The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Wednesday, October 3, 2007 - 5A Finding the right audience Beethoven is a popular guy. People look to him for certain things - beauty, sophistication, excellence in the Western cannon. He made a dependable product. Luckily for today's public, his skill was imme- diately recog- nized and his music was pre- served. Now there are plenty of capable musi- cians, conduc- tors, producers and music halls to recreate that COLODNER music. ^- - - This artist's contributions became part of a lovingly main- tained tradition. The now-classic music is part of a larger practice that's also been maintained and protected by cultural heirs - by those well-educated and well- endowed enough to keep public performance popular. Ann Arbor and Detroit both strive to be keepers of cultural legacy. Detroit has some unique problems, but even in an endeavor where it seems like falling short would be impossible, Detroit's institutions and public can trip up. In Ann Arbor, a city that pulls in more than its share of arts pro- fessionals through venues like the Power Center, The Michigan The- ater and Hill Auditorium (not to mention the University's academic structures), full attendance is the norm. Unusual debuts as well as seasonal standards are usually attended at their expected level, if not actually sold out. There is a population here that can be depended on to patronize the arts. It recognizes that Ann Arbor gathers good cultural prod- uct. It has the time, the resources and the sympathy to absorb it. But Ann Arbor isn't even sup- posed to be the primary basin for this patronage. It's debatable whether Ann Arbor is primarily a (cosmopolitan) suburb of Detroit or a city unto itself. It could be a strange in-between: a self-sustain- ing entity, which exists outside of the outdated definition of a suburb as a residential area that feeds off the cultural and financial resourc- es of a nearby city. We all know of bruised-but- hopeful Detroit marshallingtroops to fight its way into a niche. The City of Detroit's website praises Mayor Kilpatrick's effectiveness in putting the city "on the road to recovery - as a major Ameri- can metropolis, business center, and cultural and entertainment Mecca" in a USA Today quote cited on the page. As the quote acknowl- edges, the state of the public arts in Detroit is a significant marker. Art matters, and it can be used to quantify success and shortcom- ings. But on a recent Friday night, with a program dominated by Beethoven's Symphony No. 8 and billed, appealingly, as "the bright- er side of this genius's turbulent spirit," the Max M. Fisher Music Center's Orchestra Hall looked to be less than half full. There were entire aisles of seats open on the main floor and only scattered faces in the upper tiers. As part of the DSO's season subscription, many seats at the performance should have been filled by regulars. Not even a classical "genius" - and in one of his "brighter" moods at that - could pull in a half-full house? What should have been a no-brainer was more like a no-show. The attendant audience put on a strong front with over- emphatic enthusiasm. They stood to applaud (drop into almost any musical performance these days and you're likely to find yourself applauding the backs of your fel- low attendees by the end) long enough to merit three bows from the conductor and soloist as well as an encore. The director of marketing and promotion at UMS, Sara Billmann, said that in securing good ticket sales, they "try to make (the venue) always feel full, because we want people to feel like they're part of a collective event." The strategy is to cater the event, the venue and the Two cities, two different audiences. audience to each other. The intended audience for the kind of event Detroit's most "clas- sic" venues offers does exist - but it's not showing up. Newer suburb communities, less riddled with history and painful self-aware- ness, provide ways to spend leisure time and money that evidently feel equivalent to a lot of people. For who if not Beethoven, in a relatively modest 2,000-seat hall (compared to Hill's ambitious 3,500-seat auditorium), in a city ringed with suburbs populated by upper-middle-class educated and largely white adults, could guar- antee a "collective event"? Ann Arbor and Detroit are aim- ing at basically the same demo- graphic with the same general interests for the same "classic" fare. Ann Arbor is coasting, but despite Detroit's efforts, the city falls short of being an indispens- able urban locus - In Detroit or here at home, Colodner requests your presence. E-mail her at abigabor@umich.edu. A cinematic 'Universe' of timeless music By SHERI JANKELOVITZ Daily Arts Writer The Beatles-inspired musi- cal "Across the Universe" takes its audience from the bubble- gum pop of suburbia to the psychedelic underbelly * of late '60s New York City. Lushly' Across the imagined Universe and attuned with a near- At Showcase ly flawless Columbia pop-musical sensibility, at its best the movie is a sublime, transcendent fusion of music and images. This is especially unlikely given the film's subject. The typical mention of the Beatles and the movies in the same sentence can bring a crowded room to a halt. The material has been pretty much exhaust- ed, and the multiple attempts at translating the band's music to the screen - we all remember "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" - have inot ended in many successful movies. That's why "Across the Uni- verse" is such a huge risk and such an impressive accom- plishment. No one will take a musical based on 33 classic Beatles songs and set in the late '60s lightly, especially