Shian Diy - Thursday, October 14, 1999 - 11A ove and oney ~tells old ye story Lindsey Alpert ly Arts Writer oy meets girl. Boy falls for girl rl is rich, boy is not. Sound famil- ? e and Money," a quirky new tic comedy, retells the age-old bidden love story with a posh w York City apartment building its backdrop. amon Roach, played by the cute ian Van Hole, works as the build- 's superintendent after an injury ds his professional sports career. falls for rich heiress Allison nklin (Paget Brewster) who he's since childhood. course, her billionaire parents not exactly thrilled. Her father, yed by David Ogden Stiers, is a ughty businessman. Her cham- pagne drinking, snobbish moth- er, is brought to life by an excel- Love and lent Swoosie Money Kurtz. In the season ca premiere, cd s Allison is about days at 8:30m. to marry a rich guy that she doesn't love. o She decides to lock herself in the bathroom so the family calls ndyman Roach to come up and fix Q;. renters the bathroom through a ndow, where he and Allison have a amy moment. Her wedding plans are cancelled, d by the end of the episode Eamon d Alison are together. Now what? The plot is so thin so at mttore is there to do? Hopefully ° writers of the show, who to this nt have been very clever, will fig- Qai something. week's episode, entitled hel WASPs Collide," focuses on problem the parents have about relationship. The plot looks like it will turn in direction of "Dharma and Greg," t without the flower child aspect. e acting has much to be desired, tl uckily the dialogue is able to ke up for it. The veteran actors t- t the younger ones. toching the comely Allison and mon interact resembles a high hool play in terms of acting. Kurtz terrific in the roll of the drunken ther and gets many of the best e-liners. Stiers fits the stereotypi- I billionaire perfectly. In the funniest scene of the isode, Stiers walks along the win- w ledge to see what was taking so g in the bathroom. n he sees his daughter and the n man engaged in some erotic havior, he falls backwards right f the ledge. This is a warning to male viewers t there. For the most part, this is a iick flick. Females, you will feel warm and zzy after watching this cute show at would have made a much better ovie. es, you will feel physically ill ter watching this show, so unless >'re trying to impress a girlfriend, ah't bother with it. Overall, the series is entertaining, spite bad acting. It seems doubtful that this show ill reach its second season, but the ever writers might figure out a way make it happen. On a plan-less Friday night, you o have to waste your money to is love. London...........$472 Paris...........$496 New York.......$270 Amsterdam.... $583 (734) 666-8550 1103S. University, Suite I (734) 769-2335 Michigan Union, Ground Floor AI ares are round ng. Tax not included Some restctions apply, 'TRAVEL evBenThere. -ww - " ameBroadi By Christopher Tkaczyk Daily Arts Writer Famed theater director and actor Mark Lamos is visiting the School of Music through Saturday to provide students with an expert's knowledge of theater. Lamos, a visiting professor, has been working in-residence since Oct. 4, lecturing on Shakespeare, attending studio classes and seasoning student actors with tidbits of advice and criticism. "His expertise covers such a wide range," said theater Prof. Phillip Kerr, who filled in the gaps for the modest Lamos dur- ing a recent interview. "He's been helpful in so many areas." Lamos' Broadway directorial debut in 1988 of "Our Country's Good" was nominated for a Tony Award for best director. He has directed operas for some of the world's best opera companies, including Glimmerglass Opera, the Sante Fe Opera, the San Francisco Opera, Sweden's Stora Theatern and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Fresh from his position as artistic director of the Hartford Stage Company, Lamos joined the University's staff in 1998 as a visiting adjunct professor of theater in directing, and fulfills his commitment to the position by collaborating with profes- sors and working with students three weeks out of every year. Lamos, who will be busy staging new opera productions in the next few months, is expecting to return for one final week sometime in February, with dates still to be determined. His past two weeks have brimmed with attention to student performances, offering different approaches and helpful criti- cism. Assisting design students of Prof. Jessica Hahn and the opera students of Prof. Joshua Major have been a few high- lights, Lamos said, proving to him that the next generation of theatrical artists is shining bright with drive and possibility. Lamos' current trip to Ann Arbor has reunited him with Prof. Phillip Kerr, a longtime friend and co-worker. The two mechanicals met in the mid-'80s while collaborating on a Shakespeare production at the Hartford Stage. Since then, the pair have worked together on four Shakespeare plays, includ- ing "The Tempest." Together again, Lamos has been helping Kerr with the early stages of planning for University Productions' December run of "The Tempest." Kerr is touting his "Tempest" as being like no other and with "millennium sensibilities." The production will feature performances by students and faculty of all School of Music departments, Kerr said, including dance, vocal arts, opera, musical theater and theater and drama. "Mark has been extremely helpful as a consulting director" Kerr said. Ideas for set and costumes designs were bounced off of Lamos, who also helped in casting considerations. "He's a director who tastefully covers all areas of produc- tion concepts," Kerr said. "The first time you direct 'The Tempest,' you approach it from the bottom of a mountain," Lamos said. "It has themes of art, politics, youth, age, responsibilities. It looks like such a huge, grand piece of work. But when you actually do it, it seems one of the simplest plays imaginable." "With "The Tempest," you don't bear the great deal of revi- sionist interpretation. You just can't do that with it," Lamos said. "Sometimes directors will want to set Shakespeare in modern times, modern places. 