So little room... Go online and check out the fine arts stories that didn't make it into today's paper, and while you're there, pick your favorites for the TV Tour- ney via the Daily forum. michigandaily. comr/arts ~ae duBw Pli ARTS TUESDAY Q MARCH 20, 2001 { Off-opera 'Perichole' an escapist's dream Courtesy of Maria Vasilkovsky Maria Vasilkovsky's surreal animated "Fur and Feathers" was a stand-out of this year's Ann Arbor Film Festival. perientation, animatin omakefor memorable AAF By Andy TaylorFabe & Ryan Blay Daily ArtsWriters The Ann Arbor Film Festival has a 39-year history of showcasing talented filmmakers early in their careers (just ask Gus Van Sant and George Lucas, both past winners) and is always worth the price of admission. As every year, the experimental film festival brought to light many new talents, while returning favorites tried to redefine their respective niches. The film ran the gamut from Zachary Scheuren's "Dunkler kann Es Nicht Werden," which was complex and dark as its title, to Nancy Andrews' innovative "Hedwig Page, Seaside Librarian, a favorite with both audiences and critics, taking home two awards. Andrews combined puppet animation and live action to tell the story of a librarian who retires to the coast, only to begin circulating her prolific seashell collection, which she has organized by the Dewey Decimal system. Never underesti- mate the popularity of a puppet boxing. The film won the "Screeners Choice for Narrative Integrity" award, as well as the "Marvin Felheim Special Jury Award." The "Detroit Filmmakers Coalition Award" went to Dever Rochon and Lydia Modica for "Whippersnapper," a short film about a boy who refuses to accept that his grandfather's recent stroke has left him immobile and unable to speak. He plays with his grandfather, wheels him around, and tries to make him "snap out of it" by irritating him to the point where he will stop pretending. Somehow the film manages to make the grandfather's horrible situation seem manageable, as everyone around him loves him. "I can still have fun with my grandpa," the young boy says, "whether he likes it or not." And what film festival could possibly be complete without a nod to '70s exploitation flicks. Winning an honorable men- tion was Shawn P Morrissey's "Automatic Meat Probe" is a strange and jarring parody of action films. Using footage from a fight scene that looks like it is out of a B-movie, Mor- rissey uses jumpy, frantic camerawork and fast motion repeti- tion of the fight that creates an assault on your senses. Strangely entertaining while still poking fun at the genre, it is a visually unique film. One of the most visually stunning and evocative films was Maria Vasilkovsky's "Fur and Feathers," an animation short done with paint on glass. The dreamlike interactions between the elf-like man and woman who are featured in the film are surreal and strangely funny, and the swirling blue colors of the film were mesmerizing. Another favorite was Ann Alter's "Team Red," a shocking documentary about three subjects- two women and a man, all infected with HIV- with an unusual task: they are part of a tit- ular group whose mission is to infect powerful corporate executives with AIDS. All three subjects, dead since the film was produced, stated with no uncertainty that what they were doing was no worse than the corporations seizing and destroying land. The frank discussion about the stigma of HIV and the activities of "rich white men" infected, was eerie and brilliant. Festival veteran Jay Rosenblatt scored honorable mention with one of his two brief entries, "Nine Lives (The Eternal Moment of Now)," a one-minute look at the life of a cat. Rosenblatt's second entry was the quaint story of his child- hood fear that worms could rain down from the sky. While any film festival, by nature, is a mixed bag, this years AAFF scored on several emotional levels, offering funny, sad, irreverent and frightening reminders why film as an art form lives on. For a full list of this years winners, check out the festival's official website at wwwaafilmfest.org. - Daily Film Editor Lyle Henretty contributed to this report. By Laura Deneau Daily Arts Writer Romantic-comedy, opera and escapist's dream all describe Jaques Offenbach's operetta, "La Peric- hole." It's a different sort of opera, closer to a musical than traditional operatic pieces. "It has great dance numbers, lots of ensemble pieces, and the plot moves through the songs," said o