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RTS
The sound of Philadelphia
By BRIAN WISE
If asked to say the first thing that
"comes to mind with the mention of
1984, typical answers may include,
"Ronald Reagan," or "Tigers win the
World Series," or "E.T.," or perhaps,
"That novel by George Orwell." In
terms of musical significance, this
was the last time Ann Arbor got to
hear one of the world's great orches-
tras whose home lies in Philadelphia,
:PA. That is, until tonight.
As the resident orchestra for the
annual May Festival for nearly half a
century (from 1936 until 1984), the
. (Philadelphia Orchestra has given Ann
Arborites 266 opportunities to hear
its rich, dynamic and robust sound.
The annual visits largely coincided
with the legendary career of Eugene
Ormandy, who served as conductor
from 1936 until 1980. Once leader-
ship was turned over to the Italian
conductor, Riccardo Muti, Ormandy
continued to serve as Conductor Lau-
'reate until his death in 1985. After a
10-year absence, the orchestra will
return as part of a week-long tour of
the United States under its new music
director, Wolfgang Sawallisch.
Sawallisch's appointment to the
Philadelphia began in 1993, upon the
completion of a 21-year tenure as
music director of the Bavarian State
'Exit to Ede
Opera in Munich. He had previously
made several highly acclaimed guest
appearances with the orchestra, be-
ginning in 1966. Famous for his strong
interpretations of romantic repertoire,
like his predecessors, he is also an
advocate of contemporary music. This
combined sense of renewal and re-
spect for the grand tradition has earned
him plenty of adulation, including
being named "Conductor of the Year"
by "Musical America."
Tuesday night's performance at
Hill Auditorium will feature
Sawallisch's strong suit - three
pieces in the German romantic tradi-
tion. The program will include
Schumann's Second Symphony,
Brahms' Variations on a Theme by
Haydn, and the Strauss Oboe Con-
certo, featuring principal oboist Ri-
chard Woodhams.
Having held the position of prin-
cipal oboe since 1977, Woodhams
has an interesting, quasi-autobio-
graphical connection to the Strauss
Concerto. Richard Strauss was living
in Germany at the end of World War
II, still continuing to compose at a
prolific rate at the age of 81. In late
1945, he was approached by a young
American G.L. - a Philadelphian and
oboist named John de Lancie. In short,
he suggested to Strauss that he com-
pose an oboe concerto, given the
instrument's prominence throughout
his work. Two days later, the piece
began to take shape (although the
original reply by the reclusive com-
poser was simply "NO").
De Lancie eventually performed
the Concerto in 1964 as principal obo-
ist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. En-
ter Richard Woodhams, who subse-
quently was a student of de Lancie at
the Curtis Institute of Music, and now
30 years later is performing and record-
ing the work (for EMI) with Maestro
Sawallisch and the Orchestra.
Woodhams is clearly appreciative
for this historical turn of events.
"Of course," he said, "we're all
grateful that he put the idea in Strauss'
mind of writing the oboe concerto.
While I certainly never studied that
piece per se with him ... my playing
in general was very much influenced
by having studied with De Lancie."
"It's a very classical work," he
continued. "Of course everybody
knows that Strauss greatly admired
Mozart. You can hear certain orna-
mental figures that certainly hearken
back to the 18th century ... For Strauss
enthusiasts, it's really a very interest-
ing piece, (and) it has these abso-
lutely gorgeous, rich, chromatic har-
monies, so there's something there for
The former May Festival resident orchestra from 1936 to 1984, The Philadelphia Orchestra, will return to Ann Arbor
tonight for the first time in 10 years. It's so nice to have them back where they belong.
everyone.",
In addition to his orchestral work,
Richard Woodhams is a member of
the faculties of Temple University
and the Curtis Institute of Music, is
independently active as a soloist and
chamber musician and holds the
Orchestra's first endowed chair which
he received in 1984.
While Woodhams admits such a
schedule tends to be a stretch at times,
he considers, "In a way I feel very
lucky to pursue what is for me very
worthwhile. It keeps me occupied and
challenged, so that it is never just a
job."
THE PHILADELPHIA
ORCHESTRA will perform tonight
at 8 p.m. at Hill Auditorium. Tickets
range from $18 to $55, but $10
student rush tickets are available at
the Union Ticket Office and the
North Campus Commons. Call 764-
2538.
0
n' proves
to be an entrance to hell
By SHIRLEY LEE
Even an Academy Award caliber
-cast cannot rescue annoyingly kinky
stories from plunging into depths of
absolute deficiency. When filmmakers
F IL M RE V IE W
D
Exit To Eden
Directed by Garry
Marshall; with Dana
Delany and Rosie
O'Donnell.
delicately balance comedy, fantasy, and
reality in a '90s love story. Yet, it ends
up flopping clumsily in all of the above.
"Exit To Eden" chronicles the
dominatrix Mistress Lisa (Dana
Delany) as the head of an island S&M
exclusive resort dubbed "Club Eden."
The participants sign up as submissives
of Eden, each chosen by The Club for
his or her curiosity and capacity for
arousal.
Club Eden offers an alternative
lifestyle; every member, donning S&M
gear, has daily rendezvous with his or
her own sexual fantasy brought to life.
