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 !" i L. -..-...._ . . .i I : If 4- It! 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