ARTS The Michigan Daily Thursday, November 21, 1991 Page 5 Diving for the - Pear Seattle band is' glad to be 'Alive' by Scott Sterling Comedy Company's lights is Big Big Fun by Tami Pollak L ANSING - It was one of the first nights of the Red Hot Chili Peppers tour, and the opening band Pearl Jam, Seattle's latest export - was starting to work magic. As the band roared into the anthemic "Alive," from its debut - album, Ten, Vedder flung his tiny body into the crowd, swimming across the ocean of hands beneath him. Before the show was over, he had scaled the balcony, catwalking along the edge. After the show, people were ex- citedly talking about what they had just witnessed. There was the same buzz in the air that I'd imagine one would feel after seeing U2 for the first time back in a pub in Ireland. Vedder, along with guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready, bassist Jeff Ament, and new drum- mer Dave Abbruzzese, created a feeling of intimacy one rarely expe- riences at a concert. There was a sense that this was something spe- cial. I got the same feeling talking to Vedder, who radiated a genuine warmth that is literally hypnotiz- ing. "I love this music," he said. "The fact is that by the end of the songs, and even a lot of times during the beginning, I'm, like, fully hyp- notized. This music has hypnotized me right from the start, when I first got this tape from Seattle through my friend Jack (Irons, former Red Hot Chili Pepper and currently of Eleven) that was nothing but the music. There was something about it where I could lose myself." After listening to the instru- This time, they're not only making jokes, they're making a statement. Just when you thought Comedy Company's big shows couldn't get much bigger, this season's presentation, bright lights Big Show, could top them all. "How big is it?" asked veteran cast member Tom Cohen. "It's just BIG - but it's not size that counts, it's what you do with it." What this year's nine member cast does with it is take a heaping spoon- ful of silly shtick - a matrimony between a man and his ice cream cone ("I love rocky road." "Oh yeah? Then why don't you marry it?") - and stir it amongst some refreshing social satire -a Supreme Court hearing for the judges' new barber ("...and, if you don't mind me asking, sir, have you ever broken one of those unbreakable combs?") Head writer Scott Arciniegas said there was a big push amongst the writing staff to bring in some new types of material, "although we didn't let it get completely partisan." Perhaps the most poignant "political" jab comes in a skit called the "United States of Bob" - in which an invasion of the Freemont's home parallels Columbus' tromp over the new land, in which the "Native Bobs," as politically correct lingo would have it, are forced to live in their own bathroom. "Of course, you'll have very low property taxes," Bob, played by company newcomer Andrew Saks, quips. While most of the sketches have found legitimate endings, a problem with most sketch formats, what is still noticeably missing from the show are decent women's roles. First time Comedy Companiers Amy Cook and Roxy Font join veteran Deborah Grayson in playing some very small, and stereotypical, characters. Font plays a child more than once, Cook is thrust into a two-line mom stint and Grayson, whose talent shines through as a deranged math teacher, also finds herself stifled in small walk-ons. Although the three women seize the spotlight as 1-900 phone sex stars who donate all proceeds to anti-pornography and pro-choice organizations, Cohen, who wrote five of the sketches along with Matt Price, admits that the women's roles are weak. "Men write more sketches, maybe that's part of it," Cohen said. "When I write, I write what I relate to ... I do try to write some gender unspecific character - senators, store clerks - but there's not as much you can do with a character when you don't know if it's going to be a man or a woman." Equality aside, director Mike flieden and co-producers Joshua Berg and Valerie Edelman, along with a strong cast, have put together a funny show, a substantial show and, as Blieden said in rehearsal remarks to his cast, "a big, big show." BRIGHT LIGHTS BIG SHOW begins tonight at 8 p.m. in the Lydia Men- delssohn Theater and runs through Saturday. Tickets are $3.50 tonight, $5 for Friday and Saturday, and are available at the door or in advance at the Michigan Union Ticket Office. Call 763-TKTS for more info. Pearl Jam is aloof and cool and totally with it, man. They are alive, and they are (from left to right) Stone Gossard, Eddie Vedder (front), Mike McCready (back), Jeff Ament, and Dave Assruzzese. Jam on, dudes. mental jams by Gossard and Ament on that tape, Vedder sent it back with words, as a.group of complete songs. One of these songs was "Alive," a piece which obviously means a lot to Vedder and the band. "When we're playing that song, watching all the people with their arms raised, singing the words back to you, seeing what it means to them, is really intense," he said. "Even for me, the song has so many different interpretations. Some- times life can be very much a burden, even though I'm enjoying it right now. In all honesty, I realized this the other night standing on the side of the stage. I'd just been in the crowd, stage-diving during the Pep- pers, and now I was back on the side of the stage, like two feet away from Flea as he sang background vo- cals, and I was thinkin', 'I'm the fucking luckiest man alive.' Fifty shows with these guys, and I get to play basketball with them and stuff. What a rush, you