The Michigan Daily - Monday, March 20, 1989 - Page 11 B ridge has breathtaking view BY BETH COLQUITT D o you believe in fate? Until Thursday night I had a firm disbelief in any propelling force behind my life. That belief hasn't changed, but it has been shaken. A View from the Bridge, one of Arthur Miller's lesser- known plays, brims with evidence that our lives are predestined. At least, Eddie Carbone's life was. From a true story related to him by a longshoreman in Brooklyn some years ago, Arthur Miller has managed to draw a truly ancient Greek-style tragedy. Eddie Carbone the character was reminiscent of Oedipus. The twist on Oedipus Rex is that it was the uncle who fell in love with the niece instead of the son falling in love with the mother. As in Oedipus, the forbidden passion that was revealed in the story lead to an inevitable and tragic ending. The Alley Theatre, based in Houston, unfolded Miller's drama for Ann Arbor theatergoers last Thursday night at the Michigan Theater. The acting was so convincing that seeing the actors smiling and taking a bow at the curtain call was confusing. To the audience, Philip LeStrange was Eddie Carbone and Julie Bayer was Catherine, the innocent source of Eddie's passion. The Alley Theatre brought the audience right in to the Italian slum world of Red Hook, giving us their values and their life in a temporary exchange for ours. Two aspects of the play gave it a slightly less real appearance. The character of Rodolpho, while amus- ing, somehow lacked depth. It was hard to see how, in the space of one evening, he could have captured the heart of a person like Catherine. We never saw exactly what Rodolpho was like, only external eccentricities and a sense of humor. This would not have impaired the production ex- cept for the fact that all of the other. main characters were portrayed with great depth and perception. The other flaw, which was not so much in the acting but the script, was the character of Mr. Alfieri. Mr. Alfieri is a neighborhood lawyer who would have inhabited the role of nar- rator or chorus leader in an ancient Greek tragedy. Although he was an absolutely necessary character, giving the audience essential insight into Eddie's life, Alfieri himself was a little goofy. His bemused aloofness belied his expressed concern for Ed- die's predicament. Like Rodolpho, Mr. Alfieri was an odd contrast to such intense characters as the Car- bones and Catherine. Despite these two small flaws, View was a breathtaking tragedy. The end felt inevitable, but this did not make it any less shocking and tragic. There was a stunned feeling at the Eddie's death. It was also obvious that the repercussions of the murder were going to bring the rest of the Carbone family crashing down. It was truly a sobering and moving show. Atnanda Pays, Ernie Hudson, and Peter Weller (left to right) find that even the bottom of the ocean is no refuge from bad screenwriting in Leviathan. Le 0 eva an e nge srn BY TONY SILBER What Jaws did for going to the beach, Leviathan does for going to the movies. "This year's newest horror flick from the imagin- ative minds at MGM is hardly imaginative - instead, it's more like, "Haven't we seen this somewhere before?" The answer is certainly "yes" after a mere 20 minutes into the stupidity. This is Alien reincarnated, no doubt whatsoever. Instead of trying to progress the horror genre, the makers of Leviathan sought cover under an established, successful technique. This film is a big, lavish dud from the kids of Dino De Laurentiis. And although money is clearly no ob- ject, Leviathan is not spectacular by any means despite its ornate visual effects. The cast is also somewhat misplaced in the horror genre. As for the story, we have indeed seen this before in the Alien films and in other horror films as a small group of people are put in an environment with an undesirable, killing creature which they cannot escape from. Underwater, off the coast of Florida some time in the future, Leviathan takes us to a mining colony t,000 feet below the surface of the Atlantic. Peter Weller (Robocop) and Richard Crenna (The Flamingo Kid) star as the manager and doctor of the facility. During their routine mining of silver, they stumble on a sunken Russian ship, and following this discovery, terrible things start to happen as the crew of the col- ony begin to be picked off one by one by the Levia- than monster. The story ultimately suffers from the predictability that can tarnish any horror film. You know a certain character is going to be killed, and it's just a matter of how disgustingly this can be accomplished. Leviathan offers its share of chills, shock moments, and flying guts, but it doesn't offer much fear or terror. The film is a waiting game for the next death to be more creative and spectacular than the last. Predictability thus causes the film to wallow in shallow waters. An effective horror film is dependent on giving the audience something new and innovative to entertain. Psycho gave the famous shower scene. Rosemary's Baby brought terror to the pregnancy period of a woman. Jaws revived all our fears of the water. Hallo- ween shocked. The Shining gave us nightmares. And Alien glamorized terror. But Leviathan does nothing new on its own to establish itself as innovative in any way. Michigan Daily ARTS 763-0379 I ur 3 -4 Uf3 , - (31 LEVIATHAN is, in Ann Arbor. M a continued from Page 10 :his piece with the Jerusalem Sym- phony. Unusual is an understate- ment. Memories was a weird, highly ,-impressionistic series of Jewish iYemenite folk songs. "It blends dif- Wfdent cultures and calls on a lot of abstract orchestral interpretation," Mehta described. The piece was very modern and engrossing. k- The final selection was Brahms' Symphony No. 2, and Mehta and company reached their peak here. The first movement was played with a pastoral sweetness and simple flow. The second featured a dance- like interlude as the strings emitted a dream-like effervescence. The third was a quick tempoed, high spirited 1oherzo. But the finale was the true showpiece of this symphony. The Istraelis charged the ending with a ibrant, impassioned energy until the dramatic brass ending. On the whole, quite impressive. The program offered three diverse selections, and Mehta recognized the difficulty in performing them in a post-concert interview. "We played music from three different periods: the late romantic (Schoenberg), the classic romantic (Brahms), and the abstract (Kopytman)," he said. "They all affect me differently." Mehta and the Philharmonic are in the middle of a three-month tour and he couldn't feel more at home. "I love touring and I love playing with different groups, but Israel is still my favorite place to perform." His players are his colleagues, and his relationship with them is a purely professional one. Commented Mehta, "Their training period is long over. We just make music now." Mehta's career has taken him all over the world for over 30 years, but his greatest influences are unques- tionable: "My father, certainly, and my teacher in Vienna." His father, Mehli Mehta, is the Music Director of the American Youth Orchestra. Having been to every corner of the world, played every piece in the repertoire, recorded extensively, and won major awards for many years, what could be left for the 53-year-old Indian to accomplish in the world of classical music? "I want to record the three great Mozart operas," Mehta said. "That is my next goal." Don't put it past him to accomplish this. now showing at Showcase Cinemas Resume Service For high quality resumes, matching cover sheets and envelopes, depend on Kinko's, the copy center. kinko's the copy center 540 East liberty Open 24 Hours 1220 S. 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MICHIGAN STUDENT ASSEMBLY1989 WINTER ELECTION POLL SITES o0 SUPER SITES Location $ $ $ $ $ North Campus Commons FISHBOWL MLB i~ake jt3 i sQ me one aou w ant outside snack bar information table 1st floor; Bell tower side main lobby by Mug; in front of Ride Board Tuesday 8:30 a.m.- 12:00 p.m. 9:00 a.m.- 5:15 p.m. 9:30 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. 10:00 a.m.- 11:00 p.m. 9:15 a.m.- 10:30 p.m. Wednesday 12:00 p.m.- 4:00 p.m. 9:00 a.m.- 4:45 p.m. 9:30 a.m.- 4:15 p.m. 10:00 a.m.- 7:00 p.m. 9:15 a.m.- 7:30 p.m. UGLI 0 UNION DORMITORY SITES Location main lobby Tuesday Wednesday 5:15 p.m.- BURSLEY l i I