41
ARTS
the Michigan Daily Friday, December 1, 1989 Page 8
The Breadshop:'Tis the
season to be melancholy
Blowing off the rules
Free jazz pair Cherry & Blackwell board Ark
BY AMI MEHTA
AROUND holiday time, feel-
ings of thankfulness, sharing, and
goodwill seem to prosper. The
world in 1989, as most see it, is
in fairly safe and secure times.
But quite a different story could
have been told 70 years ago.
Most people were standing and
shivering in food lines at the Sal-
vation Army instead of waiting
impatiently in long lines at Saks'
to celebrate the holiday season.
Beginning to feel the effects of
the Great Depression in 1929, the
society was changing drastically.
The Breadshop, presented by
Ann Arbor's Brecht Company,
depicts the social, economic, and
emotional changes that took place
in the middle and lower classes of
a universal city in the 1930s such
as Berlin, Paris, or New York.
It's a story of a newspaper boy
who trys to help a widow evicted
from her home above a bakery
because she has no money to pay
rent to the landlord/baker who is
trying to make his own ends
meet. Written but left unfinished
by Bertolt Brecht and later com-
pleted by his own company, the
Berliner Ensemble, The Bread-
shop brings out one of Brecht's
main themes - human pity and
compassion.
Translator and director Martin
Walsh describes it as a political
cartoon that pokes satirical fun at
daily politics but that also carries
an important significance. It
shows the struggle for survival in
a period when people scrambled at
the sound of nickels and dimes
hitting the floor.
Presented in a mock epic
style, The Breadshop displays a
The Breadshop
displays a different
style of theater - the
most important actor
is the chorus of
unemployed people
and the chief musical
component is the
hymn-singing
Salvation Army.
different style of theater - the
most important actor is the cho-
rus of unemployed people and the
chief musical component is the
hymn-singing Salvation Army.
Walsh calls it "a composition
with chorus and musical expres-
sion to the spoken word."
Another distinctive aspect of
the show is that it is related to a
project for the Residential Col-
lege's Art and Politics in the
Weimar Republic class (Germany
of the '20s and '30s). All the stu-
dents in the class are involved in
the play, whether it be through
acting, costuming, or set design-
ing. Walsh praised the students'
keen participation and the learn-
ing experience they attained by
working with the Brecht Com-
pany.
With simple, low budget
scenery and props, the play sets
the somber mood for the time pe-
riod. Walsh calls The Breadshop
an appropriate show for the sea-
son because it is about what re-
ally matters when all of the glitz,
glamor, and commercialism is
taken away from the holidays and
people are left only to rely upon
themselves, their pride, and their
optimism.
THE BREADSHOP runs tonight
and tomorrow at 8 p.m. and Sun-
day at 2 p.m., and it continues
the weekend of Dec. 7-9 in the
Residential College Auditorium,
in East Quad. Tickets are $5-$7.
BY KRISTIN PALM
IT is both fitting and misleading
that Don Cherry's latest release is ti-
tled Art Deco. Like much of
Cherry's work, the album, like the
art genre, is both bold and abstract.
Although Art Deco - the only al-
bum this year to receive five stars
from Downbeat magazine - has
been touted as Cherry's "back to ba-
sics" LP, the jazz trumpeter remains
eclectic in his sound.
Where Cherry differs from the
1920s art form is in his approach to
arrangement. While art deco is de-
fined as geometric, Cherry's sound
can hardly be defined at all. It was
his collaboration with avant-garde
sax man Ornette Coleman in the late
1950s and early '60s that established
Cherry as one of the vanguard of the
free jazz movement and, still today,
it is his adherence to this loosely ar-
ranged musical style that distin-
guishes him from other musicians
whose music has a more definite
shape.
In Cherry's case, a lack of shape
in no way means a lack of direction.
Rather, it means atypical harmonics
and polyrhythmic beats that create
sounds which defy barriers. Perhaps
it is Cherry's transcendence of geo-
a
Jazz trumpeter Don Cherry's lookin' good today, lookin' good in every way.
Ornette Coleman's former bandmate blows big sounds with his little
tru mpet.
graphic boundaries that has main- rope, Morocco, India, Mali, the
tained his interest in musical explo- Middle East and Sweden, where he
ration. He has studied and taught in owns an art school.
such diverse locations as Eastern Eu- See CHERRY, page 10
Comedy Co.
monkeys
BY AMI MEHTA
THEY aren't green alien life forms
with antennas sticking out of their
heads, but they have come with the
power to restore a quality in us that
is often lost at this time of year.