know?" But Vedder also admitted that the song, like real life, has a dark side. "The fact is that in a lot of these cities, I see the shittiest things," he said. "In Portland, we saw a shoot- ing right before we went on. What happened was, before our shows, I lock myself in the back of the equipment van to warm up. While I'm in there, these shots rang, three shots. I press myself to the floor, and I could hear this guy screaming for help. When they finally let me out, a crowd had gathered around this guy whose leg is bleeding. Earlier, I also saw this woman get assaulted by this sort of gang ... So I'm thinking, 'Jesus Christ, now I'm supposed to go onstage and sing about being happy to be alive ... you know, I wasn't happy. Why is life to some people such an invaluable thing?" Vedder's voice drifted downward, as he seemed to be pon- dering the answer to his own ques- tion. "Life is such a fucking amazing thing," Vedder said, "and we can do so much with it if our heads are in the right places." He then asked if I'd read the Pearl Jam feature in Rolling Stone. In the article, the re- porter recalls Vedder's attempt to climb outside of the guard rail of Seattle's famed SkyNeedle, a to- wering skyscraper. The terrified reporter begged him not to after she realized he was serious. "I was trying to prove the point about life, getting the most out of it, and what an intense experience it would be," Vedder said. "I was to- tally confidznt that I could do it." Vedder's eyes glowed with excite- ment as he recalled the scenario "But the night before we went on tour, me and one of the guys that works with us went back up there," he continued. "There were a few other people around, but not many. The cables that she (the reporter) mentions pull apart about six inches. I wasn't sure I could actu- ally get out there, but I really wanted to. It was really windy, but that was it. It was do or die. So I went for it. I totally busted out on these beams... See JAM, Page 7 Evita's got to express herself by Sue Uselmann From the moment that it was first introduced as a cast album years ago, Andrew Lloyd Webber's and Tim Rice's Evita was a success. The duo's previous hit, Jesus Christ Superstar, prompted the well- known Hal Prince to take the musi- cal over as a project and introduce it to the London stage. Evita was, of course, a smashing success, even be- fore it came to Broadway to become a critically acclaimed Tony-award winner. Now Evita comes to the Power Center, courtesy of UAC and MUSKET. Evita is a powerful musical which chronicles the life and the dy- namic personality of Eva Duarte (Ellen Hoffman), a poor woman in Argentina who rises to power and captivates many people along the way. Born a bastard child, she takes money from the rich and gives to the poor. Working in opposition to the military as well as the aristocracy, Evita then finds her support in the masses, which thrive on her political prowess, despite the presence of fel- low power-mongers Che (Danny Gurwin) and Juan Peron (Steve Goebel). Producer Jason Hackner calls the show "the story of a woman's need for attention." It should come as no surprise, then, that Madonna plays the key role in the movie version, which is now being filmed. The producers of Evita, Hackner and David Gould, as well as director Matthew Rego, chose the musical for its challenges. Like MUSKET's production of Cabaret last year, "Evita is incredibly demanding," Hackner says. Not only does the show call for a full pit orchestra, but, "The entire performance is song. There is no dialogue in Evita ... Its large cast calls for very de- manding roles," continues Hackner. For Hackner, an experienced actor with MUSKET, Evita is an impor- tant choice for a University produc- tion. "It is important that we do show geared toward the University," Hackner says. "That is, that we ap- peal to and have something to say to the (University audience), especially in an age where support of the arts is definitely declining." Hackner furthermore believes that the University production has the ability to accomplish more than pre- vious performances. "We're trying out new concepts, insofar as we've taken a slightly different approach by focusing more on the realism of the characters and the media-prone poli- tics, and making a definite correla- tion with our country today," Hackner says. -Hackner is excited about the per- formance and its immediate popular- ity at the ticket counter. He calls the performance full of "surprises," as a result of the "incredible ensemble - everyone works well together." "All biases aside," he declares, "I think we will see some of the best perfor- mances yet." EVITA runs tonight through Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Power Center. Tickets are $6.50, $5.50 for students. Call 763-TKTS for more info. CHANNEL Z Ooooh, those sideburns! Yup, we're talking about Beverly Hills, 90210 (9 p.m. Fox, Channel 50 Detroit, Channel 36 Toledo). Tonight is the exciting "Fatal Attraction" episode. Emily tries to get back at drug-crazed Brandon for dumping her. And speaking of that raunchy Fox network, it's safe to watch The Simpsons tonight (8 p.m.) - Michael Jackson will not be de- stroying other people's property (or playing with his own). This evening's guest is Aerosmith. 5TH AVE. AT UBERTY 7614700 $3 00 DAILYSHOWS BEFORE 60P $3,00 "D AO E ALDAY TUJESDAY' Pt~n STUDENT WITh 1D.13.50 BILLY BATHGATE (R) MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO (R) COUPON COMBO! Present this coupon when -'purchasing a large popcorn and receive one ree large drink Expires 11/28/91 " Budget airfares anywhere.