ARTS Tuesday, February 14, 1989 The Michigan Daily Page 7 Andre De Shields: Theatre Wiz BY CHERIE CURRY Only a few performing artists are ever fortunate ,enough to find the path to national recognition. Even fewer are able to find it solely through natural talent. Andrd De Shields found the path. Without any formal training, he succeeded as a Broadway and televi- sion actor, singer, choreographer and director. De Shields first achieved national recognition for creating the title role in the Broadway production of The Wiz and became known for his show-stopping performance in the Broadway production of Ain't Mis- behavin'. De Shields also won an Emmy Award for his performance in the 1973 NBC special of Ain't Mis- behavin'. His other television credits include two PBS Great Performances Specials, Ellington: The Music Lives On, and Alice in Wonderland (as Tweedledum), I Dream of Jean- nie-I5 years later, and a film, Prison. De Shields also received the 1987/88 Joseph Jefferson award for his direction of the Chicago premiere of George C. Wolfe's The Colored Museum, won two Audelco awards for directing and choreographing the AMAS production of Blackberries, and directed at La Mama E.T.C., The Denver Center Theatre and More- house College. Currently a Martin Luther King, Jr./Cesar Chavez/Rosa Parks visiting professor at the Uni- versity, DeShields is directing the University's production of The Tro- jan Women. With impressive credentials such as these, DeShields had reason to be confident, and his undaunted manner revealedd his pride as he spoke dur- ing an interview made possible in spite of his hectic schedule. D: Why did you choose to direct the University's production of Tro- jan Women? De: We wanted the Theatre and Drama department to be able to em- brace more minority and women concerns. So it made sense that a show that was based on a woman's point of view allowed non-traditional casting of African-Americans, Latin Americans, Asian Americans, as well as white performers. D: I heard somewhere that you used a lot of make-up on some of the actors' faces to darken their complexion? De: Oh yeah! I like to use the term brown-washed. D: Could you define that? De: Of the 26 members in the company, 5 of them are Black ac- tors, but I needed another 5 Black performers to fill out those people who were playing the Trojans who were going to be the non-white cul- ture in the play. In those situations where the actor or actress is white, we are putting Negro #1 make-up on them so that they look as if they come from the Eastern part of the Mediterranean. D: Is that what it's actually called, Negro # 1? De: The make-up is called Negro #1, yeah, exactly. And it looks like a cafe-au-lait complexion. And there is no attempt to embarrass anyone or to make any kind of negative racial comment. It's simply that because the conflict in the play is between cultures that are separated along the lines of color antipathy we needed to be able to show that the Greeks were white and the Trojans were non- white. D: Was there a message you hoped to convey other than what was written in the script? De: Yeah, absolutely! The mes- sage that I want the audience to leave with in their heads is that it is those things that are different about the people of the world that should bring us together in a harmonious plan of co-existence. The things that are dif- ferent should not keep us apart. D: What kind of involvement, if any, have you had with the Black Theatre Workshop? De: I've done two activities sponsored by the Black Theatre Workshop. The first was an evening of cabaret in the Basement Arts building. Many of the students from the University performed, and so did I. Black Theatre Workshop also pre- sented me in a symposium style at the Mary Markley resident hall. I brought in a couple of videos of things that I've done and showed just clips of them. Then, afterwards, I sat and talked with people. I've also spoken twice to the drama classes that Charles Jackson teaches. And, out of this, I'm hoping that Black Theatre Workshop will support our production of Trojan Women. D: Do you prefer directing to act- ing? De: Well, I gotta tell you, I love them both, but when I'm performing as an actor, what I'm learning is how to follow, and when I'm work- ing as a director, what I'm learning is how to lead, but they both feed each other because I've been on both sides of the fence. My specific goals, I think, are going to be best realized as a director. D: Did you study acting at either the University of Wisconsin or the New York University? De: No, I didn't at the University of Wisconsin. My degree is in En- glish and at the New York Univer- sity, I'm studying Afro-American studies. I'm one of those people whose talent is a gift from God. It's instinctual, it's natural, and I don't want to lose it in the claustropho- bic, traditional kind of conservative atmosphere of the classroom where people think they can learn the liv- ing arts from a textbook. D: What does acting mean for you? De: Acting is the most satisfying means of self-expression that I've discovered in my life. Acting is also an opportunity to effect social changes and to reach out to people that you wouldn't necessarily have an opportunity to reach. It