However, there's a catch. They can
only revive it during certain time pe-
riods this weekend in a certain place.
Who are these intruders that will
attempt to lure scholarly University
students away from their desks piled
with highlighted books and their
computer screens filled with soul-
stirring words all in preparation for
finals that loom ahead? Relax.
rA ARBOR
Apart, they're everyday people that
you've probably walked past once or
twice on the Diag before. But to-
gether they make up the Comedy
Company, and their mission isn't
just to make you smile or snicker
but to make you laugh until your
sides ache.
The group consists of "wacky
funsters" who will perform original
comedy sketches in Bedtime for Big
Show, this semester's edition of a
bi-annual production put on by Uni-
versity students, according to co-di-
rector Jeff Peters. "They're a bunch
of people who play well off the
ball," he said. The cast members
range from first-year studen
eran performers who love
cally ham it up in front of
"If you're not a ham, you'r
Comedy Company," said co-
Kevin Hughes.
After several weeks of r
the cast of nine, picked f
original 100, is ready to gi
ences all they've got wi
strong chemistry and their
droll entertainment. "If I we
I would like to be rooted ri
in the Comedy Company," s
year student and cast mem
Price. And that's just a slic
raw, off-the-cuff, comica
these actors have. "It's thes
cast ever," said co-produc
Wood.
And just as behind eve
man there is an equall
woman, the script the actor
around
ts to vet- is very vital to the success of the
to basi- show. "If the writing isn't good, the
f people. actors suffer. If the acting isn't good
e not for the writers suffer," added Hughes,
producer who was head writer for last
semester's show. According to
ehearsal, Hughes, this show has an equal bal-
from the ance of genius in both.
ve audi- Each skit, ranging from portray-
ith their als of the dreaded blind date, to drink-
forte for ing beer, to Bazooka "You burst my
re a tree, bubble" Joe, provides a different
ight here satirical slant on life. Some of the
aid first- humor might be off the beaten track,
ber Matt but the waters of the pool of uncon-
ce of the formity must be tested sometime.
al talent After all, there are two weeks un-
strongest til finals to become nocturnal and
-er Katy no-dozed but there are only three
chances to see Bedtime for Big
ry great Show. "Comedy is a beautiful thing
y great that few people have. It's like access
sifollow See COMPANY, page 10
6
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UAC's Comedy Company is obviously cleaning up their act in this skit, just
one of many in this weekend's Bedtime for Big Show.
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On special assignment this
week, Daily Staffer discovered
a pub in downtown Ann Arbor
which features exclusive draft
beers and ales from London,
England. The Daily has been
granted an interview with
Betty Heuss, here at Ashley's.
DS So tell us, what makes
Ashley's uniquely different?
BH We've centered our draft
beer selection around the true
ales and stouts from Great
Britain, where they drink
primarily drafts instead of
bottled or canned beer.
DS ...So you're emulating
that British tradition...
BH Well, we wanted to
BH We've added nine new taps
to accomodate all of the English
draft beers available, including
Bass, Watney's, John Courage,
Burton Ale, Guinness Stout, and
Watney's Cream.
DS How did this come about?
BR I've spent a lot of time
researching English Ales and I
work in conjunction with dis-
tributors and their importers to
obtain Ashley's unsurpassed
selection. I'm really proud of the
fact that we can provide two of the
finest English ales available,
Whitbread Ale and Young's Bitter.
DS. Sounds exculsive!
BH We know of no other pub in
thetountry where you can find
New Pub opens on
South State Street
Still famous for exclusive brews,
Ashley's adds nine new taps
By Daily Staffer
Michigan Daily writer
ENGINEERING, COMPUTER SCIENCE, MATH,
BUSINESS, PHYSICAL & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
AND LIBERAL ARTS majors are being recruited. To be
considered for a Careers '90 invitation, send an updated resume
by December 20, 1989 to Careers '90. PO. Box 1852, New
Haven, CT 06508. (Indicate the conference(s) you'd like to attend).
Your interests and credentials will be carefully reviewed by our
experienced staff and compared to other seniors in your major
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