In a fantasy vacation of a lifetime, all
live in a presumably sheltered para-
dise, free from all sexual diseases, to
explore their oppressed sexuality in
our less than perfect world. If you think
the so-called storyline has already
evolved into an irritating love story
'Wes Craven's Nightmare' has
all the standards, all the gore
By FRED RICE
Mr. Krueger wants to kill you. He wants to kill everybody. The profession and
chief pastime of slasher maniacs like Mr. Krueger has successfully sucked the life's
out of the horror genre over the last couple of decades. So despite the promising
title, very little is new about this "Nightmare."
The standard story is all there: A gruesome-looking man with steel claws
slices and dices several helpless teenagers in their sleep until one of them gets
tough and destroys him until he revives himself for a sequel.
.
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Paul Mercurio to Dana Delany: "I'll wash your back if you wash mine."
idly attempt to charm the viewers with
unworkable eccentricity, their result
often takes away from what might have
otherwise been valuable material. Garry
Marshall's lukewarm adaptation of
Anne Rice's "Exit To Eden" seeks to
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with a tediously prosaic concept, drink
a cup of coffee and smoke a cigarette
before you read on.
The mindless twist comes in when
L.A. Detectives Fred Lavery (Dan
Aykroyd) and Sheila Kingston (Rosie
O'Donnell)must go undercoverin Club
Eden. They are looking for the menac-
ing duo; the nefarious diamond smug-
gler Omar (Stuart Wilson) and his re-
vealing-but-not-quite-so-lethal accom-
plice Nina (Iman).
The overt, sexual paradise chal-
lenges the viewer to find one, single
way of viewing the film. Throughout,
Eden poses as the new battleground,
existing solely for sensual gratifica-
tion. Infused with quirky love scenes
- whether deviant or not - Marshall
never truly penetrates the film with a
piercing eye, failing to realize that the
greatest aphrodisiac and the highest
form of pleasure is achieved only
through love.
Marshall's series of idle attempts at
trite comic misadventures come to an
unbearable dramatic climax in New
Orleans. Rice's original story becomes
obnoxiously layered with comic lar-
ceny. The producers have attempted to
distill the novel's erotic nuances by
playing them off against a light, come-
dic sub-plot. They seek to do this by
exploring dominance and submission
in all human relationships. Yet, both
the comic and erotic dimensions plum-
met you into circumstances so distaste-
ful and dull that your first instinct is to
pity the filmmakers and to walk out of
the theater.
All of the film's stupid humor and
unsensual love scenes fall short of guid-
ing the audience through the risque
world of sexual freedom. In coupling
an unconvincing plot with an intoler-
ableeccentricity, "ExitToEden" show-
cases a corny yet, ironically, classical
structure of a Shakespearean comedy
- lovers, good guys, and bad guys -
all chasing each other around the is-
land. That alone might have made it
worth it to suffer through the rest of the
show. Yet, Marshall echoes sentiments
in "Exit To Eden" that no one truly
cares about. Do yourself a favor, bring
along a book in case you get bored.
EXIT TO EDENis playing at
Briarwood and Showcase.
Wes Craven's
New Nightmare
Directed by Wes Craven;
with Heather
Langenkamp and
Robert Englund.
The story has the cast and crew
assembling to make another sequel,
effectively a movie within a movie.
Except it's not really a movie within a
movie because Craven hasn't finished
the script yet. Strange things start to
happen while the cast waits to shoot the
film.
Only they're not teenagers anymore.
Writer-director Wes Craven figured
that the teenagers who he captivated a
decade ago with the original "Night-
mare" would rather see Generation X 4
ground to hamburger meat than people
half their age. So he cast the original
Krueger-conqueror, Heather
Langenkamp, and made her a mom.
But don't worry. She still acts like a
gawky teenager. Better yet, she plays
herself, making her teenage manner-
isms all the more humorous. Robert Englund plays himself too. So does Wes
Craven and some of the executives from New Line Cinema.
Craven maintains an
unusual level of
suspense. Characters
are in danger of
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Mr. Krueger slashes to death mem- gettingKl m aI in most
bers of the crew as Craven writes it into scenes, so there is
the script, and pretentiously explains
that Mr. Krueger has grown into some- plenty of tension if you
thing much too powerful and evil to be bother to care about
contained by the films. That's lofty
writing on his part. The guy is still the these people.
same old slashermaniac. Interestingly, However, as in most
his character is no where near as dis-
turbing as Robert Englund as himself. slasher films, the story
The film plays off the fears of the only introduces them
early thirtysomethings by making
Langenkamp a mom. That's theextent for the benefit of the
of her character; she tucks her kid into maniac's culsinart.
bed, worrying that the boy has been
exposed to excessive violence (like
that from her movies). The kid (Miko Hughes) is a composite of other horror film
kids. His head never spins, but he pukes a couple times and talks possessed like
Danny from "The Shining."
Craven maintains an unusual level of suspense. Characters are in danger of
getting killed in most scenes, so there is plenty of tension if you bother to care
about these people. However, as in most slasher films, the story only introduces
them for the benefit of the maniac's cuisinart.
Craven attempts some subtle self-reflective social commentary by having the
crew of the "Nightmare" movies become the victims of their own creation. Yet,
he doesn't develop that idea very far. After all, Mr. Krueger is a nasty butcher
whose chief obligation is knocking off characters for the audience's delight.
Anything more would painfully tax the cult following.
WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE is playing at Showcase.
Make all your dreams come true. Write for Arts. Call 7
Satur~
rmber 5th
Theatre
.m.
Deloitte&
Touche LLP
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Business Analyst
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