The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
FINE ARTS PREVIEW

Friday, March 23, 2007 - 5

Political and social
themes on a string

They don't look nearly as badass in the history texts.

HISTORY'S ASSASSINS MEET AND GREET AT THE POWER CENTER

By CATHERINE SMYKA
Daily Arts Writer
What if John Wilkes Booth sat down with
Lee Harvey Oswald to discuss politics?
The nine main characters
in Stephen Sondheim's musi-
cal "Assassins" want to change Assassins
an unsatisfactory society or
win the attention of a girl, Friday and
but somehow their intentions Saturday at 8
tragically stray to murder. The p.m.;Sunday
student theater group Musket at 2 p.m.
presents "Assassins," the trag-
ic but humorous story of nine $7
assassinations of U.S. presi-
dents, both attempted and Atethe Pwe
successful, tonight through Center
Sunday at the Power Center.
Though Lee Harvey Oswald
and Giuseppe Zangara (who attempted to assas-
sinate Franklin Roosevelt in 1933) never met, in
"Assassins" disparate historical figures advise
each other. The show opens up a montage of
possible emotions, circumstances and mindsets
that transform a human being into a murderer.
"Someone feeling small can buy a piece of
metal, and in an action so simple can become
more powerful than anyone in the world," said

Stephen Sposito, director and Music School
senior. "This show teaches people to listen to
the 'unheards.' Each character believed strong-
ly in something but weren't heard so they did
something rash."
From the infamous John Wilkes Booth
(Music School sophomore John Rapson) story
to the lesser known attempted assassination
of Gerald Ford by Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme
(Music School senior Nina Sturtz), "Assassins"
provides exposition on details unmentioned in
fourth-grade history books.
Sposito believes "Assassins" finds a niche in
the University community.
"This is a great show to do in college because
it makes you think and it makes you question,"
Sposito said. "Many of the assassins are also so
close in age to college students." Wilkes Booth,
for example, was just 27 when he shot Abraham
Lincoln.
The cast brings the reality of the human
psyche to an audience expecting a happy song
or two. No doubt, the diverse collection of pop
music, anthems and period pieces certainly fit
the Broadway style. Sondheim's work, howev-
er,,brings out morose psychological topics and
does so with fantastic lyrics and humor.
"With so many different characters everyone
can relate to someone," Sturtz said. "Since the

show is all about passion, you understand how
these people got to this point in their lives. You
think they're just bad people but then you really
get to know them."
The limited use of props gives enough con-
text to move the story along, but don't set the
show in a specific time or space. Rather, the
characters rely on their guns, costumes and the
unique chairs they sit on during offstage scenes
to switch time periods.
"The show is abstract except for the charac-
ter chairs, which are extensions of the charac-
ters' costumes," Sposito said. "Booth died on a
tobacco farm so he sits on an old crate. Squeaky
has a tie-dyed bean bag."
Music School junior Amos Wolff (Charles
Guiteau) said the show sheds a humanistic light
on the characters you are supposed to abhor.
"You see important characters in their ele-
ment, in their world," Wolff said. "They come
out at the end as heroes and it's the one chance
they have to really shine." Even though the
assassins find the glory they've been searching
for, the audience knows it's an empty victory.
Because the assassins' darkest secrets have
been revealed, their fall toward death and tor-
ment is even more tragic. Nonetheless, Sond-
heim keeps you rooting for them until the final
curtain.
What? 'The Crucible' is
going up at the Walgreen?
michigandaily.com/thefilter.

By CAITLIN COWAN
DailyArts Writer
Puppets and circuses aren't just
for kids.
Just ask Linda
Elbow, business Bread and
and tour man-
ager of the Bread Puppet
and Puppet The- Theater
ater: "They can
be funny, or they Sunday at
can be dead seri- 8p.m.
ous," she said.
The Bread $7/$5 students
and Puppet The-A
ater is one of the Al East Qaad
oldest nonprofit
theater compa-
nies in the country. Growing from
founder Peter Schumann's life-
long love of puppetry, the theater
began putting on children's shows
on New York's Lower East Side in
1963. And with issues like rent, city
life and politics becoming increas-
ingly visible, the group's just-for-
kids theme didn't last long.
There is a rich philosophy
behind the Bread and Puppet
name. Theater and art are not fri-
volities - they're as essential as
food and water. "Theater is dif-
ferent. It is more like bread, more
like a necessity" than a luxury,
Schumann said.
Schumann also has another phi-
losophy: cheap art is key. Elbow
agrees that keeping the cost of
artistic endeavors low "makes
them accessible." Of the high cost
of gallery rentals, art sales and
exorbitant ticket prices, Elbow
wondered, "Who are the people
who can afford to buy this stuff?
We feel the same way about the-
ater. We do street theater. We're
in parades in the summertime. We
perform in gymnasiums, parking
lots and playgrounds to make stuff
accessible."
Indeed, outdoor performances
have been important for Bread
and Puppet since the beginning.
Schumann once wrote that "pup-
pets and masks should be played in
the street. They are louder thanthe
traffic," and he still believes wholly
in the puppet form. "Puppet the-
ater is the theater of all means."
At the time of its inception,
Bread and Puppet was also able
to draw some of its most potent