isn't or- dinary to be able to communicate with 2000 people a day - well you can do that in the theatre. Acting on the legitimate stage is live, so you are in the presence of reality as it happens. You see the person's sweat, you smell the person's funk, you watch the person make a mis- take. You are there to glory in the miracles that the person creates, and by the end of the evening, you've exchanged some meaningful infor- mation. D: I noticed you received awards for your choreographing, as well as directing. So you've had some kind of dance training? De: Nope, I'm a Black man, so I can dance (smiles). But because I have this unique approach to per- forming, there are people who want to borrow some of that from me. As I travel around the world, people see my very special approach to orches- trating relationships 'cause that's what I think choreography is. It isn't so much as having a vocabulary of dance. It isn't so much as showing people what step to do as it is how to make their human interaction fluid. D: You've been in some films. Do you prefer acting in theatre to acting in film? De: The satisfaction is so differ- ent from each of the disciplines. For instance, when you're acting on stage, you have to make sure that 2000 pairs of ears, 2000 pairs of eyes are taking in what you are pro- ducing and you have to project it to Andr6 De Shields, who first achieved success playing the title charac" ter in the Broadway production of The Wiz, is currently directing the University production of The Trojan Women. the last person in the last seat of the last row. In the movies, you're only playing for one eye and one ear - the camera and the microphone. D: It seems like many people don't give a lot of credit to film ac- tors - it's viewed sort of as a cop- out. De: Well, it is not a cop-out, but. the reason why credit isn't given to the film performer is because the magic of film says that you if you make a mistake, you just stop and do it over again. The work, the sweat isn't done by the actor, it's done by the editor. On the live stage, there's no such thing as editing. If you make a mistake, there it is. D:What do you hope to accom- plish for the future? De: I'd certainly like to have much more work as a leading man. I want to continue to set the example for the thinking Black man. That's; one of the images that's missing from all the media - the Black in- dividual who is thoughtful. D: Before we end this interview,' do you have any lingering thoughts? De: Yeah, I want to say that I feel particularly blessed, particularly lucky to be able to be on the Ann Arbor campus and working with such very talented people and an ex- tremely supportive Theatre and 'Drama department, and to be able to, work in such a professional-style theatre like the Mendelssohn. I've also been able to take part in some of the other programs... there's so much that's culturally enlightening, it's almost hard to do everything. But I just don't want to leave with- out saying thank you to the Univer- sity of Michigan and thank you to the very hard working, very talented students who have made up the cast. Buy and Cell not worth the investment BY DAVID LUBLINER What do you get when you takeWall Street and replace all of its stars with a half dozen out of work actors? Probably something resembling Buy and Cell. Yes, you read the title correctly. And if you think that joke is bad, try the movie. Robert Carradine (Revenge of the Nerds) stars as Herbert Altman, an up-and-coming yuppie in- vestment banker framed by his conniving boss and sentenced to 13 years in prison for insider trading. In jail, Carradine meets up with a crazy concoction of characters that includes Michael Winslow (the master of vocal sound effects of Police Academy fame), ex-boxer-turned-actor Randall "Tex" Cobb, professional wrestler Roddy Piper, and 1970s comedian Fred Travelena. This motley crew of desperate performers are all prisoners at a maximum security prison, ex- cept Cobb, who plays an ugly, grunting guard. The cast also features two gifted actors, Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange, Time After Time), as the evil warden, and Ben Vereen as Shaka, the prisoners' ring leader. Both actors have far too much talent and prestige to be in- volved in this. The warden seeks to use his new prisoner's knowledge of the financial market for his own profit. Altman refuses to comply. Instead, he finds a more noble cause deserving of his finan- cial genius: investing money on the part of the prisoners to help refurbish the prison. But don't say the word invest too loudly because the neu- rotic Altman sneezes every time he hears the "I" word. What ensues are a series of scenes in which the prisoners read the Wall Street Journal, discuss excess cash flow, and aspire to be just like Don- ald Trump. And the farfetched turns into the ab- surd as Altman designs an elaborate scheme to get rid of the warden and take vengeance on his former boss. While the plot deteriorates, the personality of the characters remains entertaining. Travelena plays an annoying schizophrenic who switches back and forth between a nice guy named Tony and a Mafia hit man named Marco. In one scene, Travelena goes berserk in the prison cafeteria, dances on