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Eeware the Headhunt..
Check out Daily Arts online for Jmhua
Gross' review of Saturdayfs Herb'ie
Hancock/Wayne Shorter concert.
b trbgn~U
MONDAY
NOVEMBER 13, 2000
5A
michigandaily.com /arts
ast not afraid of suspense in
Virginia
Woolf,
3y Jenny Jeltes
al Arts\Vriter
"Truth and illusion. Who knows the dif-
erence, eh, toots? Eh?"
In Edward Albee's
famous play "Who's
Afraid of Virginia
Woolf?," the
Who's playwright explores the
Afraidtof lives Qf' a middle-aged
VirgIna couple living on a small
Woolf? college campus in New
Arena Theatre England in the early
Nov. 11, 2000 1950s.
Throughout the show,
one learns about their
bizarre relationship and
... just a wee bit more.
By the end of the show,
the audience is left in
state of exhaustion. Exhaustion from
what? Exhaustion from, seeing reality
flipped upside down, torn apart and strug-
gling to survive against the inevitable
truth that reality is nothing but a twisted
illusion of an impossible life, a life where
everything makes sense.
George (Eddie Murray) and Martha
(Rebecca Mall) return home late one night
from a faculty meeting. As always, they
begin bickering with one another about
anything and everything. Every conversa-
tion follows the typical pattern of Martha
nagging and braying at George and him
ignoring her with a slew of sarcastic
replies.
Although it is well past midnight,
Martha had invited guests over to the
house for drinks. Soon Nick (Adam Greg-
ory) and Honey (Leigh Feldpausch), a
new couple in town, arrive.
Expecting a light and cordial visit with
attempt to make pleasant conversation
with the hosts. Honey, flighty and fragile,
downs her brandy like water while joy-
ously commenting on how wonderfully
wonderful everything is.
Nick, seemingly irritated, ignores his
wife by responding to George and Mar-
tha's questioning. As if Honey and Nick
were George and Martha's long-time bud-
dies, the host couple is blatantly blunt
and curious. So why don't Nick and
Honey have any kids? Must Nick be
so damn reserved and overly polite? Is
Honey really as pleasant and bubbly as
she appears?
At some point throughout the night,
however, the emphasis dramatically
switches to George and Martha, especially
when all four of the friendly bunch get
sucked in to such games as "Humiliate
the Host" and even "Hump the Hostess."
After Martha brings up the story of their
own son, both George and Martha plow
through an account of their past.
Their different claims as to what actu-
ally happened to him draw the audience
into the inevitable, underlying conflict
that shatters all that is considered real.
George plays along with Martha's account
of their son for a bit, but later tells Martha
and the guests that their son is dead.
It appears as if this will truly drive
Martha mad, but by the end of the show,
the audience sees that this occurrence has
a far deeper meaning. The audience likely
questions if their son ever existed at all.
The acting in this show is superb, espe-
cially from the roles of Martha and Honey.
Martha's dominant, aggressive character
is pulled off with tremendous energy.
On stage, one can't help but feel her
intensity. Honey gives the plot a unique
twist when she has a mental breakdown in
Act III. In a startling portrayal of her pain
and suffering, Honey pleadingly falls to
the floor and nears insanity in response
to her deeply-felt hurt and vulnerability.
Both George and Nick give good perfor-
mances, but the acting is not nearly as
captivating.
Losing the male lead with only two
weeks left before opening night, however,
Murray stepped in and with no hesitation,
put his all into helping make the show a
success.
This three hour long tragic comedy does
not feel like three hours. The intensity
builds throughout the entire play until the
audience, hopefully, is struck with that
satisfying feeling that screams: "Oh, I get
it!"
Director Karen Soules said: "I picked
this show because it is absolutely incred-
ible. It has many levels and the entire
show builds as you are drawn in to the
characters' sick lives."
George and Martha, Nick
and Honey
Find the precious time
o see James Gleick
tonight at Borders
y Lucas Millheim
r the Daily
Quick - how do you picture your-
frelaxing tonight? Will you be racing
%ugh dim city streets in a 500 Benz
vith a pretty face in the seat next
o you? Or maybe calling a date on
cell phone as you step into a cab,
while glancing at
your schedule on
your Palm Pilot?
