Ure lirbigm Owda A weekend of song and show Entertain yourself this weekend with performances by two different University student musical groups. The Women's Glee Club will be performing tonight at 8 o'clock at Hill Auditorium. Student admission is only $4. The all-new Michigan Pops Orchestra will be kicking-off the spring season with a concert of popular tunes at the Michigan Theater on Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets for that event are $4 for students. 4 Friday March 29, 1996 Comedic operas are music to our ears By J. David Berry For the Daily Opera buffs boast that opera remains the one piece of our culture that has remained pure and untainted, hidden safe away from the mainstream whose approval would classify the art form as popular. School of Music Opera Workshop director Joshua REVIEW Gianni Schicchi & I1 Campanello Lydia Mendelssohn Theater When: Tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets: $16412 ($6 students). Call 764-0450. Note: This ,view is for the Thursday/Saturday cast; other actors play on Friday and Sunday. Major promised to deliver opera into the hands of the masses this weekend by bringing the two comedic operas, "Il Campanello" and "Gianni Schicchi," to the Lydia Medelssohn stage. Judging by the reaction of Thursday night's audience, not only did he deliver it into our hands, we were reluctant to let it go. Gaetano Donizetti's "Il campanello di notte (The night bell)" came first on the evening's fare. It is the story of Don Annibale Pistachio (Allen Schrott), an older pharmacist who marries the young and vibrant Serafina (Rachel Gottlieb). On Don Annibale's wed- ding night, a jealous old flame, Enrico (Guilherme Rogano), vows to keep the newlyweds apart until Don Annibale leaves for Rome the next morning. In a series of disguises, Enrico rings the pharmacist's night bell, keeping him from his new wife's bed chamber. The performance is filled with every gag in the book - the majority of them revolving around sex, particularly the aging Don Annibale's ability, or lack thereof, to fill all of Naples with little Pista- chios. Don Annibale's anxiousness for the long- awaited bliss adds a terrific energy to the pace of the show. Coming complete with a series of prat-falls, spit- takes and physical comedy (performed brilliantly by Schrott and Rogano), the performance was a comic gem. Add to this mix the tremendous vocal talents all around - particularly Gottlieb's soaring and clear performance as Serafina - and you have the mak- ings of a tremendous first half of a double bill. The silly and frivolous "II Campanello" serves as the cartoon before the main show, as prat-falls and sight gags give way to a much more intellectual and engaging comedy of words. Giacomo Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi" isamuch darker comedy, dealing with the death of the wealthy Buoso Donati and his money-grubbing relatives who care more about Buoso's will than the man himself. When the relatives discover that Buoso has left all of his belongings to the church in penance for his sinful life, they enlist the services of the cunning Gianni Schicchi (William Gustafson). Schicchi mas- querades as Buoso while the family calls the notary and has the impostor Buoso change the will. Not wanting to let the relatives get off scot-free, Schicchi picks out the choicest properties for himself, so that his daughter can have a dowry and get married. Director Joshua Major changes gears from the physi- cal comedy of"11 Campanello," allowing the brilliance of Puccini's music and Giovacchino Forzano's libretto to stand alone. With a very strong ensemble cast playing the conniving relatives - and the exceptional Gustafson as the artful Schicchi - Major creates a very well-rounded production. The horribly evil in-laws (with Ruth M. Christensen's Zita as the quintessential spinster) provide a back drop just black enough to heighten the white goodness of the two token love interests. The score's most memorable and well-known aria "O mio babino caro" was sung effortlessly by Elisabeth M. Larsen. To Major's credit, he allowed the designers to have a field day with Buoso's bedroom. Vincent Mountain turned the walls of the room into a map of Venice with the well-known picture of Medicci hanging in the corner. Filled with secret compartments and nooks and crannies, Mountain's set gives the cast great opportu- nities to ransack the place looking for the will. Sarah Michelle Baum shines again as costume designer, creating drastic and severe period costumes for the loathsome family (again, with the pidce de rdsistance being the Zita costume). Major made good on his promise to create an engag- ing and side splitting evening ofopera. "Il Campanello" got us guffawing, and the darker "Gianni Schicchi" proved the perfect counterpart to round out the evening. The extremely capable group of singers not only sounded terrific, but pulled off one of the more difficult feats in entertainment today. They made opera acces- sible to everyone. "Glanni Schicchl" and "II Campanello" play the Mendelssohn this weekend. 'Little Indian,' big movie failure By Neal C. Carruth Daily Arts Writer As if it's not bad enough that we have to watch our own home-grown duds, Touchstone Pictures had the temerity to import and dub this stupefying French comedy. At the least, it is encouraging to know that Americans aren't the only ones who know how to make a truly inept movie. "Little Indian, Big City" concerns the life of harried broker Stephen Marchado (Thierry Lhermitte). In order to marry his New Age mystic fiancee Charlotte (Arielle Dombasle), he must track down his wife, Patricia (Miou Miou), who walked out on him 13 years earlier, and finalize their divorce. As it turns out, she is living with an Amazon Indian tribe in Venezuela. Stephen arrives to find out that, at the time his wife left, she was pregnant. REVIEW Little Indian, r Big Ci ity Theirson, Mimi- Siku (Ludwig Briand), grew up entirely among the tribe and is encultured in their folklore and hunt- ing methods. Stephen promises to take his son to Paris when Mimi- Siku becomes a man. But later that night, Mimi-Siku affairs. So, at the end of the picture, Stephen renounces the corruption and self-absorption of contemporary urban life for the "simplicity" and "innocence" of the Amazonian tribe. "Little Indian, Big City" doesn'tjust fail because of its flaw" ideology, but also because