I - - ""I' ", Mo. ,J,
"Amityville 3-D" plays at the Michigan tonight. Check out all the
terrifying tale of a film from one of scariest horror series ever. The
film focuses on disbelievers who don't understand that the
Amityville house is haunted and filled with objects from the under-
world - silly people. What's better about this film is the 3-D
aspect. The terror begins at 9 p.m.
StdCmx ktlg
W Tomorrow Weekend, etc takes a look at Motown and the
revolution that has occurred in the music industry since the
days of The Four Tops and The Temptations.
4
Wednesday
March 25, 1998
5
Screw' turns inL
y Christopher Tkaczyk
erforming Arts Editor
ENO has more
said.
It may seem as a Jamesian dream, but recent Moliir made
events indicate that Henry James is alive and the Santa Fe Op
well and living in Malibu. With many recently theater set in th
ptations of his works into movies, the author working at Sant
is competing with the likes of Michael Crichton production of
and John Grisham. became aware o
During the past two years, Hollywood has fessor of Music
brought us film xersions of "Portrait of a Lady" Katz, famous
"Washington Square" and "The Wings of the accompanist to
Dove." But long before the Jamesian film upris- wave his bat
ing, a tale by the dark author was turned into an University Phil
opera. James' short story, "The Turn of the vides the 13 ch
Screw," was developed into a chamber opera by
njamin Britten in 1954. University
ductions and the School of Music are pre-
senting their version of the opera as a part of the
Opera Theatre's winter production. Turn o
The story of "The Turn of the Screw" centers the Screw
on a new governess who comes to a Victorian Mendelssoh
household to oversee the care of two young Theate
boys. But she begins to notice strange occur- Thur. -sat. at 8 p.
rences within the children's behavior; the boys Sunday at 2 p.m
begin to see ghosts. As apparitions of former
employees of the household, the boys' former
governess and deceased butler appear, and scare
ryone willy nilly. In response to the sightings,
e boys begin to perform evil acts.
"The Turn of the Screw" is directed by
Nicolette Molnir, a visiting freelance opera auditions. Unive
director. Molnir is from London, and has knowing what
worked mostly in Europe. She recently directed choice is made a
a revival of "Cosi fan tutte" at the English ative team know
National Opera. available. Wh
"The English National Opera is different than Mendelssohn Th
the Royal Opera House, which is like the to be housed, sh
(Metropolitan Opera). The ROH invites interna- of the Screw."
nal singers to perform for them. The ENO "I first saw '
performs entirely in English. I think that the New York City
Mephiskapheles
By Curtis Zimmermann a bass player, and wound
Daily Arts Writer guy who knew a lot of j
Keeping with the tradition of Slayer, That's how the horn sectio
rilyn Manson, Elvis and the numer- One of the major chang
ous other musical acts accused of collab- gone through in the past
orating with the devil comes the band evolution from a small tim
Mephiskapheles. a nationally touring act.
This New York-based ska band brings days, it was really a w
its show into Detroit on Friday evening. Robinson said, "everybod
Its music, howev- we've really made the tra
er, isn't typical full time thing."
hardcore devil Since the release of the
rock, in fact the "God Bless Satan" in 199
Mephiska- band has a sound become one of the lead
pheles that could easily Coast ska scene. This
The Shelter be seen as a mix known for its tracks "S
Friday at 6 p.m. between Harry Bumble Bee Tuna Song,
Belafonte and version of the canned-fis
Glenn Miller. Bless Satan" is a more
By combining album bearing similariti
many styles of Jamaican sound with elen
calypso, ska, jazz This past fall the bandn
and punk, as well low up "Maximum Perve
as lyrics that have in great degree from there
demonic under- explores the bands roots
t es, its members have created a dis- as well as ska performers
tive blend of music that has elevated "The first album wa
them to prominence on the underground songs that we were play
ska scene. Robinson said. "It was lit
One doesn't necessarily have to sell his
soul to the dark prince in order to listen to
Mephiskapheles' music.
"All of the Satan stuff is to draw you in
and get you curious. We used to do some
weird Satan stuff on stage, now you just C
come to the show and get this musical
erience. It's up to you to decide what
cans to you," said trombone player
Greg Robinson. "We don't kill small ani-
mals and stuff like that. It's more like a
concept."
This idea of devilish undertones has
existed since the band's inception in
1990. "The whole thing started off as
Satan band, but not a death metal band.
They don't really play dance music,"
Robinson said.
The history of Mephiskapheles isn't
rly different from many other bands,
but it does show how the group has come
to include so many different styles in its
music. "It was basically four guys: the
lead singer, the guitarist, the keyboard
player and the old drummer. They met on
the ska scene and it just happened to
work out. They put an ad in the paper for
Enjoy a w
interesting directors," Molnar
her American directing debut at
er, the famous open air outdoor
e deserts of New Mexico. While
a Fe years before she directed a
"Cosi fan tutte" there, Molnar
f Martin Katz, a University pro-
and international pianist.
for his long-standing career as
the great Marilyn Horne, will
on this weekend before the
harmonic Orchestra, which pro-
amber players who support the
singers in "The Turn of the
Screw."
Molnar was discovered
by an acquaintance of
Joshua Major, the depart-
N ment chair of the
n University's Opera
r Theatre. "A director at
M. Santa Fe knew Josh
M. Major, and he referred me
to him," Molnar said.