Maybe you're the
James stay at home type
Gleick -- you'll just sit
Borders on the couch and
turn on the televi-
Tonight at 8 sion.
Whatever your
bag, I suspect you
will not have time
to read James
Gleick's new
book, "Faster:
The Acceleration
f Just About Everything." You prob-
y don't even have 'time tonight to
n to him read at Border's.
I'm going to keep this brief. "Faster"
s an attempt to document the speed of
fe in the year 2000, to bring together
Il the disparate facts of our hurried
ifestyles. "There was a big story about
Modern life that was not being told,"
Ileick said. "Everybody knows indi-.
idual bits, but I don't think the pieces
f the puzzle were being put together in
global way."
tteickhas certainly assembled a
ans shorw
wide range of facts about speed. such
as the restaurant in Japan that charges
diners by the minute. Or the producers
of the Rush Limbaugh radio show, who
have installed a box in the program-
ming room that actually cuts out the
unimportant bits of Rush's broadcasts.
Or the "Door ('lose" button on the ele-
vator - we've all pressed it before -
that is often disconnected upon instal-
lation by elevator engineers.
The story Gleick tells us is one we
all know intuitively. We talk on our cell
phones while we drive, we pull break-
fast, lunch and dinner from micro-
wave ovens and eat it standing up.
We know that time seems compressed,
that society is moving faster than ever
before. "Faster" confirms our suspi-
cions, allows us even to be smug in our
own superior management of time.
Gleick says the average person
spends 16 minutes a day reading books.
As students at this illustrious institu-
tion, we all have that number beat. Four
minutes a day having sex? Please.
It took me a little more than three
hours to read "Faster." Still, I can't
quite figure out what the book was
trying to do. Is it a social criticism?
A work of investigative journalism? A
scholarly treatise? The book is wonder-
fully light reading, like slightly beefy
newspaper writing.
In fact, Gleick is a regular contribu-
tor to The New York Times Magazine.
Yet Gleick's slick style is a detriment to
his weightier arguments on the effects
of fast living. As is common in journal-
renewed
FT
1SETHE ACCELERATION
OF JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING
1AMESIHI C author of CH AOS
ism, Gleick's writing has more sizzk
than steak. And in a book promoted a<
an exploration of "nothing less than th
human condition," shouldn't we expeci
more than just sizzle'?
"Faster" fails because it cheats itsell
on the big questions and offers no real
suggestions or solutions. On this, Mr.
Gleick refused to say JIow the future
might look. "We can't keep accelerat-
ing forever," he said.
That's not to say that you shouldn't
read the book. As a journalistic trea-
tise, 300 pages long and costing S14,
I would recommend it. In fact, go out
and read it tomorrow - if you can
find the time.
Jerry Blackstone's Glee Club
was at its best last Saturday night.
The boys managed to keep their
composure for their first concert
of the year. Blackstone said it was
also the first performance ever for
about half of the choir, adding that
The tradition lives on: Men's
Glee Club sharp in season debut
By Sarah Rubin
Dailv Arts Writer
Men's
Glee Club
Hill Auditorium
Nov. 11 2000
sian piece.
It's important
he was thrilled
about the turn-
out.
Reeking of
tradition, the
"Fall Concert"
had a classic
Blackstone rep-
ertoire: In addi-
tion to
conventional
University fight
songs, it
consisted of an
Italian piece, a
Russian piece
and a Polyne-
to remember that
challenged with living up to the
Men's Glee Club reputation, which
is a product of 141 years of effort.
And they did it.
It is no easy feat to elude the
monotonous sound that less-expe-
rienced men's choirs tend to lapse
into. In "Song for Athene," the
men managed to sustain a high
energy level and pitch while hold-
ing a low 'volume. It was a sen-
sitive interpretation that deserves
kudos. Other numbers, like the A.
E. Housman poems arranged by
Walter Piston, were more jovial.
The boys nailed the diction and
produced a full, rich tone. "Not
While I'm Around," a well-known
favorite, was lively; the men had
obvious focus on keeping the music
bright and crisp.
