RTS 0 'Fella' finally becomes classic By JASON CARROLL AND MELISSA ROSE BERNARDO Unlike Frank Loesser's classic "Guys and Dolls," "The Most Happy The Most Happy Fella Power Center April 14, 1994 Fella" is not a tight, comic master- piece; "Fella" is that and more. In addition to its stellar score, it remains one of the first all-sung musicals (first produced in 1956) and it contains many controversial themes. In this production, playing through Sunday at the Power Center, the Musical The- atre Department recognizes "Fella"'s potential, and makes a veritable clas- sic out of it. Tony Esposito (Joshua Funk), a 'vinter, spots pretty young "Rosabella" (Erin Dilly) in a San Francisco diner, where she waits on him. Too nervous to approach her, he leaves his tie pin ,and a note, written in his broken En- glish. Enchanted by his "mush note," Rosabella begins to correspond with him through the mail. When she re- quests a icture of Tony, he is ashamed of his age and his appearance, and instead sends a photo of Joe (Steve Goebel), his young, handsome fore- man. When Rosabella arrives for her wedding, she believes Joe to be Tony. When she discovers the truth, she is horrified, but marries Tony out of pity. In her vulnerable condition, Rosabella runs to Joe for comfort. Later, she falls in love with Tony, and realizes his good qualities. Unfortu- nately, she discovers she is pregnant. You can imagine how Tony ultimately reacts, being the "most happy fella in the whole Napa Valley." Solid performances carry the plot through its many twists and turns. Erin Dilly, fresh from the title role in "Major Barbara," proves her versatil- ity as Rosabella. She brims with vigor and charm in her musical numbers ("Somebody, Somewhere" and "Happy to Make Your Acquain- tance"), and makes believable Rosabella's change of heart. Joshua Funk portrays the elderly Tony so well that one can almost overlook his lack of age makeup. (He looks about 25, with prematurely gray hair, but throws in facial exercises to compensate.) He carries off the songs remarkably well - especially his duets with Dilly - and should be commended for his complete emo- tional involvement in the role. And his Italian isn't too bad either. Kate Guyton does well as Rosabella's friend Cleo. Her south- ern drawl adds to the comic aspect of the role. Steve Goebel is a fine Joe, though for propriety's sake he should avoid the hand-on-the-belt-buckle pose (which doesn't always look like a hand on a belt buckle). John Halmi, Adam Hunter and Marc Kessler stole scenes and charmed audiences as Pasquale, Ciccio and Giuseppe, the charismatic Italian trio. Nephelie Andonyadis' sets were minimalist (i.e. exposed stage lights, signs replacing whole buildings) yet appropriate. With a 43-member cast - which is at times on stage in its entirety - elaborate scenery would only have hindered their interactions. Realistic lighting complemented and balanced the surrealist set. Geoff Kort designed some beau- tiful panoramic sunsets, though his party lights were a bit distracting in their intensity. Debra Draper's choreography proved that her "Brigadoon" work was not a fluke. She captured the Frank Loesser trademark (big arms 0 Kate Guyton and Erin Dilly are fabulous in "The Most Happy Fella," playing at the Power Center through Sunday. waving in the air), and the dancers (especially the men) handled it equally well. The ballet sequence ("Young People") was especially impressive. Just as Rosabella learns to look beyond Tony's surface, so will the audience learn to look beneath the surface of this insipid and syrupy mu- sical and see the true heart behind it. THE MOST HAPPY FELLA plays through Sunday at the Power Center; tonight and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. Tickets are $14 -$6 at the League Ticket Office. Call 764-0450. .ter.....,.. ... .. ... .., .. .. .. _i a.:...v .......:..,... ... I I , Brian Dewan makes his own instrument, success . ..r. By TOM ERLEWINE Brian Dewan has been called many things but then again he is a man of many talents. He designed the album covers of They Might BeGiants' "Lin- coln" and David Byrne's "Uh-Oh" and has been a well-known furniture craftsman in New York for a number of years. Now, he is gaining some deserved attention as a musician with his debut album, "Tells the Story." "Tells the Story" is not an easy record to classify, let alone describe. Dewan performs the album on an electric zither he built himself, along with a couple of organs. The resulting sound is distinctly otherworldly - the swirling, distorted zither truly sounds like nothing else. Dewan crafted the electric zither after pur- chasing an old, battered zither. "I started making songs for that," he recalled, "and playing out with it with a little contact mike on it and putting it into a fuzzbox . But the bass didn't come out of it so good and it would feedback at really low vol- umes with the fuzzbox. Later I got this solid body electric one which is based on the old one I played that is about a hundred years old, all cracked up and filthy. It ended up being a good instrument