ARTS
The Michigan Daily
Friday, January 20, 1989
Page 7
A2
plays big city
Broadway Bound is Liberty bound
Simon's
BY BETH COLQUITT
Every now and then Ann Arbor gets the chance to
indulge its aspirations of being a big city instead of a
very high-minded, intellectual, but small university
town. One of these times was January 5th, when the
Midwest premiere of The Accidental Tourist played the
Michigan Theater.
The Michigan is often the venue graced with these
bits of national importance that reach Ann Arbor, and
Broadway Bound has been hailed as
Simon's deepest, most touching, and
most human work, featuring more
poignant scenes than in his earlier
comic shows.
it will be the case again this Sunday evening when the
Broadway national touring company performs Neil Si-
mon's Broadway Bound, which opened on Broadway in
December 1986.
Broadway Bound is the third of Simon's loosely
autobiographical "B-B" trilogy. The first two, Brighton
Beach Memoirs and the Tony Award-winning Biloxi
Blues, cover the boyhood of Eugene Jerome. Broadway
Bound is about the young adult Jerome, a struggling
writer and radio comic. It also covers the breakdown of
the Jerome family.
Broadway Bound has been hailed as Simon's deep-
est, most touching, and most human work, featuring
more poignant scenes than in his earlier comic shows.
However, in spite of Simon's self-searching and intro-
spection, the pensive and serious are well-balanced with
the sweet and the humorous.
Broadway Bound stars Barbara Tarbuck as Kate
Jerome, a role she played in Brighton Beach Memoirs
on Broadway in 1984-85. The show also returns Brian
Drillinger to the part of Stanley, the bossy older
brother, a role he played in Brighton Beach Memoirs
both on Broadway, in the national touring company,
and in the film version. The role of Eugene Jerome is
played by Kurt Deutsch, who made his Broadway debut
in that role for nine months before he joined the
Broadway Bound touring company.
Neil Simon is one of today's best known play-
wrights, and this is shown in the fact that his name on
a theatre marquee means as much as the names of its
stars. In the past, this privilege has been accorded to a
rare few, namely playwright Arthur Miller and movie
directors Busby Berkley and Woody Allen. Simon has
also had virtually all of his shows made into movies,
some of which the public may not realize were once
plays, such as The Odd Couple and The Goodbye Girl.
Since the Broadway national touring company has
finally reached Ann Arbor, I propose to any Neil Si-
mon fan (or really any comedy fan at all) that this is
going to be the best performance that has or will hit
Ann Arbor for a long time. Being the small town that
we really are, we are always obliged to wait a long
time for Broadway shows to arrive, but when they fi-
nally come, they're worth the wait.
BROADWAY BOUND will play the Michigan Theater
on Sunday January 22 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $22.50 and
$18, with a 20% discount for Michigan Theater Mem-
bers. They are available at the Michigan Theatre Box
Office. Student rush tickets will be available tomorrow
for $7.50.
Madison Arnold (far
Deutsch gather 'round
what they're listening
left), Barbara Tarbuck, Ronny Graham, Brian Dritlinger, and Kurt
the old crystal set in Neil Simon's Broadway Bound. You can find out
to Sunday night at the Michigan Theater.
Re o d ,, - 00 0 0 0 0 0 0
"A Ap pP ALP
Anita Baker
Giving You the Best That I
Got
Elektra Records
Anita Baker's music at its
most beautiful is all about being
engulfed by, or succumbing to,
love. In his book A Lover's
Discourse: Fragments, Roland
Barthes called this feeling an
"outburstof annihilation which
t affects the amorous subject in
despair or fulfillment." The
grammy-winning album Rapture
dripped with such sentiment, and
showed that 'old fashioned' soul.
still has a broad appeal in an age
where most modern Black music is
more concerned with rhythms than
with emotional confession.
Following up Rapture has
been no easy task, and Giving You
the Best That I Got is caught
between xeroxing its predecessor
and venturing into the jazz
direction that Baker seems to
prefer. Opening tracks "Priceless"
and "Lead me into Love" fall
limply into soft soul territory in
which Anita fails to ignite. The
title track is most obviously
* Read
We
DaiCt~ !d
designed to sell the album to the
people who bought Rapture. It's a
weak song which again fails to
utilize Baker's singing talents.
