The Michigan Daily-Saturday, August 16,1980-Page9
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'FDIE FLEDERMA LAS' A COMIC S v CCESS
s s "
a h t u -Power Center
ug ing 1 p in
By PERRI KNIZE
For sheer entertainment value, Johann Strauss'
"Die Fledermaus", hard to beat. Thursday's opening
night performances at the PowerhCenter brought the
house down. Performed by the School of Music Opera
Theatre and directed by Irene Connors, this produc-
tion of one of the world's most popular operettas is
noteworthy for it's excellent stage direction and
pacing.
"Die Fledermaus," which premiered in 1874 in
Vienna, is about a practical joke which one friend,
Dr. Falke, plays on another, Gabriel von Eisenstein,
in retaliation for once having been aban-
doned-sleeping, intoxicated, and costumed as a
bat-in a public park where he was awakened by the
jeers of Sunday morning onlookers. Falke's scheme"
to get back at Eisenstein involves persuading him to
postpone going to prison, where he is due to appear
for committing a minor offense, and to go instead to a
ball that Prince Orlofsky is giving. Falke also invites
Rosalinda, Gabriel's wife; Adele, her maid; and
Frank, the prison warden to the ball, where all are to
appear under assumed identities. The resulting mix-
ups make for an evening of hilarious musical
comedy.
KEUM JA KIM as Rosalinda had the most dynamic
stage presence of all-her expressive face and
dramataic gestures were captivating.bHer voice was
also the most powerful, sounding out brilliantly over
the audience. Although she occasionally would have
slightly off key, and was, as were the other singers,
handicapped by the over-exuberant pace which the;
conductor favored, her performance sparkled with a
professional self-assurance that was unexpected in a
student production.
Lawrence Vincent, as Eisenstein, has one of the
finest voices in the cast, a beautiful, rich tenor which
he uses most expressively. Also Theodore Rulfs as
Frank, the prison warden, has an exceptionally fine
voice and a melancholy stage presence that is perfect
for his straight-man role. Jeff Allyn as the opera
singer that comes to woo Rosalinda in her husband's
absence, and being mistaken for Eisenstein is hauled
off to jail, sings with a clarity and controlled abandon
that shows great promise, but his acting is somewhat
stiff. Gail Mitchell, as Eisenstein's maid, sang sur-
prisingly well during her aria in which she begs
Frank to make her a real actress. But for the most
part, her stage presence and acting ability are better
than her voice, which is thin and weak.
In the final act we are taken to the jail where, one
by one, the party-goers arrive and their identities are
unmasked. Here we are met with one of the great
comic moments in the operetta. Frosch, the drunken
jailer (Charles Stallman), bottle in hand, is looking
frantically for the huge key that hangs around his
neck. When he finds it dangling in front of his nose he,
declares: "If you were a snake you'd have bit me."
Then with flawless timing he turns about:
"Snakebite!" he shouts, and eyeing the audience
wildly, takes another swig from his bottle.
ONE OF, "FLEDERMAUS'" better musical
moments is when the entire cast sings in chorus. The
timing is excellent-right on beat, the voices har-
monize beautifully. The worst of this production's
flaws are a weak Prince Orloff, as played by mezzo-
soprano Barbara Shulze-who does not provide the
necessary dramatic flair and whose voice does not
project-and an orchestra that sounds unrehearsed
and rushed.
Yet "Fledermaus" is a success. What makes it so is
firstly, it's excellent stage direction and pacing-the
action flows so easily that we are always anxiously
waiting for more. Secondly, the acting for the most
part is very good. It's great theatre, great entertain-
ment, and most of all-it's a lot of fun.
Washington harvests
OLYMPIA, Wash. (UPI)-Bumper
wheat crops-two to three times nor-
mal size-are being harvested in areas
of eastern Washington which was
hardest hit by the volcanic ash fallout
from Mount St. Helens in May.
The big crop was spurred by rare
June rains. But scientists at the Un-
ivarsity of Washington decline to credit
Mount St. Helens for the rain.