material from the era's climate of
agitation. "It was the time of the
Vietnam War," Elbow said. Con-
sidering the stormy atmosphere of
today's political sphere, it seems
the theater still has plenty of mate-
rial to incorporate into its shows.
Bread and Puppet's eight-foot-
tall puppets, block-long dem-
onstrations and abundance of
beautiful choreography comprise
their shows and captivates audi-
ences with a mix of art and poli-
tics. Much has remained the same.
"Most of (the shows) are on politi-
cal and social themes," Elbow said.
The main difference between
the Bread and Puppet Theater at
its beginning and the group's cur-
rent incarnation is its location. "It
got started in New York City ... but
we're located in Vermont, half an
hour south of the Canadian bor-
der," Elbow said of the group's
move north in 1970. The new loca-
tion allowed Bread and Puppet to
spread out, make their own bread
and housetheir gigantic puppets in
a renovated barn.
The title of this Sunday's per-
formance, the "Everything is Fine
Circus," is particularly evocative.
"Sometimes we just give it a title
that's politically or socially sugges-
tive," Elbow said of the name, and
this case could point to both the
Dismiss silly
fears for a very
cool show.
troupe's restlessness that every-
thing is indeed not fine with the
world - as well as their entertain-
ment mindset to emphasize the
celebratory aspect of diversion.
If you're brave enough to mix
your edible, artistic and political
sensibilities, expect to see a circus
that can put Barnum and Bailey to
shame.
"We've got blue horses and stilt-
ed puppets," Elbow said. "We've
got a brass band, too, so it's just
like any other circus," Elbow said,
"only the -animals aren't alive."
Just the spirit.

A kids' tale, a thrilling fil

By CHRISTINA CHOI
Daily Arts Writer
It's a shame when a children's
film can so easily trump a high-
i paced, grip-
ping adult
thriller. Com-
pared to other
sci-fi releases
like the deso- MimZy
late "Children of
Men" or the end- At Quality16
s lessly pondering and Showcase
"The Fountain,"
"The Last New Line
Mimzy" quietly
spins an enchant-
ment that lingers pleasurably in the
mind instead of heavy on the heart.
Frankly, it's thrilling.
Opening as a story within a
story, a classroom of children sit in
afield ofvibrant wildflowers where
their teacher recounts to them the
story of the last Mimzy, a message
in the form of a deceptively plain
stuffed bunny that was sent from
scientists in the faraway future to
the present-day world in the hopes
of (what else?) saving their species
from extinction. While the logis-
tics of this are cloudy at best, Noah
and his little sister Emma (played
by two fresh-faced newcomers,
Chris O'Neil and Rhiannon Leigh
Wrynn) stumble upon Mimzy amid
a box full of bizarre toys.
Emma quickly adds Mimzy to
her tea party guest list while Noah
busies himself with figuring out the
mystery behind what resembles a
neon blue pancreas and a slab of
fractured crystals. Seeing as their
home is stocked with fiat-screen
bathroom televisions and the lat-
est in video game consoles, it's easy
to see their fascination with these
objects (where's the Bluetooth on
this thing?).
Much to the concern of their
loving parents and Noah's eccen-
tric teacher (Rainn Wilson, the
superb actor from television's "The
Office"), the children soon exhibit
extraordinary powers. Noah gains
the ability to control spiders by
manipulating sound waves where-
as Emma is able to engage in occa-
sional bouts of telekinesis with
the guidance of Mimzy. While her
utterances are incomprehensible to
us, Emma's intrinsic understand-
ing of Mimzy and her quest with
Noah to save the future bring the
children on a journey beyond the
boundaries of human comprehen-
The film excels in its thought-
fully chosen cast. This is the
role Dakota Fanning would have
dreamed of before she became
chummy with Denzel in "Man on
Fire," and Wrynn's sweet inno-
cence permeates the film. The bond
between Emma and Noah is imme-
diately believable and crucial, as
they must depend on each other to
complete their chosen mission.


L

EARN MONEY AND PREPARE FOR YOUR FUTURE.

"SPEAK TO ME, RABBIT!"
Yet this gravity doesn't deprive
"Mimzy" of its many moments of
humor. The bumbling babysitter
who is terrified by Emma's abil-
ity to atomize her own hand in
an energy field brings a sense of
retrospective glee at the ability of
children to accept the impossible.
Furthermore, a moment of well-
placed name-droppingadds a sense
of modern flair and technological
speculation to the mix.
Though it's easy to blow off any
kid's flick as shallow fodder for the
prepubescent, "Mimzy" enhances
its universal appeal with a cast of
likeable characters that are cap-
tivated by the strange events they
witness. Their wonder is conta-

gious and enhanced by the fact
that the children are in charge of
their own mystical adventure and,
for once, able to proceed with wis-
Rare sci-fi seeks
the mind instead
of the conscience.
dom and heart beyond their years
that makes the perennial chore of
suspending disbelief an effortless
task.


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Friday, March 23
10:15pm-12:15am
Yost Ice Arena
$5 Donation
AUSC r Pizes
All proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity

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