One Night Only
Featuring contributions from a plethora of campus groups, One Night
Only brings back the old-time variety show. One Night Only will have' a
Capella from Amazin' Blue, sketches from the Comedy Company, movies
from M-Flicks, stand-up comedy from Laugh Track and original dance from
the Impact Dance Theater. The show is at the U-Club and is'open to the
public; it begins at 8 p.m. Call 763-TKTS for ticket information.
Page 5
Tuesday,
April 11, 1995
Take a walk down '42nd Street'
Melissa Rose Bernardo
Daily Theater Editor
After eight years with the origi-
nal Broadway company of "42nd
Street," during which time she
served as Dance Captain and cover
for all 21 female roles, and after
staging the show for numerous re-
gional theaters/stock companies,
Debra Draper is still excited about
02nd Street."
"The entire musical itself sort of
epitomizes the American musical,"
she said. The show goes up this
weekend at the Power Center, per-
formed by the Musical Theatre Pro-
gram (MTP) under Draper's direc-
tion.
"It's got something of everything
- it's got a great deal of color and
' lash, great music, big numbers, all
nds of dancing. The elements of the
story are simple but very sweet," said
Draper, who served as the MTP's
choreographer for a year and a half,
working on 1993's "Brigadoon" and
1994's "The Most Happy Fella."
Draper returned this year at the
program's request to direct/choreo-
graph "42nd Street," which she calls
a "labor of love."
* Based on the 1933 movie musical
of the same name, "42nd Street" takes
us back to the time of the Depression,
when the musicals were anything but
depressing. Hot-shot producer Julian
Marsh (John Halmi) wants to mount
the biggest musical Broadway's seen
in years, but tough times have forced
him to cast washed-up star of yester-
year Dorothy Brock (Lisa Datz), be-
cause her boyfriend is bankrolling the
show.
to thrive.
"42nd Street" works so well in
Champion's original format that stock
companies and regional theaters pro-
ducing the show usually draw heavily
- if not completely -upon that very
staging. Draper has done the same
thing with this production, but has
also added her own personal touches.
"We've maintained a lot of the
original, giving program credit to
(Champion)," Draper said. "But I've
also added a lot of additional cho-
reographic sequences. An audience
probably wouldn't know the differ-
ence. I'd have to sit down with you
and say 'that was mine,' 'that was
mine,' 'that wasn't,' 'that wasn't,'
that I restaged,'' 'that I changed,'
'that I took the original of but I put
a different spin on it.'
"But in the bulk of the big num-
bers we've retained the absolute fla-
vor of what was there originally."
When Draper decided to retain-
much of the original staging, the facti
that it was tried-and-true was only
part of her reasoning. Another con-1
sideration was the students' educa-
tion.
"These are students that are in at
musical theater program, and a large
part of their education is learnings
things that are original," she ex-1
plained. "Learning the original stag-
But when Brock breaks her ankle,
small-town chorus girl Peggy Sawyer
is ready and waiting, and Peggy steps
in and becomes an overnight sensa-
tion.
The show ran for 3,486 perfor-
mances on Broadway, making it the
longest-running American musical of
the'80s. A major portion of the show's
success can be attributed to the team
of producer David Merrick and direc-
tor-choreographer Gower Champion.
Though Champion died the afternoon
of the show's opening, his inventive
staging and choreography continues
42nd Street' has made a successful Journey from the screen to the stage.
ing of something may serve them
very well in the future. These are the
kinds of shows that are done profes-
sionally quite often, and learning the
material that is still retained may serve
them well down the road."
Another bonus for the cast, Draper
said, is the excitement of actually
performing the choreography of a leg-
endary Broadway choreographer.
"It really gooses their energy level
to now that they are capable of doing
what was done on Broadway night
after night," she said. "I think that for
them it's an extra added excitement."
And there's something to be said
for the excitement of performing the
quintessential song-and-dance ex-
travaganza. "It's not terribly weighty
or heavy," Draper said, "but it's
thought-provoking in that it really
does bring us back to the naivete and
the vulnerability of that time, and
how entertainment was extremely
important. Things depended a great
deal upon (entertainment) because
times were so hard," Draper said with
growing excitement.
"('42nd Street') is joyful. It's com-
pletely joyful."
The Foetus of Cool
Catch the Kilijoys at the Blind Pig
*ou hear all that talk about the Canadian Invasion, yet you just don't see
any proof? Look no longer - the Kiljoys have arrived. Their power-pop
falls between Cheap Trick and Big Star, which means it's hard to shake
out of your head; it also makes them a big hit with 89X, as well. See
them at the Blind Pig tonight, before they become superstars. Tickets are
$5 in advance and are available at Schoolkids; call 645-6666 for more
information. The show starts at 9:30 p.m. with Ann Arbor's prog-rock
favorites Chameleon's Dish kicking up a righteous storm.
'Sex' and Newt's Mghtmare
By Kirk Miller
Daily Arts Writer
"The best compliment is a bomb
threat," underground rock legend Jim
"Foetus" Thirlwell explained about his
music. "Thebestcomplimentis 'You're
going to be killed during the third song.'
Then I think I've done my job."
If there was ever a band that could
inspire emotions ranging from abso-
lute adoration to psychotic hatred it is
Foetus, the brainchild and emotional
outpost of the Australian-born
Thirlwell. His new album "Gash"
(which is released today) and EJP
"Null" are a mix of confrontational
emotions armed with an arsenal of
music styles; in the 12 songs Thirl well
(who writes all the music himself and
plays most of the instruments) mixes
industrial, noise, tribal drumming, Big
Band jazz and punk into the most
satisfying record of the decade.
But back to these bomb threats
and people's misunderstandings.