These particular musical love
letters are about as welcome as a
wet blanket in the Michigan
midwinter.
However, three performances
on the LP show that Baker can
still reach the parts that other
singers cannot touch. "Rules" is an
expansive, slow burning torch
song that has banal lyrics but still
slices your left atrium from your
right ventricle. In fact, all the
songs here lack lyrical invention
but, as Aretha said, soul is not
what you sing but how you sing.
Baker smoulders on "Good
Enough," a track with jazz piano
cadences that hint at the direction
Baker's music should go. "Just
Because" is another jazz-tinged
pearl and betrays a healthy fascina-
tion with Sarah Vaughan's phras-
ing.
If Baker can forget about mar-
ket forces and go with her natural
impulse to be a jazz singer, then
she can make records greater than
Rapture. This release is flawed be-
cause she's trying to please all of
the people too much of the time.
But three shimmering perfor-
mances on this album point to
more fulfilling amorous moments
from her in the future.
-Nabeel Zuberi
Friday and Saturday
until 11:00 p.m.
Come Early
and Party!
310 Maynard 994-6500
$ 200,000.00
STOCK REDUCTION
Year End Clearance
20%-75% OFF
Entire Store
Includes: Women' s Boots, Shoes, Acessories and
our full line of Capezio Dancewear
A~w'HOEHUT
1209 South University
769-2088
CENTER FOR RUSSIAN AND EAST EUROPEAN STUDIES
presents a one credit course on
HUNGARIAN CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION
(REES 301, Section 888)
by Dr. Laszlo Budai
Visiting Fulbright Scholar from Hungary
January 30-February 22, 1989
Monday/Wednesday, 7:00-8:00 p.m.
Location to be announced
This course will provide an introduction to Hungarian history, political life,
literature, arts and culture. A multidisciplinary approach will be used and
materials will include translations from books and periodicals, as well as films
and slides. No knowledge of Hungarian language required. All lectures are
open to the public. For registration information please contact the Center, 204
Lane, 764-0351.
MASS MEETING
A MUSICAL VAUDEVILLE
A sexy, steamy, late 1920's musical
actors, assistants, and crew members needed
JANUARY 25
7:00pm
S u ig anyI aRm
j 7 I
HOW TO TAME THE
ROOMMATES
1 WOMAN NEEDED to share a room in two
bedroom apt. located behind S.Q. Rent
* 223/mo. is negotiable. Does not include
electricity or phone. Wonderful roommates.
Call 747-8549.
ATTENTION HOUSE L EASERS-- Looking
for 2 single rooms in a iiet house beginning
Sept. '89. Call 764-5840 or 764-5835 (please
leave a message).
FEMALE NONSMOKER wanted to share a
furnished 2 bdrm. house. $75/wk., util. incl.
Call 995-0503. Avail. Jan.-May.
FEMALE NON-SMOKER to share new apt.
2 bedrooms, 2 baths, walk-rn closets, bal-
cony, fireplace, laundry, health club jacuzzi,
sauna, and cat. Near north campus. 085/mo.
663-3462._
FEMALE to share spacious 2 bedroom apt.
close to campus. Avail. immed. $275/mo. +
utilities. Neg. Call eves. 662-2835 or leave
LIBRARY
JUNGLE.
The Library can be a
real jungle. Especially at
a large university like the
University of Michigan.
That's why Peer In-
formation Counseling, a
service of the Under-
graduate Library, is r
offering the Library
Survival Kit.
Inside you'll find I
a camnus librarv man.
the Reserve Desk, the Micro- 1
computer Center, and the1
Academic Resource Center.+
You'll also find valuable
tips on how to efctively use
the library for research.
So avoid getting lost in
Good for one free
LIBRARY SURVIVAL KIT!
Redeem at the Reference Desk,
the stacks! Hunt down
those books and periodi-
cals you so desperately
need! Locate those resour-
c s for that all-important
term paper!
Just clip the cou-
pon shown here and
present it to the UGL
I Reference Desk.
Pick up a Library
Survival Kit today.