sincethe band's immortality has only increased with age. But under the intensely visual direction of Julie Taymor ("Frida"), the music in "Across the Universe" really does become new again, and the movie dazzles its audi- ence with the simple brilliance of its images. The film opens as Jude (Jim Sturgess), a dockworker from Liverpool, travels to America to find his father. It's there he meets and falls in love with Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood, "Thirteen"), a once-giggly teenybopper who turns into a free-spirited activist after her high school sweetheart is killed in Vietnam. From this setup, "Across the Universe" primarily coaxes us into its world of love and rebellion through stunning sequences of music and art. But there are moments when the movie strains hard to be something more than just a trippy musical, and the con- trivance is obvious. Taken for what it really is - and not what it pretends to be - "Across the Universe" definitely suc- It's rather hard to fail with a perfect soundtrack. ceeds. The songs are naturally incorporated into each scene, and the actors, particularly Sturgess and Wood, sing them beautifully. It's a shame the film can't allow the audience to simply enjoy the music withoutunnec- essary preaching. The movie falters here: The overarching, redundant "war is evil" man- tra is awkwardly dropped onto our laps. Taymor is unable to grasp that in an experience as predominately visual as this, the story and its message shouldn't be the main focus. The Beatles are the main act, and the Vietnam War and the draft are only supporting play- ers. As much as Taymor tries, she can't have it both ways. Still, her vision is at times breathtaking, at times dizzy- ing and at times simply joyous. There are occasional visual missteps - saddling a singing UncleSamposter with thesong "I Want You" is particularly ham-fisted, and the persistence of the images can be too much - but a closeted lesbian cheer- leader singing a mournful ren- dition of"I Want To Hold Your Hand"? Brilliant. The film also has clever cameos, including Bono singing "I Am the Wal- rus" to Salma Hayek as not one but six nurses. Despite its occasional meanderings into kitschy psychedelic fare, "Across the Universe" inspires as much as it entertains. As a social state- ment it's unnecessary and obvious, but as a pop musical it's completely exhilarating. Appropriate to the Beatles, the movie's ultimate triumph is in its uncommon ability to carry its audience visually through the music itself. ARTS IN BRIEF TELEVISION 'Back' to basics "Back to You" Wednesdays at 8 p.m. Fox Women don't watch "Frasier" to get aroused. Fox's new Wednesday-night comedy "Back to You" seems con- fused about this. The show fol- lows news anchor Chuck Darling (Kelsey Grammer, "Frasier") as he reunites with his old station in Pittsburgh after a to-year hiatus. Despite having been fired from his previous position in Los Angeles for yelling expletives on the air, he's as belligerent as evec. The employees at the station include a sports anchor (Fred Wil- lard, "Anchorman) with a taste for off-color humor and a weather girl (Ayda Field, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip") who assuages self- esteem issues with tight clothing. Then there's Darling's older co- anchor, Kelly Carr (Patricia Hea- ton, "Everybody Loves Raymond"), who hates him in no uncertain terms. The plot is basically made up of a slew of dirty jokes that involve Grammer having sex, be it with a girl who played Bert in "Ses- ame Street on Ice" or with Carr, which is not only gross but totally unlikely. To the show's credit, Grammer and Heaton have clear comedic chemistry, and the pilot's clever plot suggests some potential. But the repartee remains mostly sexual, and it's a shame to waste actors with the range of Grammer and Heaton on dick jokes. "Back to You" seems a little better than typicalFox claptrap - it's certainly no "Stacked" - but it would work much better if it didn't expect the audience to believe people want to see Grammer naked. JOHN DAAVETTILA FILM Rock funny, no 'Plan' "The Game Plan" At Quality16 and Showcase Disney Deep down,inthe mostshameful parts of your very being, you kind of like "Kindergarten Cop." Kids do and say the craziest things, and when big lumbering adults cross their paths, it's funny. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson ("The Run- down" forever) gets it, and that's the sole appeal of the relentlessly saccharine "The Game Plan." Joe Kingman (Johnson) is quarterback for the Boston Reb- els, yearning for the elusive MVP trophy. Everything looks his way until finding out he has an 8-year old daughter. Peyton (Madison Pettis) is a spunky, obnoxious girl. Peyton and Joe must bond, and teach each other about family love and stuff. The Rock is the only reason to watch the movie. When Joe fights with Peyton over workout music and screams "mine mine mine!" over a towel, you chuckle. The movie may be dishonest and prone to every live-action Disney hang- up in existence, but it's funny and infectiously childish nonetheless. Though that may not make it much better as a movie, I suspect it'll mean a lot to the parents whose kids drag them to watch it. BLAKE GOBLE TELEVISION ABC overshoots "Big Shots" Thursdays at 10 p.m. ABC "Men, we're the new women." It's not often that a show explic- itlystates the sales pitch its creators gave the network, but that's not a problem for "Big Shots." Four CEOs get togetherto golf, drink and cheat on their wives in ABC's attempt to inject "Sex and the City" with tes- tosterone and aim it at, well, who exactly? That's not really clear. The show boasts a solid cast of