"Sometimes it bothers me," he
admitted. "However, in retrospect, I
get a perverse enjoyment out the shit
I stir up. I often play the devil's advo-
cate and I try to make a point by
taking the opposite point of view and
pointing out the stupidity."
With tracks like "Mighty Whity"
and "Take It Outside Godboy" (an
attack on anti-abortion fanatics) it
looks like his streak of hatred will
continue. Plus, with Thirlwell's hon-
esty about his emotions and odd
choices of titles ("Gash" and Foetus
are not neutral terms) he is a vulner-
able target for many political groups
that find him dangerous.
"Feminists, for a start," he men-
tioned as one of those groups. "People
have a lot of misconceptions about
me and I kind of welcome it, because
if they don't get the irony at least I'm
putting a pickle up their ass and mak-
ing them think."
Although he's been making music
for a number of years under various
monikers (Scraping Foetus From the
Wheel, Foetus All-Nude Review,
etc.), Thirwell recently decided to
concentrate just on "Foetus" and
jumped to a major label (Columbia).
The result is "Gash," which sounds
like the soundtrack to the coolest
movie never made. Where other al-
ternative bands are stripping down
and going minimalist, Foetus stuffs
his music with everything except the
kitchen sink, including a full Big Band
orchestra, string sections, samples,
feedback and a brass section.
"I have never had a formula," he
explained. "I've had songs starting
out with a vacuum cleaner."
Possibly the most impressive song
and the one track that sums up every-
thing Foetus represents is "Slung," the
first Big Band song ever recorded that
could inspire a mosh pit. Backed with
players from Duke Ellington's old band
Thirlwell uses his gravely blues voice
to wail about a woman gone bad.
"It's the story of a very bad break-
down," he said. "In a relationship that
got real violent and nasty. It's autobio-
graphical, and I don't want to talk about
it more than that, but the whole album is
pretty much autobiographical."
Although Foetus the group is what
Thirlwell is concentrating on for the
moment, he is also known for his
collaborations with other artists. Be-
sides his work with underground leg-
end Lydia Lunch, Thirlwell has re-
mixed a number of songs for Nine
Inch Nails, the Red Hot Chili Pep-
pers, Pantera and Prong, usually twist-
ing the recording into a form that goes
far beyond the original's intent. But
for the time he has given up his other
work as a producer.
"When I say collaborating I mean
remix," he said. "Because I'm kind of
burned out on production. I'm sick of
sitting in a studio with sweaty guys
with B.O. that light their own farts
and stuff like that."
Thirlwell has not limited his
reappropriation of styles to music and
remixing; he's also designs his own
By Alexandra Twin
Daily Film Editor
Although it's been touted as "Newt
Gingrich's Nightmare," "Sex, Drugs
and Democracy," the Dutch docu-
mentary from acclaimed filmmaker
Jonathan Blank is less the embodi-
ment of the so-called Moral Majority's
createst fears and more of an encom-
qassing character study of a nation
where drug use is tolerated, homo-
sexuality is accepted and prostitution
is nearly encouraged. Detailed, inter-
esting and at times disheartening, the
Sex, Drugs and
Democracy
Directed by Jonathan Blank
At the Michigan Theater
film is an achievement, translating
this distinctly foreign society into
something that is easily accessible to
Americans.
Prostitution, homosexuality, por-
nography, racism, criminal justice and
ug legalization are just among a few
f the topics explored. Of the first,
Holland Senator Hannake Gelderblom
says: "It seems necessary to have pros-
titutes. It seems the world can't do
without them. It's not my wish, but it
rescue stations to pick up extra hypo-
dermic needles given out by the state.
There is a hash museum. Small busi-
nesses flourish as a father and son
grow and smoke weed together. "The
perfect hemp plant does not exist. We
know it can be better," says the father.
Nothing here's quite legal but liter-
ally no one's stopping them.
Using a traditional, interview-
mixed-with-dated-footage approach to
filming, the documentary errs in em-
ploying cheesy, mid-'80s pop music
but is successful in conveying the un-
derlying innocence and tolerance of a
nation that has historically, due to its
small size and location, always had to
accommodate others. The result is in-
triguing, whether you're a Newt sup-
porter or a staunch liberal.
artwork ("graphic kind of wallpaper"
he explained) and had a lot of say in
his newest video for "Verklemmt."
"The video ends up in Times
Square," the New York resident ex-
plained. "And it uses the Jumbotron.
It's less than four minutes long and it
has 2500 edits, and it's all black and
white. If you have any history of epi-
lepsy I recommend you do not watch
this video."
One majorproblem with Thirlwell's
grandiose style comes in translating the
songs to stage, where he won't have the
freedom of the studio to recreate the
intricate details of his music.
"If I wanted to really realize the way
they sound on record itwould haveto be
a 50-piece band," he laughed. "And
that's not within my budget." (When
pointed out that no one except Hammer
had ever attempted a concert like that,
he quipped "And I don't use dancers.")
When all thatcan possibly explained
about Foetus and the music, the greatest
compliment I can give the record is the
reactions of fellow Daily staffers after
listening to it one afternoon. Several
confused looks and a couple of "This is
really annoying" comments spoke won-
ders about a man who could annoy even
the most alternative of listeners.
"Well, it's not background mu-
sic," Thirlwell summed up. "It's very
musical, but it's very confrontational.
In my world it's number one."
I-
',V
Going Home this Summer.
MSU is Close To You...
At Home and Work!
"THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS
IN APPLYING TO LAW SCHOOL
AND HOW TO AVOID THEM"
A Seminar on the Law School Admission Process
an o1uu#4 s fu1 tude iAnt's Annroch