for accompanying sing- ing because it has a full range - it has about a five octave range. And then I started playing it through a Leslie cabinet, rotating speakers." When the distortion is cranked, the zither sounds more lethal than the heaviest guitar. "It's fun to play," he admitted. "I really like what happens to the sound through the frying be- cause it's a really tactile kind of sound and when you dampen or scrape the strings you get all these crazy har- monics. It's a, thick, powerful sound." A few songs, like the demented blues-stomp "99 Cops," prominently feature the distorted zither, but most of the album was recorded without the fuzzbox and the results are no less striking. Dewan's songs are not pop songs in any sense; they are struc- tured like traditional folk songs from all sorts of countries. Not coinciden- tally, he finds and collects forgotten traditional songs from a variety of sources. Dewan frequently performs them in concerts and the audiences often mistake them for original num- bers. Dewan plans to have an album of traditional songs out by the end of the year and if "Tells the Story" is any indication, it will be a must-hear. "Tells the Story" sounds like no other record released recently. Dewan is an urban-folk artist in a traditional sense and his stories are alternately funny and disturbing. A record this singular would be impressive from any artist; coming from a debut artist, it is all the more impressive. Brian Dewan is a man of many talents, and his latest album proves it. BRIAN DEWAN will open for his good friends They Might Be Giants at Hill Auditorium this Saturday at 8p.m. Tickets are $15.50 & $18.50. DI! Air atr - - 20 O FF Comedy Company waddles into 'Duck' this weekend By NICOLE BAKER Want something a little different this weekend? Try "Duck," Comedy Company's spring show In a break from the recent trends in UAC's Comedy Company previous "big shows," this spring's big show tries to take away the offensiveness and bring their humor back to the audience, rather than the cutting edge. As usual the show will be a collec- tion of different comedy sketches, written by students, but this time they are going about it differently. If noth- ing else it should be interesting to see just what is so different. Taking the 60 some odd sketches that the staff produced, the head writ- ers, director and producers narrowed it down to the 15 sketches that are in the show. Besides the traditional sketches, this term's big show will involve the use of high technology as they incor- porate video clips into their format. The video clips will be parodies on commercials and movie trailers. Dave Dayen, director and previ- ous head writer, said that "comedy is about intelligence, learning and mak- ing a connection with the audience." Continuing, he stated that the "au- dience should get a sense of eaves- dropping on the scene." "(We wanted to) make the show as naturalistic and realistic as possible, in terms of both the characters and the settings, so that the audience focuses on the comedy going on on stage." The set itself will be white and black, allowing it to be utilitarian. Co-head Writer Eli Neilburger stated that each of the writers on the staff "have their own style, and if you look closely enough you should be I, qkT~HA R weave SALON relaxers spiral perms fu wave nouveau custon 312 Thompson St. (near corner of Liberty braid haircuts ll nail service n hairstyling y) 995-5733 e able to discern the different styles." "About the only things the sketches have in common is that they are funny," stated Dayen. "They are dis- tinctly diverse with a broad appeal, because they come from a writing staff not one mind. What they are striving for is originality." He continued, saying that when writing he tried to write "comedy above the head of the goyim." Jay Rhee, another co-head writer, stated that his style of comedy was "about real life situations, pointing out the absurd things." In order to make the show more accessible to the audience, they "went out into the street, and did sort of Letterman, man on the street inter- views - to add a Michigan flavor," stated Dayen. In another break from tradition, they decided not to go with the usual incorporation of "big show" in the show's title, so they named it "Duck," and if you want to know what that means you have to go see the show. Comedy Company isn't letting any- one outside the company know, not even reporters. All Dayen would say is that "Duck is a noun and a verb, and it is also a warning. When you see it coming DUCK." The question is will "Duck" be all its quacked up to be. COMEDY COMPANY'S "DUCK" plays tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m. at Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre. Tickets are $5. For more information call 763-1107. 0 9 Tony and Rosabella got married. Then they fell in love. When you sell your textbooks to Ulrich's Bookstore between April 18th and May 1 st you'll receive cash AND a coupon good for 1 FREE Subway 6-inch sandwich* compliments of Ulrich's Bookstore. }; 4u dy;., -"::i""." .;{{:: 0 I I