ARTS The Michigan Daily Thursday, October 18, 1990 Page 5 A Little Music put in context by Beth Colquitt While a good writer is careful not totake a quote out of context, this sense of discretion does not apply to music distributors. It is a tedious habit of the music industry to extract from popular musicals one romantic song, give it to some syrupy-voiced singer (yes, Barbara Streisand in- cluded) and release it to the public watered down and completely out of context. Poor "Send In The Clowns." Ex- tracted from its natural habitat and set adrift in a sea of easy-listening tunes, even placed on an equal level with "Memory," "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" and "All I Ask Of You," it is the only well-known fragment of one of Stephen Sond- heim's most delightful shows, A Lit- tle Night Music, which the Musical Theater Program has ambitiously de- cided to perform this weekend. "Send In The Clowns" is one of several poignant moments in a sweet, sophisticated romance, based on Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night, involving three mismatched couples weekending at a, country house in Sweden. It is a fan- tasy with enough reality to make it relevant and at times profound about relationships, as in the opening mu- sical number - "Love is a lecture on how to correct your mistakes..." The attitudes toward love range from Anne Egerman's childish "Think of how I adore you/Think of how much you love me..." to the maid Petra's worldly "There are mouths to be kissed/Before mouths to be fed/And there's many a tryst/And there's many a bed/To be sampled and seen in the meanwhile..." There are two metaphors that Sondheim uses to enhance the pas- toral quality of A Little Night Mu- sic. The first is his inclusion of a Greek-style chorus to narrate the story, a technique he has used several times in the past. Every musical number in A Little Night Music is a "variation on a waltz theme," says stage director Brent Wagner. "...it is the waltz - which features changing partners - that mirrors the lives of the people in this play as they change romantic partners throughout the course of the musical. There is something ethereal and dance-like about this magical weekend as these characters begin to understand them- selves and their relationships with the people they love." A Little Night Music was origi- nally released on Broadway in 1973, won 5 Tony Awards and the New York Drama Critic's Circle Award for Best Musical. The lyrics, Sond- heim's forte, are excellent, and the music is delicately beautiful; an op- portunity to see "Send In The Clowns" in its proper context as a bittersweet meditation on a mistimed love affair is priceless in itself. A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC is being performed at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater tonight through Sunday with evening per- formances at 8.00 p.m. and a Sun- day matinee at 2:00 p.m. Tickets at the League Ticket Office (764- 0450)from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00p. m. Monday through Friday for $12 and $9, with student seating available at $5 with I.D. New Times reflects these times by Mike Kolody set against a backdrop that oozes of volatility- the Vietnam War Era- New Times by Judlyne Lilly has created a situation of racial unrest that can best be described as ex- plosive. New times are ahead as soon as the curtain opens, and progress isn't easy, as the facade of '50s segregation slowly gives way. Today, as the issue of racism still looms large, Lilly's work is timely. The play is sure to stir dissension and controversy. Racism is an issue that many would like to forget, and has had an incredible social impact. "We're like dominoes," the character Sage comments, "When one black falls, they'll want the other one to fall too." The play is set in upstate New York in 1967 at a newly integrated women's college. Diane, a young black woman, takes the seemingly insignificant position of house- mother to a predominantly white dorm. Not without comment, she is the first Black to attain any kind of authority position at the school. She struggles with the students, the ad- ministration, and interestingly enough with a resentful black maid who, after being at the school 20 years, has never gotten a bit of atten- tion. To complicate things further, Diane's husband is away at war in Vietnam, having been drafted at a time where a disproportionate amount of Blacks were fighting a war for a predominantly white popu- lation. While New Times is certainly a realistic work very much rooted in historical fact of the '60's, Lilly adds additional dimensions to her theme See TIMES, page 7 Coffee, tea or theater? by Julie Komorn All the world's a stage, including coffee shops. Ann Arbor's newest theater troupe, The Mosaic Theatre Project, will perform this evening at the Espresso Royale Caffe on Main Street. Their first show Mosaic is an eclectic mix of music, comedy and drama written by the members themselves. "Each member is a writer and a performer on their own," explains locally-acclaimed director Rick Sperling. But instead of performing alone, the members decided to get together and create material as a group. Mosaic Theatre looks at a wide variety of themes, from hard-hitting to hilarious, through a combination of scenes, monologues and songs. The San Francisco poet/playwright/ performer Tanya Shaffer will perform part of her one woman show "Miss America's Daughter" which 'deals with women in popular society. The tnonologue shows an ex-Miss America's mother coaching her daughter on how to look and be perfect. It deals with issues of body image, violence and pop culture conformity. New York recording artist Dwight Peterson will perform songs such as "Math Rap" and "Ego Trip" along with a sketch on the struggles of the pressurized nine to five job. Another exciting component of Mosaic Theatre is the music/theater duo, Erin Kamler and Tanya Krohn. The pair's incredible talent and experience in writing, producing and directing eight professional shows makes it hard to believe they are high school students. Tonight they will perform a blues song they wrote titled "Sleepwalking Man," along with a sketch that delves into the mind of an indecisive soldier preparing to attack a village in Vietnam. In addition, Kamler and Krohn will perform a satirical musi- cal scene of a new age TV show that deals with crystals and healing. The show's blend of social commentary and personal stories provides a fresh look at the complex- ities of contemporary life. "It is an introduction of our material and what we have written" says Sperling. "And were interested in the re- sponse." Although there will be cof- fee galore at the cafd, patrons probably won't need the caffeine to keep them awake. Henrik (Hunter Foster) reacts to the seducing charms of the maid Petra (Kristen Behrendt) in A Little Night Music, playing tonight through Sunday at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater. I f The Michigan Daily - this is what college was meant to bell 1 I I I 1U MOSAIC will be performed at 8 p.m. tonight, and Thursday, Nov. 1I at The Espresso Royale Caffe, 214 S. Main St. Tickets are $3 students, $4 general admission. ltowe i25 5 25 =t SU C m4I cdl a C I e$ $s I IlIl Ip I I Save the LP! . Daily Arts 'Marriage: The First Two Years" Fr. Michael Ellias, Pastor of St. Elias Orthodox Church, Sylvania, Ohio Michigan Union - Room 2209 Thursday, October 18 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm 301 av SWEET iv Candy S. State o 761-4358 LEST DAY- OCTOBER 20 HE DOESN'T WRITE FOR ARTS. You can. Call 763-0379. -PIP -1 * I r ( ' ii-mri 1i Hl Flowers and Cards Hallmark Cards " Recycled Paper Product zals spons~ored(1by The Council of m Eastern Orthodox Churches of Metropolitan Detroit t " Russel Stover Candies I DAILY CLASSIFIEDS I ... matters. You've missed your period and it's all you can think about. You just want to know. The FIRST RESPONSES Pregnancy Test is here to help. With the FIRST RESPONSE® Pregnancy Test, you can find out if you're pregnant in five minutes any time of the day-even on the first day of your missed period. Idnko's the copy center 490. It's 99% accurate in laboratory testing and it's easy to use. If you have any questions, call us toll-free at 1-800-367-6022. I I , i