Other aspects of the performance
were also notably superb. Working
as a unified team, the Glee Club
was able to crescendo and decre-
scendo with ease. The chords were
balanced and one part never domi-
nated the other.
"The Friars," an octet spawning
from the Glee Club, entertained
the audience with cute songs like
"Color Me Bad" and "Runaround
Sue."
Concerts like this make people
remember why they like to sing.
The audience was captivated, and
it was the type of attention that
can only be supplied by moms and
grandpas and little brothers and
girlfriends. The applause was as
generous as Hill's acoustics.
Evan Schanhals, a new member,
felt honored to be "part of a
long-standing tradition." Black-
stone was "very proud of the won-
derful work." He noted that there
were "several distinctive compo-
nents" of the group: "Family, a
sense of comradery and being part
of something bigger than our-
selves." A visiting Glee Club alum
agreed, saying that it reminded him
of a "family reunion."
And so, when Blackstone called
all Glee Club alumni to the stage
to join in on "Yellow and Blue,"
it was no surprise to watch the
stage be inundated with older imen,
mostly dads and grandpas. Tradi-
tion is the biggest trump that these
guys have - and besides, they
look great in their tuxes.
in addition to learning Blackstone's
intense picks, the members are also
- I
What Do
These Leaders Have
in Common?
ppetite for rockers
The Sea and Cake
Kelly Vile
Daiiy Arts Writer
Considering the vastness of the sea, all
he creatures living in it and living from
it, all the ingredients that make a cake
nd then the actual process of baking
cake, one can spend hours spicading
he details out in one's mind, the images
gradually fading and being replaced by a
sen;e ofsomething
delightfully solid
Vet fluid and fleet-
ing. Many people
The Sea missed out on their
and Cake pieces of the band
The Sea and Cake,
Magic Stik because the show
had sold out in
advance.
Indeed, many
people stood out-
side The Sea and
Cake's show
Friday night. The
Magic Stick filled
up quickly, the
voices from inside becoming ever wamer
and more joyful. Unfortunately, many
unexpected, no one complained. In fact,
people crammed themselves together,
craning their necks to get a better view of
the stage and the film playing behind it.
A fter Broadcast, the crowd readily
packed the floor like jellybeans in a plas-
tic container. A gentle crowd of jelly-
beans, they slid into place peacefully,
apologizing for stepping on anyone's
toes or putting out a cigarette in anybody
else's ashtray The atmosphere, although
muich like a sauna, was conducive to
happy vibrations good for celebrating
the release of The Sea and Cake's sixth
album, Qui, after the band's three-year
break.
Much oflthe set was dedicated to new
songs off Qui, blissfully played, rising
from underwater to the top of the hori-
zon. melting into new patterns and coag-
ulating into an overall tight perfornance.
The songs from Qui actually differed a
lot from The Sea and Cake's previous
tunes. Simpler and less complex, yet
played with ease and a satisfying indi-
viduality, the crowd hungrily devoured
the set. The band was cheered on to play
two encores, during which The Sea and
Cake indulged the listeners with famous
Gwendolyn Chivers, Chief
Pharmacist, University of Michigan
Health Services
Gayle Crick, Manager, Cynthia Kirman,1
Global Marketing, National Managed
Eli Lilly & Co. Program, General M
The University of Michigan
College of Pharmacy has been
developing leaders for positions in
health care, biotechnology, business,
" educationengineering
law, the pharmaceutical
industry, and other
careers for 125 years.
It's a major reason
Manager,
Pharmacy our College is
Motors Corp.
consistently ranked
among the world's best.
You owe it to
yourself to find out
about the great,
e President,
cs R&D, high-paying career
uibb Co.,
arch Institute opportunities available to
U-M College of
' Pharmacy graduates.
Peter Labadie, President,
Williams-Labadie, LLC, a
subsidiary of Leo Burnett
Communications
Albert Leung, President,
Phyto-Technologies, Inc.
Robert Lipper, Vic
Biopharmaceuti
Bristol-Myers Sq
Pharmaceutical Rese
:k xm .,.
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