Is 'Heidi' fulfills its potential By MELISSA ROSE BERNARDO Despite the fact that it won a Pulitzer prize, Wendy Wasserstein's "The Heidi Chronicles" is a poorly- written play. Not the dialogue, mind you - Wasserstein's prose bubbles The Heidi Chronicles Trueblood Theatre March 31, 1994 over with just the right combination of sarcasm, wit and intuition to be both humorous and heartfelt, emo- tional and provocative. But the char- acters are for the most part incom- plete in their creation, and the scenes (when put together) choppy in their construction. Thus the need for sterling perfor- mances and facile direction. Fortu- nately, the University Players, guided by John Neville-Andrews, have just that. With polished performances and a few alterations by Neville-Andrews, this production (at the Trueblood through April 10) has given this play a face lift, and delighted audiences in the process. The story revolves around Heidi Holland (Stephanie Fybel), an art his- torian who prefers the label "human- ist" to the word "feminist." While giving a lecture, Heidi's life flashes back to various stages of her life. The play progresses forward (through 24 years) until we see Heidi moved in to her new apartment, sans furniture - save for a crib, which holds the baby she has adopted. Each scene is smoothly written, but the flashback structure makes for a patchy final product. What Neville- Andrews has done amounts to a much- needed cut-and-paste job. He has set the entire play in Heidi's apartment - capitalizing on the concept of moving being an emotional and nos- talgic experience - bringing the memories into the present, rather than delving into the past as Wasserstein's script dictates. The result is smooth and clean, and allows the audience the luxury of a complete emotional experience. Solid performances compensate for the poorly-drawn characters. Stephanie Fybel is both endearing and convincing as Heidi. Heidi is "stranded," as she calls herself in the play - and Wasserstein has not pro- vided for her a conceivable solution. Fybel gives everything she has to the role, trying desperately to fill the void in Heidi's soul and in Heidi's charac- ter. Fybel has matured considerably throughout the years, and that is vis- ible in her performance of Heidi. Paul Molnar does well as Scoop, and shows that underneath his obnox- iousness, yes, he does have a heart (and a deeply feeling one at that). Danny Gurwin fits quite well the role of Peter, the gay pediatrician. It would be hard to fail with Peter, seeing that his is the only well-drawn character, but Gurwin capitalized on the dra- matic potential of the role. His rage over the illness plaguing his friends comes across as genuine (though throwing a doll against a wall is a bit much), and his pain searing. The supporting cast is quite strong. Jennifer Davis is a fine Susan, but she seems too eager to milk the comedy inherent in the role. Heather Dilly as Debbie, the feminist protester draped in black and silver and clutching a megaphone- is appropriately "pa- ternal" and "caustic," and her "up and positive" Denise proves that Dilly as an actor is up and coming. It seems that John Neville- Andrews has finally found his place is Stephanie Fybel plays a feminist art historian in "The Heidi Chronicles," at the Trueblood Theatre through April 10. * with this production. His two previ- ous University shows - "Trelawny of the 'Wells"' and "Butterfingers Angel" - suffered from too much space and too little guidance. How- ever, he has come home to the Trueblood with "Heidi." Lighting is a welcome aid to Neville-Andrews' memory structure, and set pieces are handled relatively well considering the confinements of the Trueblood. Apart from two off- stage crashes, a big delayed entrance by Heidi and some line-blunders, the evening ran smoothly. As Heidi says at a few points in the play, "I believe that all people deserve to fulfill their potential." So does "The Heidi Chronicles," and thanks to the cast and Neville- Andrews, it certainly has. THE HEIDI CHRONICLES will 4 play tonight through April 10 at the. Trueblood Theatre, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. All performances - are sold out. Please note: A 7p.m. . performance has been added on Sunday April 10. Tickets are $10 ($6 students). Call 764-0450. A 'Havoc' cries on behalf of women Webern's fires still burning By NICOLE BAKER Remember Rosie the Riviter? Al- though that was the predominant im- age of women's involvement in World War II, "Cry Havoc" portrays the invovement of women on the front, not the homefront. Basement Arts presents "Cry Havoc" this weekend in the Arena Theatre. "Cry Havoc" is about a di- verse and dynamic group of female nurses during the battle of Bataan in the Philippines, telling the story of the war from a female perspective. Together, they learn and grow as they overcome the obstacles that they encounter, which includes discover- ing that one of them is a spy who has been sending information to the Japa- nese. The final obstacle they face is capture by a Japanese troop. DirectorTerry Snowday stated that the play intrigued him from the be- ginning because it "lends a unique voice to war." "It illuminates the role women play and have always played" he said. Snowday continued, "the fall of the Bataan and the Philippines is also a story that has not been told a lot. The play is fairly accurate in following what happened in the Philippines." The occupation of the Philippines by the Japanese, and the fall ofBataan occurred in 1942, and was one of the few military failures for the US. in World War II. "Cry Havoc" was writ- ten a year latter in 1943, and was originally performed before the war ended and the Philippines