w Page 12--The Michigan Dlaily-Monday, April 19,1993
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An - .I4
'Bit an fKrhnan
by Melissa Rose Bernardo
Since no one anywhere near Broad-
way is making an effort to resuscitate
the American musical theater, Ann
Arbor's own are doing their part. Com-.
poser David Kirshenbaum is one of
many local musical theater composers
using Ann Arbor as a stepping stone to
the Great White Way. In his upcoming
cabaret concert, "Bits and Pieces," we
areallowedaglimpse into the repertoire
of the budding composer.
"The show isn't quite a fully-fin-
ished performance, but it's more than
just a reading of the songs,"
Kirshenbaum said. The show consists
of about 20 of Kirshenbaum's original
songs, roughly halfof which came from
his 1992 "Better All the Time," a full-
length musical which met with great
suceess in Ann-Arbor. The other half are
songs Kirshenbaum has been working
on since then, originally intended to be
a Basement Arts musical, but which
wound up getting canceled.
"So I had all these songs and really
nothing to do with them," Kirshenbaum
said. "I was kind of depressed, and was
stumbling blindly around campus the
day after we canceled the project, and
Jason Hackner, a good friend of mine,
ran into me, and I told him what hap-
pened. He literally sort of dragged me
by hand to the scheduling office in the
Union and booked this room for this
day." Performing Kirshenbaum's songs
Monday evening will be about 25
people, most whom are from the Musi-
cal Theater department.
Kirshenbaum came to the Univer-
sity as a musical theater major. "But
fortunately for my chances at a career
and also fortunately for the rest of the'
world I quickly switched out after my
first semester," Kirshenbaum laughed.
"I've really always wanted to directand
write my own musicals." He is now in
the Bachelor's of Musical Arts (BMA)
program, "a sort of a construct-your-
own-major program within the School
of Music," as he called it.
'I would love to make a
difference; l'd love to
write something really
meaningful and
profound, but I'd also
like to write stuff that
makes people happy ...'
-David Kirshenbaum
Kirshenbaum pointed to Broadway
composer Larry Grossman ("Snoopy,"
the upcoming "Paper Moon") as an
influence. "While I was growing up,
he'd invite me to rehearsals; I'd go to
the cast album recording sessions; I'd
be there when the commercial was shot
for TV, and go to the rehearsals for the
Tony Awards ... So I was always ex-
posed to the whole business," he said.
Kirshenbaumalsonamed composer
William Finn ("Falsettos") as anotable
influence, "almost to the point of thiev-
ery." He said, "Imethim andI'm friends
with him because I directed a produc-
tion of 'Falsettos' back in high school
...Finn thought it was the best produc-
tion of the show that he'd seen aside
from the (Tony-winning) James Lapine
version."
At this point, Kirshenbaum is in the
midst of trying to pin down his own
distinctstyle. "I mostly writea very sort
of pop '80s and '90s pop musical the-
ater style, and the people writing in that
vein areStephen Schwartz ("Godspell,"
"The Baker's Wife"), Alan Menken (of
Disney fame), Richard Maltby Jr. and
David Shire ("Starting Here, Starting
Now"). These are the people who I'm
probably in a way closest to,"
Kirshenbaum explained.
So where do Kirshenbaum's ambi-
tionslie? "I wouldlove to make adiffer-
ence; I'd love to write something really
meaningful and profound, but I'd also
like to write stuff that makes people
happy and gives them some hummable
tunes and things to sing in a shower and
tap their toesalong with," Kirshenbaum
said.
Of course, today it is incredibly dif-
ficult for a new composer to break into
the New York musical theater scene,
simply because so few producers are
willing to take chances on unknown
talent. (This explains the current trend
of Broadway revivals rather than origi-
nalmusicals.) "People say, 'You've got
to get to New York and save Broadway,
David.' But even if I'm successful to
some degree," Kirshenbaum stressed,
"No one person can do this alone."Until
then, Kirshenbaum is content working
with his old cohorts, performing his
songs and just having a good time to-
gether.
BITS AND PIECES, A CABARET
CONCERT will be performed tonight
at 9 p.m. in the Pendelton Room in
the Michigan Union. Admission is
free, but donations will be accepted
for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights
Aids.
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Hey Wolverines! 25
Dinosaur Jr. managed to floor the masses, but without much effort.
DinosaurJr, floors ma sse~s
by Andy Dolan
Sometime between last year's "Whatever's Cool With Me" mini-tour (which
didn't reach Detroit)and this tour, Dinosaur Jr.'s J. Mascis must have learned that
he can floor his worshipping masses with his emotionally drenched guitar solos
without giving it a second thought. Whether he was playing the older, wonderfully
dirty tunes ("Budge", "Little Furry Things,") or the more recent, catchiermaterial
* , ("Start Choppin"', "'The Wagon"), he
managed to draw the crowd in so effort-
Dinosaur Jr. lessly it was a wonder that he even
St Andrew's Hall bothered getting out of bed to do it.
April 7, 1993 But we, the worshipping masses,
will let him get away with it, this time
and every time. We really have no other choice, until someone else comes along
with a song whose quiet jadedness we can relate to more than Green Mind's
"Thumb," ("There never really is a good time / There's always nothing much to
say ...") or someone else lays down a guitar solo that even comes close to the
brilliant sloppiness of those of Mr. Mascis.
Until then, we'll have to live with disappointingly short, 12-song, one hour
sets, and deal with missing out on some of our old Dinosaur favorites, like "Freak
Scene" and "Whatever's Cool With Me," which were conspicuously absent from
the set. He did find time to crunch out charged versions of "Out There" and
"Drawerings," and encored with his new instrumental version of "They Always
Come," from the splendid "Bug" record. But the highlight of the show had to be
the incredible rendition of "Thumb," which gets my vote for one of the saddest
songs ever.
During each of its 10 or 20 guitar solos, it was as if J. Mascis was battling that
feeling of silent helplessness for every one of us, using only his guitar as weapon,
cutting through the silence like an axe. But he didn'twin the battle for us. Instead,
hewalkedoffthestage insilence, leaving usto finish itforourselves. "Sorry, kids,"
you could imagine him saying as he plodded away after his first and only encore.
"I'm tired. This is all I can give you tonight." He knows we won't complain. He
knows we'll all be back next time, too, because we need songs like "The Wagon"
and "Get Me" to take all of our screwy emotions and roll them into one gut-
twisting, throat-lumping guitar solo. J. Mascis is the only one that can do it right,
so we'll take whatever he gives us, every time.
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