it is rather conventional-minded in terms of characters and plot. We don't get characters who are very carefully wrought. Most of them, including Stephen and Mimi-Siku, come across as shrill and one-dimensional. In addition, insufficient time is spent developing the emotional ties. All of this exposes the French penchant, occasional and dangerous, for caricature and situational farce. On a technical level, "Little Indian, Big City" is well-filmed with some striking and lush cinematography, particularly in the rain forest sequences. We also get some nice photography in Paris, which, of course, is already most photogenic. To prepare the film for American release, it was dubbe@ largely by English-speaking actors. Dubbing is a terrible idea to begin with, and it hurts most films immeasurably by eliminating the subtle and universal vocal inflections in- tended by the actors. (There are notable exceptions to.this generality, like Ingmar Bergman's unforgettable "Cries'and Whispers," where the original actors and actresses did the dubbing for the English version.) In "Little Indian, Big City," the dubbing creates a disjunct between the highly Parisian behavior of the characters and the loud, clear American voices they project. Not only is this annoying, but it imping on the quality of an already doomed film. Since this critical element of the actors' performances is excised, it is difficult to evaluate them; but let me assure you that you're not missing anything of great merit. Neverthe- less, Thierry Lhermitte's Stephen is rather appealing in his gradual transformation from an uptight suit to a man who no longer feels at home in the urban jungle. And the best comedic characters are Patrick Timsit's Richard, virtually the French stereotype of an overworked, overweight, abu- sive company man, and Arielle Dombasle's Charlotte, with her repetition of mantras and incessant meditation. Bearing all this in mind, I guess it's only fair that, after yeag of global export of movies like "Dumb and Dumber," the rest oT the world gets an opnortunity for revenge. Directed by Herve Palud with Thierry Lhermitte and Ludwig Briand At Showcase AC/DC played at the Palace of Auburn Hills Wednesday evening. BRIAN A. GNATT/Daiy Wild AC/DC rocks across tees By Brian A. Gnatt Daily Music Editor Despite the male-pattern baldness and wrinkles, it's hard to tell AC/DC is an old band. With as much energy as the band sported when it began 22 years ago, the greatest rock'n'roll band from Down Under rolled into the Palace of - Auburn H ills Wednesday night for the first ofa two- F show stint to capti- vate Detroit's hard ; rockers. Supporting their 1995 release "Ballbreaker," lead guitarist Angus Young and Co. played one hell of a show. AC/DC's untapped energy and wild songbook ofclassic sex songs made for a great two hours of traditional greaseball rock'n'roll. After little-known show openers The Poor played their hearts out to a mostly empty arena, it was time for the fun to begin. The lights went down, and who else but Beavis and Butt-head came on the Palace's television screens to intro- duce the headlin- REVIEW ers. Huh-huh - I said 'head.' AC/DC Next came the The Palace wrecking ball. A giant crane with a March 27, 1996 wrecking ball swinging back and forth knocked down the band's cement block wall that was being used for a backdrop. Now the fun could begin. Breaking into "Back In Black," AC/ DC exploded onto the stage. Wearing a maroon velvet jacket and shorts, white shirt and obligatory tie and hat, Angus Young ran out to his screaming fans. The sound was great, with the guitar licks sounding as fresh as the day they were recorded and vocalist Brian Johnson's hoarse-at-best screaming sounding as good as ever. With Angus Young, brother Malcolm on rhythm guitar, Johnson, bassist Cliff Williams and drummer Phil Rudd, the band was in top form. Tackling their classic hits "TNT," "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" and "Thunderstruck" with new material thrown in, like "Cover You In Oil" and "Ballbreaker," the con- cert combined a varied mix of new and old material. Rolling around on the stage as al- ways, Angus was clearly having a ball. Johnson too was having his fun, getting See AC/DC, Page 10 goes through a rite of passage and officially enters manhood. Of course, Stephen must make good on his promise, and we are quick to see where all of this is leading. This conflict of cultures and values between the "sophisti- cated, civilized" Parisians and the "barbaric, primitive" Mimi- Siku is handled in a rather archaic manner. There is a heavy- handed moralism in the film's denouncement of ethnocentrism. Isn't this old territory? Haven't we all been told adnauseam that it is bad to judge one culture using the standards of another? And since this film emerges from a French sensibility, it's. ultimate verdict is that what is best for mankind is a Rousseauian "return to nature," a re-establishment of the primeval state of whirlingRoad Twelve Steps Below Walnut Skillet Records Call me old-fashioned, but I still ex- pect quality from rock'n'roll stars - even the aspiring ones. One could argue that a band like Ann A'rbor's whirlingRoad - who, with the release oftheir first LP, are still treading through their formative years - need not fill their indie record with hits. One could argue this, and one would be wrong. Let's be blunt: If mediocrity's their game, they should not clutter the mar- ket with their angsty half-songs. They should remain in their basements and continue practicing until they can con- sistently come up with something ex- citing. This goes for Silverchair and it goes for whirlingRoad as well. This is why - with some degree of guilt about making things hard for a local band trying to make good - I nonetheleO feel compelled to slag "Twelve Steps Below Walnut" (Plus, it nerves me to have to capitalize the ninth letter of the See RECORDS, Page 10 best of the university' ROADWAY PACKAGE SYSTEM PACKAGE HANDLERS PERFECT FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS Saving for tuition? Find part-time work, Year-round at RPS! Roadway Package System, a small package delivery service, hires package handlers to load and unload package vans and semi-trailers. If you are not afraid of hard work, are at least 18 years old and want to work 4-5 hours per day, Mon.-Fri., we can pie >,:: M E ::i : AEi . :;:....y.5 "% .:.% i1':r':;fi ::..d..s{ ...