the tables, and acts out film scenes. "Yo Adrian," yells Travelena as he pretends to be Rocky Balboa jogging down the streets of Philadelphia. Altman's cellmate is a hustler named Sylvester Swan (you can call him "The Sly"), portrayed by Michael Winslow. If you haven't' had enough of those ridiculous sounds that com- prise most of Winslow's talent, he returns this time with some new ones. Lise Cutter plays Dr. Ellen Scott, a psychol-" ogist, whose job it is to help the prisoners with. the emotional problems of living in jail. It isn't long before she also assumes a role in Altman's plan of revenge, as well as providing the love interest in the film. Dr. Scott is the only woman in this movie, unless you count the scantily-clad. females who are brought in to entertain the troops in honor of Sly's birthday. In advising Altman on how to survive in jails Sly warns him of Rule Number #1: Don't ask too many questions. If you plan to see this film, take his advice. BUY AND CELL is playing at the State Theater. John Candy does an impersonation of a member of the audience for his movie Who's Harry Crumb? In their case, however, they also fell asleep. Cliched plot makes Harry Crumble BY MATTHEW ZACHARIAS I saw the advertisements for Who's Harry Crumb? ' and thought: This looks bad, but I'll enter the theater with an open mind. I did. But I left it embarrassed for John Candy and sorry for the betrayed, joyless audience that suffered through it. The film is an hour and a half of clichdd antics and humor with the depth of a mud puddle. The plot also completely lacks originality: a millionare's daughter is kidnapped; on comes Harry Crumb to save the day; he is totally incompetent; he detects foul play; a cheap antic here, a cheap antic there, et cetera, et cetera. Not even cameos by Joe Flaherty (Second City T.V.) or James Belushi could pull Crumb from the depths of lameness. Jeffrey Jones, the emerging cult hero from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, stars as Crumb's sleazy boss, El- liot Draison, whose primary objective is to throw Crumb's investigation off course. Draison hires Crumb in the first place because of his "legendary" reputation as a bungling private dick. But the giveaway story also contributes to the film's shortcomings. Per- haps if the "mystery" of the film was not revealed in the first five minutes, it would held the attention of the audience and would not have been such an anti-climactic catastrophe. The only redeeming qualities of Crumb were Candy's elaborate costumes - ranging from a Don King-styled hairdo to an oversized jockey - and Shawnee Smith, who proved her acting potential as she teamed up with Crumb to find her kidnapped sister. This is only the second feature film for director Paul Flaherty ( Joe's Lyle Lovett Lyle Lovett and His Large Band MCA/Curb On his last one, Pontiac, Lyle Lovett had just about burst the seams of the faded Levi's straitjacket of tra- ditional country Western music. It took a pretty great leap of faith to accept that the rockabilly gusto of "She's Hot to Go" and the softly swaying jazz of "She's No Lady" were at all at home on the range. With his latest, outstanding effort, Lovett explodes out of the country Western boundaries to produce a fully-realized song cycle that refuses to adhere to any single genre. "N1rP Tr Am, " fn'r inotn. n~~'lt.r- "I Know You Know" is a tradi- tional jazz ballad, beautifully sung to the woman who's "somewhere in between/ This morning and late last night." Here is the best song on the record, because it matches a killer melody with the self-conscious poet- ics of a Shakespeare sonnet. The honesty of his love for her even gets conveyed in the silences between the verses. Just for a change up, country Western star Lyle Lovett delivers, for some strange reason, a straight country Western love song. "I Mar- ried Her Just Because She Looks Like You" could have been written by Mickey Gilley or any one of those hacks, only it's a lot better. flashes of offbeat funk. This stuff was interesting, and different for sure; sort of like a Minneapolis Motown. Enter Taja Sevelle. Your first reaction would probably be "What the hell?" Here's this hot, untalented woman trying to seri- ously make music. I thought the purple one had learned his lesson with Apollonia 6. Guess not. As a dance track, this is offbeat and convincing enough. While her contemporaries construct their music from progressive-type sounds all too common on the radio, various synth sounds and drum technology, here producer Bennett dredges up some nasty bass, a jazzy solo, and a weird throwback disco percussion. The Powermad The Madness Begins Reprise Records A four-song EP from Minneapolis metal mongers Power- mad, The Madness Begins, thrashes along mightily. The three originals display both the band's metal chops and editing sensibilities - no ten minute metallo-epic jerkoffs here - Powermad crams their warp speed double-bass drum fueled runs and half-time instrumental breaks into four minute songs instead. The cover of the Ramones' "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment" is excellent also. I wonder though, why an EP? Why not wait until the band had worked up enough material for an -.1....n 'M'~- .. J.fi ., a. Ar