Following the refer-
ence, Major invited
Molnir to direct the win-
ter opera, which usually is
chosen after a series of
rsity voice students audition not
opera will be presented. The
after the auditions, when the cre-
vs Wyhat type of voices they have
en Molnar first visited the
ieater, where the production was
e instantly thought of "The Turn
The Turn of the Screw' at the
Opera in the late '70's or early
Wicked
'80's when I was a student. I am familiar with a
few of Britten's works. I directed 'A Midsummer
Night's Dream' for the Royal College of Music a
few years back," Molnar said.
"But I find 'Turn of the Screw' to be Britten's
strongest piece. Every line of the opera is impor-
tant. It is scored for every part. Every player in
the orchestra is a soloist. It was written for a
chamber orchestra of 12 or 13 players," Molnar
said.
"I find the story fascinating because of it's
ambiguity. I've tried to keep the opera as
ambiguous as possible, because the audience
will be able to look at it in several different ways.
It presenms evil as if it were a human attribute. It
looks at where evil comes from. Is it from with-
in? How do we perceive evil?" Molnar said.
"I am not a musician. I simply have the appre-
ciation for what I hear. The music is fascinating
because it varies from scene to scene; it has a
smooth progression. I love the many different
moods that Britten has created with this opera.
At one moment you have music that surrounds
carefree children walking through a park, and in
the next few moments the atmosphere changes
into uneasiness," Molnar said.
"The Turn of the Screw" features two boy
trebles - young singers whose voices are
unbroken by the tremors of adolescence. "It
takes a lot of responsibility to put on a young
performer. The role of Miles is the second-most
important character in the opera. Although
everything pivots around the governess, Miles
is a large role for a child to take on," Molnar
said. "The role is challenging and quite daring;
it's difficult to do."
"The Turn of the Screw" presents a world
where ghosts aren't just figments of the imagi-
nation. The characters of the story are thrust
upon a supernatural subtext that makes them
Courtesy of University Productions-
Brian Pfaltzgraff, Alex Vassos and Deborah Gover star in the University Opera Theater production of
Benjamin Britten's "Turn of the Screw."
choose between good and evil. "Often in our
lives we tend to see things in black and white,
good and evil, and right and wrong. But things
aren't like that," Molnar determined.
"When preparing for the opera, I had to deal
with the fact that both James and Britten may
have taken a side. Britten gave the ghosts voic-
es. But I questioned whether or not the ghosts
were real. Are they really there or are they a
port of the governess' imagination?" Molnir
said.
"The opera is about soul-searching. It exam-
ines what we go through when we experience
what we view as wicked. It looks at how we face.
it and combat it. Is evil outside ourselves, or a
part of us?"
Tickets to "The Turn of the Screw "are avail-
able to students for $7 at the League Ticket
Office. Limit 2 student tickets per ID. For more
information call 765-0450.
takes ska to new levels
I p ~a
up getting this
jazz musicians.
on came about.'
;es the band has
few years is its
ne local band to
"Back in those
eekend thing,"
y had jobs.now
ansition so its a
eir debut album
4, the band has
,rs of the East
album is best
aba" and "The
' a punked out
h jingle. "God
traditional ska
es to the older
ments of punk.
released its fol-
rsion" it vanes
debut in that it
as jazz players,
.1
s made up of
ing for years,"
ke simple tunes
that the rhythm section had come up
with, then the horn section had put there
line on it and we'd been playing them for
years." He said that on the second album
the horn section created a more jazzy
feel. The new album still keeps in tune
with the ska and punk sounds.
With the breakthrough of ska as a
mainstream music, the group has also
gained commercial success. Its video
"Doomsday" received rotation on MTV,
and the song was also included on "The
Real World."
Although the religious elements of
the bands music hasn't stirred up much
controversy, the group's last visit to
Detroit, where it opened for Gwar at
IHarpo's, led to a near riot. "It's tradition-
al for Gwar fans to boo the opening act,
Robinson said "Gwar paid us a big com-
plement: they said we did better than
most other band even though we got
booed just ablout every night -- except
for on the East Coast w hen we'd get a lot
of out fans at the show."
The band's show at Harpo's bears a
striking similarity to the Blue Brother's
performance at Bob's Country Bunker.
"We got on stage and it was chaos, our
AN
Will you help lead the American
Jewish Community into the
21 st Century?
Do you dream of enriching
Jewish life?
Courtesy of Moonska
Members of Mephiskapheles take on
the Detroit scene Friday night.
bass player got hit with a bottle, and
there were a bunch of nazi skinheads in
the audience who were spitting on our
lead singer,' he said. "The whole tour
was kind of like that. That was just the
low point of it"
With the recent blitz of ska bands on
TV and radio Mephiskapheles' Detroit
show should give fans a first-hand
glimpse at a band that has experimented
with the ska sound and taken it to new
levels.
Learn about the l econstructionist Rabbinical
College and its.vision gf Judaism.
You are invited to meet RRC representative Jason
Klein, Friday, March 27, 1998 12:00-3QOpm at
the UM Hillel Building, 1429 I-ll Street.
Call (313) 769-0500
for an appointment.
Jasonr ill give; short talk at the Conservative
MinyancFriday ight (services begin at 6:40 pm)
and will be available over dinner afterwards end
on Saturday, after services.
Reconstructionist Rabinical College
located in suburban Phflalhia. email:
rrcinfo@rrc.edu
!"
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Seli
First 4-we
onderful Colorado summer.
ect from 500 classes and
4 convenient terms.
ek term............, May 18-June 12
KEYNOTE
4-5:30 pm
Friday, March 27
Kuenzel Room, Michigan Union
Brian Lamb Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, C-SPAN
Reception follows
Saturday, March 28
Anderson Room C&D, Michigan Union
i$
8:30-9 am
REGISTRATION & COFFEE
PANEL ONE Chalienoes to Industrv
v
E