Friday
October 13, 2006
arts.michigandaily.com
artspage@michigandaily.com
ART s
5
'Pajama'
antics rol
Out laughs
By Catherine Smyka
Daily Arts Writer
Playwrights George Abbott and Jerry
Bissell and composers Richard Adler and
Jerry Ross thought they had it made when
their rambunctious hit
"The Pajama Game" won The Pajama
the 1955 Tony awards Game
for best musical and best
choreography. But when Tonight and
tomorrow
their latest creation, a at8 p.m.
revival of their original Sunday at 2 p.m.
work that features music $22
straight from a Disney Students $9
classic and the sexiness At the Lydia
of, well, a 2006 Tony Mendelssohn Theatre
award winner for best
revival of a musical, the foursome is enjoy-
ing yet another phenomenal success.
The School of Music's "The Pajama
Game," which opened last night at the Men-
delssohn Theatre and runs through Sunday,
teases an audience of hopeless romantics
and Les Mis rebels fighting for the under-
dog. It leaves almost nothing to the imagi-
nation - except how so few people know of
its greatness.
Set in a '50s pajama factory called Sleep
Tite, hues of cotton-candy blues and pinks
set the stage for a struggling superinten-
dent, Sid Sorokin (Music School junior
Garen McRoberts). Alongside his new job,
he finds a fresh love - not of pajamas,
but of Catherine "Babe" Williams (Music
School senior Cortney Wolfson), a spunky
one-woman union Grievance Committee.
Amid females on sewing machines, men
shouting orders and all the cheesy gai-
ety of an episode of "Pleasantville" (with
some fantastic choreography courtesy of
John MacInnis), a company of assembly-
line workers push out as much sleepwear as
they can while fighting for a well-deserved
Graham troupe
lands in A2
Courtesy of Peter Smitn Photography
Music School senior Courtney Wolfson and Music School junior Garen McRoberts are set
to perform the Tony award-winning "The Pajama Game" this weekend at the Mendelssohn
seven-and-a-half-cent raise. As innocent as
it sounds, the production is anything but.
Director Mark Madama, assistant professor
of music, believes the story tells something
unique.
"(The Pajama Game) deals with what the
1950s was in relation to men and women,
work and unions and the combining of the
two stories," Madama said. "This is a clas-
sic musical comedy and really an example
of 'Golden Age Broadway.' "
The play's social commentary grounds
itself around women versus men in classic
'50s stereotypes - men doing the flirting
and women basking in it. As Sorokin sings
to Williams during a love scene, "I don't
wanna talk small talk now that I'm alone
with you." Lead by Babe, however, the
women realize a sense of solidarity, gaining
confidence in themselves and understand-
ing that there are more important things
than men - like taking control of a man,
for instance.
"There were different roles of women
(during this time) because this was a brand
new era for them," Madama said. "(The
Pajama Game) portrays how men relat-
ed to women and were forced to relate to
women."
Societal issues aside, the production can
certainly be commended for its impeccable
choreography, with dance numbers that keep
the performers - and the audience - con-
stantly on their toes. With exhausting rou-
tines like "Hernando's Hideaway" and fresh
lighting techniques among the gibberish
lyrics of "Steam Heat," "The Pajama Game"
warmly capitalizes on the sum of its parts..
Madama places no little faith in the
show's entertainment value..
"It deals with unions, and then it's fun,"
he said. "It contrasts the other shows we're
doing this term and it's fun, funny, lively
and colorful."
Through upbeat and fabulous voices
alongside plenty of good tunes, the come-
dic "Pajama Game" leads its viewers down
a path full of sexy looks and vivacious char-
acters, only to bring them to one conclu-
sion: Men and women aren't the only ones
who can seduce audiences - "The Pajama
Game" does just fine.
By Tania Strauss
For the Daily
It's rare that an artist comes
along who is capable of reinvent-
ing an entire art form.
Ann Arbor audiences will get
a chance to
experience Martha
the work of Graham
such an artist Dance
when the Mar- Company
tha' Graham
Dance Com- Tonight at 8p.m.
pay Ae-and tomorrow at
pany pres- 1p.m and 8 p.m.
ents several $
pieces choreo- $15- 841
graphed by its At the Power Center
revolutionary
founder, Martha Graham. The
company will perform Friday and
Saturday at the Power Center.
Graham founded her ensemble
in 1926 as an outlet for her inno-
vative ideas as a dancer and cho-
reographer. Graham wished to
liberate dance from the strict,
formal conventions of 19th-cen-
tury classical ballet, and create a
system of movement that would
allow the body to expose the most
raw and complex emotions. To
do so she developed a completely
new dance vocabulary and tech-
nique, drawing heavily on her own
experiments with the fundamental
components of human movement.
Using the technique she devel-
oped, she created 181 works of
dance during her lifetime, and
the scope of her artistic achieve-
ment has garnered comparisons
to Picasso and James Joyce. Her
work has received countless acco-
lades during her lifetime as well
as after her death.
The ability of Graham's work
to remain relevant and immedi-
ate decades after its composition
largely attributed to her unflinch-
ing emotional honesty.
"What she deals with in terms
of the human spirit is universal,"
said Peter Sparling, a former
principal dancer with the Martha
Graham Dance Company and a
professor of dance at the Univer-
sity. Graham's "Lamentation" is
a disturbingly vivid realization
of grief in which a solo dancer's
limbs struggle against fabric wrap,
seemingly trying to rip themselves
free of her body before recoiling
inward toward her abdomen. The
celebrated "Diversion of Angels"
is a beautiful and moving explo-
ration of the different aspects of
love, from the skittish leaps of ado-
lescent infatuation to the graceful
stability of mature love. Each of
these works will be featured in
performances this weekend.