were taken back. The timing of the play's origi- nal production probably had an im- pact on the politics surrounding Bataan and the decision to retake the Philippines. Snowday claims that 50 years af- ter the war, in a lot of ways things haven't changed very much. "Some of the issues touched on (during the play), are the same as ones facing the military today - issues like homophobia, and sexual isolation." He continued, "we focused on the bunkbed, table and chairs, incorpo- rating the room itself' for the set. The walls, hidden behind the curtain are part of the old high school, and were used to create the bunkhouse. Speaking on his first production at the University, Snowday said, "It's funny, but I'm not nervous, I have a lot of confidence in the cast and tech- nical staff. They have worked very hard toward performance." Hopefully "Cry Havoc" will en- tertain as well as enlighten. CRY HA VOC plays through April 2 at the Arena Theatre (1501 Frieze), Fridays at 5 p.m. and Saturdays at 2p.m. Admission is free. READ A R TS DAILY, By TOM ERLEWINE For various reasons, many com- posers never receive their proper credit, often getting shortchanged by mainstream musicologists. Anton Webern is one of these composers. With this weekend's multimedia pro- duction "Anton Webern - Further Fires," longtime Ann Arbor resident and local musical historian Arwulf Arwulf is attempting to present Webern's music in a logical forum so listeners can appreciate his impor- tance. "He's one of the very first people in the 20th Century to come up with music that is totally unique," explained Arwulf, "even though it was based in earlier forms. You could follow the tradition back through Arnold Schoenberg and then back to Gustav Mahler. You can stop at Wagner for a second and then you get back to Beethoven then back to Johann Sebastian Bach. "But it even goes back further than that; it goes back to the 15th Century church modes. We take the progression back as far as we can and we follow as close to the present as close as we can through people like Karlheinz Stockhausen, Anthony Braxton and Roscoe Mitchell, mod- ern jazz musicians. It's a continuum, that's the whole point of this thing." Webern's music has often been criticized as being unapproachable, but Arwulf believes that criticism is 'What we're here to do is to promote all of this music and literature and also to acquaint people with music that's been passed by because it's not the same kind of a popular formula that people are accustomed to.' -Arwulf Arwulf, on the music of Anton Webern unfair. "Further Fires" will be very accessible for listeners who are unfa- miliar with contemporary compos- ers. "I think most people would be surprised after hearing about him, actually hearing his music people would be surprised at how cool it is," Arwulf explained. "He wrote little musical haikus; they're like little ice sculptures. They're really beautiful and I've tried to focus on that. I'm playing other musical examples by people who are brightly really challenging but exciting and fun; there's nothing in here that's going to be unpleasant. What we're here to do is to promote all of this music and literature and also to ac- quaint people with music that's been passed by because it's not the same. kind of a popular formula that people are accustomed to." Since Webern's body of work is relatively small and he was accidently killed at the end of World War II, he; has been somewhat ignored by main- stream listeners, even though they, have unknowingly assimilated his style into their various styles of mu- sic. "The mainstream ironically draws from this musical tradition," explained Arwulf. "All of the sci-fi movies from the 1950s - a lot of that stuff if you just don't watch the movie, ifyoujust have the soundtrack and listen to the, music, they're using a lot of this kind.- of music because it's strange-sound- ing to Western ears. But it's really sad because that's the way it's treated." Fortunately, a production liken "Further Fires" can help restore Webern to his proper place in the history of music. ANTON WEBERN - FURTHER FIRES will be presented at the Performance Network tonight and Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 and $7 for students. After the performance at 11 p.m. there will be a free showing of several modemn jazz videos, featuring Ornette Coleman and Sun Ra. University of Michigan School of Music Thursday-Sunday, March 31-April 3 and April 7-10 The Heidi Chronicles by Wendy Wasserstein; Theatre & Drama Production Tickets: $10, students $6 (764-0450) Trueblood Theatre; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m. Friday, April 1 Creative Arts Orchestra Ed Sarath, director Eclectic improvised music featuring diverse instrumentation Rackham Auditorium, 8 p.m., free The Bear Opera Workshop production of William Walton's one-act opera Joshua Major, director; Mutsumi Moteki, music director McIntosh Theatre, 5 p.m., free An Evening of Opera Excerpts The Opera Workshop presents selections from operas by Barber, Berlioz, Bernstein, Floyd, Menotti, Mozart, Verdi, and others McIntosh Theatre, 8 p.m., free Tuesday, April 5 Early Music Ensemble Edward Parmentier, director Schutz's Musikalische Exequien; Byrd's Justorum Animae; instrumental chamber works by Handel and Bach Blanche Anderson Moore Hall, School of Music, 8 p.m., free Beethoven's Ninth Symphony Ricardo Averbach, conductor; Lorna Haywood, Rosemary Russell, Mark Beudert, and Leslie Guinn, soloists; Rackham Symphony Chorus, Vanguard Voices, and Campus Symphony Orchestra Hill Auditorium, 8 p.m., free Wednesday, April 6 Campus Orchestra Chamber Ensembles , First there was Major League. 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