nConductor Steven Byess. La "It's just Perichole delightful; you can see why MendelssohnTheatre Offenbach was March 22 through 25 so popular." As a roman- : . tic comedy, the plot revolves around dreamy themes of misidentity and love and is played out in ironical twists with hoppin' melodies. Byess calls the music "fun, spirited, and fast," like a swanky party. And best of all for American audiences, "La Perichole" will be sung in English. Originally set in 19th C Peru, an exotic dream-place for Parisian audiences, Joshua Major, director of the production, cunningly relocated the show to a 1950s beach town to capture an exotic aura for modern audiences. "Perichole needs an environment that is exotic, mythical, and self- indulgent. These days we attach those labels to beach locations - Fiji, Mexico, Tahiti and the Caribbean," Major said in a press release. "Our recollection of the 1950s has been similarly romanti- cized. That romanticism has caused a resurgence of '50s culture with its frivolous clothes and drinks such as cosmopolitans and martinis. By combining the exoticism of a beach locale with the mythical and whim- sical qualities of the 1950s, we believe that we are creating an envi- ronment on stage where this story can happen." The story takes some absurd turns, even for an opera. Perichole and Paquillo are street-singers in love, who seek marriage. On the crowded streets of a 1950s beach town and at a Viceroy's drunken party they sing to make enough money for a ceremony. Luckless, Paquillo departs to raise cash. At his departure the Viceroy, who observes Perichole's performance with love in his eyes, offers Peric- hole a place in his court. Torn but tired of poverty, she accepts, leav- ing a small, apologetic note for Paquillo. A decree dictates that all women of the court must be mar- ried. Obeying this law, the Viceroy instructs his men to find for Peric- hole a husband. Coincidentally, they find Paquillo, now desolate and drunk, to marry Perichole. But Paquillo is too drunk at his wedding to recognize his bride. Instead of being happy he remains depressed until the next morning, when he becomes aware that Perichole is the bride beside him. But considering what's happened, he blows up. Peri- chole and Paquillo then struggle to happily end their passion as compli- cations abound. Offenbach was famous for his ridiculous comic operas with fairy- tale plots, which later inspired Gilbert and Sullivan. He had a pro- lific career, composing over 100 stage works, including "Orpheus in the Underworld," "La Vie Parisi- enne," and "The Tales of Hoffman." Originally trained as a cellist at the Paris Conservatory, he composed music for both the voice instru- ments. In 1855, he rented a theater to begin staging his first attempts at comic opera composition. Joshua Major recently directed more than 80 opera productions including "The Marriage of Figaro," "La Traviata," "Don Giovanni," "La Boheme" and most recently, "Le Tragedie de Carmen" at Boston University. Steven Byess is a Visit- ing Lecturer in Music; he is also the Music Director of the Cobb Sym- phony Orchestra in Georgia and the courtesy of University Productions The Three Cousins (Megan Besley Alfssa Mercurio and Kimberley Dolanskl) get pornographic in "La Perichole." S Associate Music Director.of the Ohio Light Opera. Vincent Mountain is the scenic designer for the production and has done previous work on "Falstaff." The costume designer, Meghann O'Malley is an undergraduate stu- dent in the Department of Theater and Drama making her mainstage debut. Lighting Designer He*r Chockley's works has been seen in "Falstaff" and "S'lichot." The Choreography, designed by Lisa Catrett-Belrose, completes, the design aspects of the perform-arie. - I Y z 2 Discover how to incorporate your international interests into your careerZ 2 ~at the University of Michigan and beyond!! z z 22 2i 2 2 2 2 2 z ~Tuesday, March 20,11 am-3pm, Pendleton Room, MI Union2 2 - 2 t ~Sponsored by the International Institute2 2 2 2 2 N --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I I t [IFIIi IF YOU THINK A NIGHT IN A FOXHOLE IS TOUGH, TRY A LIFETIME IN A CUBICLE. The U.S. Army offers 212 different career opportunities in fields ranging from medicine, construction and law enforcement to accounting, engineering and intelligence. You'll be trained. Then you'll use those skills from the first day on the job. It's a great way to start moving in the direction you want to go. J .- -- 'p - h I=