Monday
April 3, 2006
arts. michigandaily. com
artspage@michigandaily.com
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'U' CSO hits Hill
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opportunities where faculty, staff, stu-
dents and community members can Courtesy of Michael Chang
all audition and take part of some CSO will perform tonight at 8 p.m.
thing as equals," Music Director Rob-
Courtesy of Columbia
"Basic Instinct 3: Medicaid and Rim Jobs."
CRUDE 'INSTINCT'
STONE TANKS IN UNNECESSARY, UNATTRACTIVE SEQUEL
By David R. Eicke
Daily Arts Writer
In 1992, a movie titled "Basic Instinct" emerged
from the sequined fabric of Hollywood and forced
half the nation to readjust its
collective crotch. The scintil- Basic
lating film featured a female Instinct 2
novelist whose stories of sex
and murder had a funny way of At the Showcase
coming true. The leading role and Quality 16
was played by none other than Columbia
the drippingly seductive Sharon
Stone, a perfect choice for the role of an erotic ice-
pick-wielding writer/temptress.
Now, in the spring of 2006, we have the sequel.
It's cleverly called "Basic Instinct 2." The movie
is about a female novelist whose stories of sex and
murder have a funny way of coming true. It features
Sharon Stone.
Whose idea was this?
As any conscious fourth-grader that could tell
you, 2006 minus 1992 is 14. Fourteen years. That's
enough time to go from gurgling womb fluid to
playing competent basketball. It's also enough time,
it turns out, for a certain Stone to fossilize.
"Basic Instinct 2" follows largely the same plot as
its predecessor - except it takes place in London, not
San Francisco. Novelist Catherine Tramell (Stone,
"Broken Flowers") comes under investigation when
she is found to be sexually connected to a recent mur-
der victim. Scotland Yard appoints Dr. Michael Glass
(David Morissey, "Derailed") to psychoanalyze the
crazy bitch. Tramell then systematically seduces
him with her constant discourse on her masturba-
tory antics and adventurous sexuality. As she does so,
people close to Glass keep dying.
But despite the deaths, he can't quite keep the reins
on his loins and falls into an affair with the ever-dan-
gerous, kinky-in-an-awkward-way woman.
Note carefully that the preceding adjective series
did not contain the word "hot." Tramell is not much
of a temptress anymore. Instead, she now resembles
infamous Dalmatian-murderer Cruella De Vil - not
a good thing when the entire film hinges on the pre-
supposition of her sexual appeal.
Stone tries to play the same character she did in
the original, employing breathy articulations and a
proclivity for coy, sidelong glances. Unfortunate-
ly, she comes off as a hornball soccer mom with
delusions of a lost youth, and one who's had one
too many cigarettes at that. And by "one," I mean
"thousands." In other words, her boobs are bigger,
but they're also, um, lower.
As for the rest of the cast, they don't really matter.
Dr. Glass is little more than an everyman who works
in a building that oddly resembles the NCAA Football
National Championship trophy. He has an accent. He
fills a role. Along with everyone else, his character
suffers from a grapefruit-for-brains one-dimension-
ality, which is heartbreaking when you consider his
well developed counterpart Nick (Michael Douglas,
"The Game") from the first movie.
Well, maybe something good could come of this
after all. Somebody go ring Sean Connery's door-
bell. We need a new Bond. If Stone can draw out a
character this fare can't he?
ert Boardman said.
A doctoral conducting student,1
Boardman has headed the CSO for the
past two years.
For the School of Music's 125th'
anniversary, Boardman and the CSO
have a special - as well as free -
concert planned for 8 p.m. tonight at
Hill Auditorium.
The program will include the time-1
less Charles Ives piece "The Unan-1
swered Question" and Johannes
Brahms's "Academic Festival Over-
ture," exactly 125 years old this year,
which will open the show.
Essentially based on a collection of
traditional drinking songs, it was com-
posed for a graduation ceremony for
students in Austria.
"That will go along well with stu-;
dents at the University," Boardman1
quipped.
Perhaps the greatest focus during the
first half of the program will be Jenni-
fer Higdon's "blue cathedral." In 2003,
it was the most performed contempo-
rary piece by a living composer in thei
United States, Boardman said. Tonight
will be its University premiere.
"For somebody who doesn't know
classical music, it's very likable,"
Boardman said.
"It's about the death of her brother
... She played flute, he played clarinet.
The piece starts out with a flute solo
- she was born first - and then later
the clarinet comes in and they do this
sort of duet/dance."
Also featured tonight is the 2006
Eugene Bossart Concerto Competi-
tion winner and third-year Law stu-
dent Lindsay Heller. She will perform
the first movement of Samuel Barber's
"Violin Concerto."
"I guess the ('Violin Concerto')
is both a romantic and a twentieth-
century piece - it's a mixture of the
two," Heller said. "It's more of a duet
between orchestra and violin, more
than most concertos."
Soloists play a major role in the afore-
mentioned Ives piece, which brings in
guest conductor Mark Latham for his
first concert with the CSO.
The orchestra's arrangement during
"The Unanswered Question" is unique.
The strings are set up on stage, the
woodwind quartet is in the mezzanine
and the single trumpet emanates from
the balcony.
Latham is also conducting Mozart's
famed "Sinfonia Concertante in E-
flat," with four featured soloists. He
compared it to a dialogue of strings and
woodwinds, echoing Heller's words on
the Barber composition.
"It's like a scene at a party ... a
group of friends talking to each other,
and you've got all the rest of the people
and they haven't actually got too much
to do, but they comment on each other,"
Latham said. "Great piece - seems
like it's easy, but really quite difficult."
Fans and friends of the symphony
should join the CSO tonight for the
proverbial orchestral party.
"(Come) to have a great time,"
Latham said.
-r, a
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