FARMERS ARE harvesting crops
double to triple normal size in areas
around Ritzville, an eastern
Washington farming community inun-
dated by ash following the initial
bumper wheat crops
volcanic eruption on May 18. was no scientific evidence linking the
Reports from other communities in rare June rain to the volcano.
the fallout path are equal or better. "The prevailing opinion of professors
Near the community of Wilbur, one in this department is that it is very
farmer reported 89 bushels of wheat to unlikely that the mountain had
the acre, an almost unheard of return anything to do with the increased rain-
for dry land wheat farming in the fall," Atkinson said. "Whether the
state,. mountain did its thing or not they would
STATE AGRICULTURE Director have more rain than usual this year.
Bob Mickelson said rain less than three
weeks after Mount St. Helens roared to TONIGHT at
life was responsible for the dramatic
increase in the wheat harvest. SP I
Don Atkinson, manager of the At-
mospheric Sciences Department at the TIG H T
University of Washington, said there
CINEMAI
~PRESENTS ,"
Candidates blasted abroad
Continued from Page 3),
tration of industrial, trade, and finan-
cial associations of multi-national and
national monopoly companies."
TASS, IN A dispatch from New York,
noted that in his Madison Square Gar-
den speech Thursday night Carter
derided the Republicans' military
policies but, the Soviet agency said, "he
essentially took the same position of the
Republicans he criticized. His speech
was permeated with a militarist spirit,
a striving to prolong the arms race and
to expand military appropriations."
Soviet television commentator
Vladimir Dunayev, appearing on the
popular news program "Today in the
World," told viewers across the Soviet
Union:
"I cannot recall a time when both
political parties of bourgeois America
put forward two Goldwaters in the
same election. That's what is hap-
pening now. It seems now that the U.S.
military-industrial complex is playing
a lottery in which it cannot lose.
Reagan-Carter . . . Carter-Reagan.
Each would like to surpass the other in
militarism."
FAINT PRAISE for the Democratic
president came in Third World nations
where several commentators described
him as, in the words of the Indonesia
Times, "not ideal ... yet he is far better
than Reagan."
The independent newspaper The Hin-
du of Madras, India, described Reagan
as 'an aged, arch-conservative whose
finger on the nuclear trigger would
disconcert the world."
A number of foreign political analysts
see Sen. Edward Kennedy as the key to
Carter's future.
Le Monde of Paris said it was "dif-
ficult to talk of a reconciliation between
the two camps" of Carter and Kennedy
supporters. But, said the conservative
Daily Express of London, "if Kennedy
can bring in his own followers,. Carter
might just make it."
I
FLEDER AU
The University of Michigan
School of Music Opera Theater
POWER CENTER
Tonight at 6:00,
Sunday at 3:00
I
YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE
(Lewis Gilbert, 1967)
Bond travels to Tokyo to tangle with villains and beautiful
women, and to save us from WWIII. His search is for the evil
genius who has launched a cannibalistic capsule into space to
eat innocent American satellites orbiting the earth. DONALD
PLEASANCE is the mad scientist who loves cats and wants to rule
the world. Starring the incomparable SEAN CONNERY (who
else?) as Bond. (115 min) 35mm print. 7:30 only.
GOLDF INGER
A mysterious financier by the name of Goldfinger is criminally
tampering with Britain's and the U.S.s gold reserves, trying to
contaminate Fort Knox with, horrors of horrors, a nuclear bomb!
Will Agent 007 prevent him? Or will our favorite spy be gilded
like a Tiger Lily? SEAN CONNERY as Bond and 'HONOR BLACK-
MAN as Pussy Galore. Splashy and full of fancy gimmicks. 35mm
print. (112 min) 9:30 only.
i
ANGELL HALL
Power Center Box Office
opens at 6:00 (763-3333)
Visa/Master Charge by phone-
76.-0450
$1.50 one show, $2.50 both shows
Next Weekend: Friday-GIANT, with James Dean
Saturday-CASABLANCA