'The Tempest' is set on an island, so you can't mess with it. "But you have to know j;before you can play with it. It's like being harnessed into a chariot. You've got to go where it's taking you." W\ s oi kit is s resident artist is the Giuthrie Theater in r ~[ -i 3tI nis ppird w inpoduct~iis ol cl~sssicplays bslsiShwss, and Sb. kespeare. S ed ihi work. A lo, about me is ai autodidact, In ' i w oui do suas go so the sipera or go to the theater. S'earnin about tleser and theatrical peitods," Lamos e ssdK"oAl 'f hat appealed to me It's what turied Te on the msos s S N._ Mark Lamos has been working in-residence since Oct. 4. Kerr and Lamos hope the production will seve is s 1each- ing tools for the young actors who wil tackle the laimous Shakespearean text. "The undergraduate students at the Univcrsity ov M ihigia are quite exceptional," said Lamos, who has gues lectnred st Juillard and the Yale School of Drama, bot c whih le iure some of the best graduate theater progrirns i she N mied States. "You usually don't see this level of wsork ii an utdci graduate department." It is the department's attention to the craft, Kerr admon- ished, that produces quality actors. "This is a world class university," Kerr said. "You hase to get over hurdles to be accepted at Michigan." Those hurdles often trip students who come looking for fame and fortune as an actor. Only the truly serious ictor wii survive in the competitive environment of Ann Arboi thseater. "They have not only a focus on where they're heiig" Lamos said, "but they know of their ssreigshs and limitatiois. They're focused about the realities of the profession Lamos, who is visiting the University after directiig a sercs of operas, is enjoying a return to the traditional theater, his first love. "It's vivifying to be around actors again." Lamos said. Lamos, too, was once a student actor. After he moed to New York, he was offered a one and half yc:sr contract for a soap opera, and considered the job as proftiablc cmploytnent, not to mention fame and screen exposure. "But then a friend said: 'Is this what you wsai Ito dCo with your life? The dialogue is stupid. What about th theite'? It's what you've always wanted to do.' So I dropped she soap and went to the Guthrie (Theater)," Lamos said. His first taste of directing came following a triumphant turn as lailet .t the Old Globe Theater its atSn Francisco. Onit oshe blue, a call came,' Lansis said, "I was asked, llcsc you ever thoight about direcitig' So, I started direct- in' and I Ic'svcr stopped.' Lamos saiid. Wh «n Lamoos titss sat in the director's seat, the regional the- atti scene was busting at the seams with opportunity. A 1'77 production of Shaw's "Dear liar" found then-first- Silo director Lamos at the helm, His successes added up and he oon directed Peter Shaffer's "Equus" for the Arizona [heaclei Compasny. Lcmos' cites his beginnings as an actor to have helped him b 'ccouse ihe director he is; he is better able to understand ac'ts sltile directing. "I have less patience with them," Lamos joked. "I'm not in aswe Cof them. famns likens his job as a director to that of a glorified edi- 101 or tralis controller. It is a consciously changing art form, hi fcsre, during, and after rehearsals, that can take on a new dir'eicoln at any moment. "You're working towards closure" Lamos said. "Like in 'The Tmpest.' there are so many tensions released in the room,. ,sery time is a once in a lifetime experience. Three weeks into the process, that thing you've began to create takes on a life of its own, and you have to stand back because it needs to eat and it needs to breathe. You do what you can." 11 1The real talents (of a director) are listening and watching while it's evolving," Lamos said. After Lanos departs Ann Arbor this Saturday, he will return to dilrecling opera for a New York staging of the new American opera "Centlal Park," which he also directed for Glimmerglass Opera this summer. While Kerr will be watching the curtain rise on "The Tempest" at the Power Center in December, Lamos will be five weeks into rehearsal for the world premiere of John Harbison's operatic ver- sion of "The Great Gatsby" for the Metropolitan Opera in Lincoln Center. A special eight weeks of.rehearsals have been scheduled for the new work, whose score Lamos describes as "gorgeous. "larbison is a jazz lover. There are tons of references to '20s pop musical numbers. The gestures are brilliantly woven,' Lamos said. "The Great Gatsby" will join an abundance of new operatic works by American composers, including William Bolcom's "A View from the Bridge" and Andre Previn's "Streetcar Named Desire." Both operas are based upon great American works of literature and were instantly judged upon the grounds of tampering with ready-made masterpieces. The necessity of Gatsby's operatic ver- sion has already been questioned. "Ninety-nine percent of the libretto is Fitzgerald's words, Liamos said. Nick Carraway doesn't function as a narrator, and most of the novel's thought processes have been turned into arias. "In opera, characters speaks a truth. In novels, they never speak truths, but their feelings are revealed through the text," Lamos said. "More of the characters (in the opera) are truly emphat- ic. It's a brilliant libretto." Read the Daily. I a quirky comedy by eSCape George F. Walker OIfjhappies "A deliriously paced drawing- room Pulp Fiction." - Michigan Daily Oct. 14 -16 at 8pm " Oct.17 at 2pm Trueblood Theatre 71 Tickets are $14." Students $7 wAD League Ticket Office UMScoofusDsnepto fwuhearenDrama 734-764-0450 26th Ann Arbor Winter Art Fair Oct.23 & 24,1999 arrWashtenaw Farm Council Grounds 5055 Ann Arbor-Saline Rd. Saturday, October 23 - 10am to 6pm Sunday, October 24 -11am to 5pm Ma yNimityongskul Manfrd Heine-gaux Dave Eickholt Zor Pondell Audree Levy presents 180 of the finest artists and craftspeople in the country. Take 1-94 to Exit 177 (State St.). Turn South "3 miles" to Textile Rd. Turn right (West) "3 miles" to Ann Arbor- Saline Rd. Turn right (North) "1 mile" to entrance of the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds. www.levyartfairs.com e-mail: audree@levyartfairs.com Admission $5.00 - Under 10 FREE 2500 Free Parking Spaces.- Indoor Heated Facility ry ° '