TV regulars, including Dylan McDermott ("The Practice") and Michael Vartan ("Alias"), but it has no idea what to do with them. The show bizarrely splits into three distinct entities by relegating char- acters to strict drama, comedy or dramedy, nobody in between. Who wants to listen to douche- bag CEOs discuss their sex lives? Other than a few shiny Mercedes and a bounty of cleavage shots, there's little to keep anyone - male or otherwise - entertained. PAUL TASSI TELEVISION 'Dirty' feels so good "Dirty Sexy Money" Wednesday at 10 p.m. ABC In "Dirty Sexy Money," we're asked if "money is the root of all evil." If it isn't, it's at least the root of all entertainment. Theshow centersonNickGeorge (Peter Krause, "Six Feet Under"), whose father (the Darling's former lawyer) died in a plane crash. Mr. Darling (Donald Sutherland, "Com- mander in Chief") offers Nick $10 million to become his new attorney, an offer Nick accepts, causing him effectively to sign his life away. The show engages the posi- tive and negative effects of wealth - being seen as a human bank account does skew romantic and business relationships - but the real fun comes from the characters. The family is full of nut jobs and alcoholics, but they're all likeable. They're hurtinganyone; they're just buying each other happiness. The Darling way of life may not seem ethical, but it's certainly exciting. "Dirty Sexy Money" is the perfect show for you to live out your Rock- efeller fantasies. JOHN DAAVETTILA FILM Stuck in the lunar 'Shadows' "In the Shadow of the Moon" At the Michigan Theater Discovery Communications "In the Shadow of the Moon" feels uncomfortably like propagan- da peddled by NASA and the gov- ernment. For too long we sit and listen to the self-discovery each astronaut finds after trips to the moon. Earth, claims one astronaut, is the real "Garden of Eden." "Why do people complain at all?" laments another. Well, let's think about it. Director David Sington (a some- time producer of "Nova") adopts a sci-fi perspective, switching between astronauts reacting simi- larly to questions like "What did you think of those first words?" or "Were you scared?" and montages of rockets taking off, disassem- bling or just floating along with sparks in outer space. The footage is timeless, and the astronauts are endearing, but a critical take on one of man's most unique feats this century rather than a sentimental look at a trip these guys took would make a better fit for a movie. In 1969 the world tuned in to watch man land on the moon, and the experience might have been one of unification for a couintry and world in turmoil. But no mat- ter the montages and gift-wrapped nostalgia, that historical feat alone doesn't do it foran audience today. NORA FELDHUSEN Banhart rollsillwith heavy 'Thunder' By CAITLIN COWAN Daily Arts Writer In photographs, Devendra Ban- hart resembles that guy in the back of the cafe smoking cloves and looking serene - the long-haired one, the well- read one, the * one who radiates malaise. From another Devendra anglethebeloved Banhart Naturalismo ingenue looks a Smokey Rolls bit like Jesus. Down Thunder And with eyes Canyon closed and the volume turned XL up, Banhart's fifth album, Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Can- yon, sounds eerily like a series of sacred odes, chants and wails, recorded in English and Spanish with dashes of gorgeous Portu- guese. He might be a mere mortal, but Banhart may also be the savior of a genre at once difficult, alienat- ing and uncommonly engaging. This album is shorter than his last, 2005's near-epic Cripple Crow, featuring a more manageable 16 tracks and a deft mixture of differ- ent sensibilities and genres. Perhaps it's too easy to charac- terize Banhart's songs in terms of his life, but it's hard to avoid. Tracks like "Carmensita" and "Samba Vexillographica" sound like travels in Venezuela, where he grew up. The dreamy "Freely" and "I Remember" could be forays into Paris, where he also lived for a time after leaving the San Fran- cisco Art Institute. In any case, the diversity of sounds and flavors Banhart creates on the album is both remarkable and skillfully achieved. At times Banhart babbles like a child, warbles like a bird or moans like a hip ghost during the album's 72 glorious minutes. But no matter how he sings, it's always with taste: Though he spends most of the mel- ancholy "Bad Girl" singing "Wah wah wah wah / wah wah wah... " it isn't irritating. It becomes more comforting and beautiful as each minute ticks by. Take a song like "Sea Horse." Just when it seems as if the flute- and-piano folk tune (which could double as background music on an autumn day in a Peanuts cartoon) is about to end, a bluesy break- down takes over and skillfully ends the song a full three minutes later. Banhart's style morphs drastical- ly in the space of one track - yet somehow, deep in the core of the song's refrain, it meditates on the same theme as it did at the start. Even though some of the songs run into the murky five-to-eight minute range, putting a time con- straint on these sonic masterpiec- es would be an inherent mistake. This is art - those who seek mere entertainment had best turn back now. Smokey Rolls Down ultimately ends up resembling a large canvas of sound and the geography of dif- ferent places and cultures, rather than atight, cohesive album. While its expansive nature could never be a selling point (all the better for a self-made man like Banhart), it certainly feels right, listen after listen. Frankly, Banhart's work here is some of the most stunning music this year and, with five stel- lar albums in his past, he thank- fully shows no signs of stopping.