The company will give three
performances that aim to high-
light different aspects of Graham's
work and legacy.
The intensity of Graham's
artistic experimentation and her
frequent use of subject matter as
eclectic Greek mythology, makes
the Martha Graham Dance com-
pany ideal for a performance
series in Ann Arbor.
"Graham is a good fit for this
audience because she demands
intellectual engagement and uses
a knowledge of literature," Spar-
ling said. "She works with a col-
laboration of mediums; her work
is very interdisciplinary, which is
in keeping with the University's
philosophy."
Rush tickets for the evening
performances can be purchased
for $10 by students with a valid
student ID from the Michigan
League Ticket Office today from
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Half-priced tick-
ets to both performances can also
be purchased at the Power Center
beginning 90 minutes prior to
each performance.
Banks's 'Apple' none too sweet
By Andrew Kahn
Daily Arts Writer
What happened to Lloyd
Banks? He used to be so deter-
mined, so
energetic,
so hungry **;;
- hungry Loyd Banks
enough to title
his debut The Rotten Apple
Hunger For G-Unit/Interscope
More. Before
its release,
Banks built a large fan base
through dozens of mixtapes. He
was like a raspy-voiced Fabo-
lous, best known for his power-
ful punchlines. The enormous
buzz he generated was enough
to sell more than two million
copies of the album, but even
then it was evident he'd lost
some of his initial appeal.
On his sophomore release,
Rotten Apple, Banks sounds
like he's somewhat content with
his success. Complacency is
always counterproductive: The
album doesn't go anywhere that
Hunger didn't - in fact, it's a
regression.
The 24-year-old New Yorker
sounds out of place with South-
erners Young Buck, Scarface
and 8Ball on the bouncy "Ice-
man," an apparent promotional
stunt attempting to capitalize on
Southern rap's current popular-
ity. The problem is, while the
track's guests are Southerners,
Banks isn't, and it shows. He's
best when a track is dark and
hard-hitting or when it's strictly
for the clubs. He's clueless on a
slow-tempo, laid-back beat like
this one.
And on a song where he's
supposed to be politely admir-
ing the opposite sex, "Help," he
still manages to throw in the
line, "I got her, she hop in the
ride so I can holla / My favorite
girl outside of my Impala." He
just can't help himself.
But there are some standouts,
as expected from a member of
a clique as powerful as G-Unit.
Banks shines on the first two
singles, "Cake" and "Hands
Up," but not without the help
of mentor 50 Cent, who guests
on both. The former includes a
sample that sounds like it's from
a Broadway play (but it works,
like Jay Z's "Hard Knock Life")
and the latter is an Eminem-
produced banger with synths
over short, relentless drum hits.
"Hands Up" is a slightly less-
hype version of Banks's "On
Fire," but still one of the better
tracks on Rotten.
There are 16 songs on the
album, and for every decent
track, there are two or three
fillers. There isn't one specific
thing that Rotten lacks - sev-
eral songs suffer from poor
production ("Playboy 2," "NY
NY") while others have lazi-
ly written hooks ("Stranger,"
"Change").
But if there is one specific
skill Banks has lost since his
mixtape days, it's his ability to
manufacture and deliver clever
lines. He still has a few in his
arsenal: "I got red, blue and
white don't even ask about ice /
I look like a cop car flashin' its
lights," but on the whole, listen-
ers are lucky to get one of these
per song.
If Banks is satisfied playing
second fiddle to 50 the rest of
his career, Rotten Apple is cer-
tainly acceptable, but if he wants
to emerge as a true solo star this
isn't going to cut it. His G-Unit
affiliation alone should get him
another platinum plaque, but his
fan base is going to be disap-
pointed - again.
"If I hear one schmuck request 'You Got a Friend in Me,' it's over."
Eccentrict redux
By Abigail B. Colodner
Daily Arts Writer
If you recall the amiable "You've
Got a Friend in Me" from "Toy
Story 2," you've heard a snippet
of Grammy and Oscar-winning
singer/composer Randy Newman.
In recent years
Newman has Randy
worked heav- Newman
ily in film, S
composing Sunday at
entire scores 7:30 p.m.
for popular $36.50 -$46,50
movies like At the
"Meet the Michigan Theater
Parents" and
"Monsters, Inc." Despite this most
recent body of work, most people
who think of Newman think not
of family-friendly Pixar fare but of
songs like "Short People (Got No
Reason to Live)" and "You Can
Leave Your Hat On," in which he
entreats a woman to take off her
clothes and "shake 'em," but leave
her ... Well, you get the picture.
Newman's music falls into the
pop and R&B genres, sometimes
tinged with a New Orleans flavor.
Newman can feel like a guilty
pleasure; he takes on decidedly
unsavory characters with such
caustic wit that you just have to
love them.
He's earned steady critical
acclaim since his 1970 sophomore
album 12 Songs. One of his earlier
tracks, "Louisiana 1927," about a
catastrophic flooding of the Mis-
sissippi River in 1927, has found a
second life of sorts in the year after
Hurricane Katrina. "Some people
got lost in the flood / Some people
got away all right / They're trying
to wash us away / Louisiana."
Typically Newman accompanies
himself on piano, and often uses
choruses and orchestration to add a
distinctly ironic slant to his songs.
But Newman has also made some
seriously heart-rending ballads,
and he usually includes himself in
his criticism. A plain, middle-aged
man with a croaky voice, Newman
uses these potential shortcomings
to heighten his songs - his phras-
ing and vocal expression make up
for what he lacks in operatic skill.
His music has made people alter-
nately, sometimes simultaneously,
overcome with tears and doubled
with laughter, and Sunday he's sure
to find an appreciative audience.
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