Page 8-Tuesday, August 5, 1980-The.Michigan Daily
Art
OF THEE I SING'
Who says politics aren't fun?
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By ANNE GADON
Opening in the wake of the Republican-Convention
in nearby Detroit, George and Ira Gershwin's
musical comedy Of Thee I Sing is a timely choice for
the Summer Repertory season. The Gershwins'
political satire traces the presidential campaign of
John P. Wintergreen in his efforts to "Put Love in the
White House." Along with La Ronde, it marks a fine
conclusion to an otherwise disappointing summer
season.
Despite its political overtones, Of Thee I Sing is
more properly classified as escapist entertainment
than satire. Wintergreen's campaign ap-
peal "to your hearts, not your intelligence" is a
clear statement of the goal of this musical comedy,
and the leggy chorus girls and cigar-puffing politicos
on the Power Center stage last Wednesday night were
definitely successful in their venture.
DIRECTOR Steve Reynolds has chosen an ap-
propriately cartoonish approach. The characters are
caricatures: the Southern belle, the red-haired Irish
politician, the happy homemaker-the list goes on
and on. James S. Henke's sets ofcardboard cutouts
and pencil drawings further accentuate the shows
lack of realism.
But despite this overt admittance of implausibility,
the acting company has hardly settled for two dimen-
sional performances. Co-librettists George Kaufman
and Morrie Ryskind are well-known for creating en-
joyable, improbable characters-as they did in the
screenplay for the Marx Brothers' A Night At the
Opera. In Of Thee I Sing, they have constructed
Similar roles which formidable local talents such as
Vat Garner (Alexander Throttlebottom) and Jane
Kinsey (Diana Devereaux) relish and embelish to
near-perfection.
Garner is delightfully wistful as Throttlebottom,
the vice-presidential candidate whom no one
recognizes. He displays an adeptness for comedic
timing through his unerring sense of the inap-
propriate. His character constantly injects commen-
ts at the wrong moment, incurring the wrath of the
top political bigwigs. But it is Garner's subtle
changes of expression that are most effective in
breaking up the audience. His woebegone facial reac-
tions to his abusers provide some of the evening's
loudest laughter.
AS DEVEREAUX, Wintergreen's jilted bride-
to-be, Jane Kinsey is enchantingly venom-
ous. Kinsey has a magnetic presence that sur-
passes any leading lady that this reviewer has seen
on the Power Center stage this summer. Even in a
role as stereotyped as Devereaux, Kinsey's talent is
marvelously apparent. She particularly stands out in
the first act finale as she states her intention to inflict
revenge on Wintergreen, adding a delicious note of
conflict to the perfect romance of Wintergreen and
Mary Turner.
As Wintergreen, Jon Hallquist gets several oppor-
tunities to drop his aura of suavity and displays a
refreshing skill for bumbling. He expounds to Mary
about the skills of wifery which include using a
skillet, and then gives her a perplexed look and ear-
nestly asks, "Say, what is a Skillet?"
In the role of Mary Turner Molly Sheehan gives a
particularly indistinguishable performance. She
lacks the earnestness and enthusiasm to make Win-
tergreen's sentiments toward her believable.
Sheehan also has projection problems during her
musical numbers. Her lilting soprano is barely
audible past the first few rows of the orchestra. Greg
Jbara's performance as the French Ambassador
establishes him as a force to be reckoned with in the
Department of Theatre and Drama's core of un-
dergraduate talent. The musical number "An
Illegitimate Daughter" which features the Am-
bassador and a backup chorus of 6 Napoleonic
soldiers stands out from the indistinguished score
solely due to Jbara's effort. At any moment one ex-
pects him to break into a chorus of the "Mar-
seillaise."
The opening musical number, "Wintergreen for
- President," sets the show's snappy pacing and the
production never slows down from there.
Choreographer Christopher Flynn keeps the feet of
the twenty-five member chorus moving though oc-
casionally not on solid ground. In "Hello, Good Mor-
ning," a musical number with the presidential
secretaries, Flynn has the men on bicycles and the
women on roller skates. Hopefully such innovations
and enthusiasm could catch on. Our real national
leaders could certainly take a lesson from 'John P.
Winh.,saren_
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MICHIGAN 1 This week
REP '80
Thee I
Sin
Kaufman and Gershwins
Pulitzer Prize inning musi-
cal is periodt fur this elec-
tion year. It follows an i-
conventional candidate and.
his iveiesicenal cam=
rae ih th e 1
in the White House."
July 30, August 1,7, 9
La
Ronde
Arthur Schnitzler's skilly
constructed circle of ten in.
terlocking love affairs. Each
scene is made for two
characters, one of whom will
encounter a new partner in
the following scene. A fas-
cinating mtthe par
rand 1890
Venna.
July 31, August 2, 6,8
THIS.WEEK AT
POWER CENTER AT 8 PM
PTP ticket Office-MI League Noon-
5 pm; M-F. Master Charge & Visa by
phone: 764-0450. Power Center box
office opens at6 pm (763-3333).
Tomorrow Night:
OF THEE I SING
-
in the arts
By MARK COLEMAN
As the long summer drags on,
boredom can become as oppressive as
the heat and humidity. Fortunately,
there are still plenty of aesthetic diver-
sions about town and while a movie or
play may not lift you from the depts of
ennui, an entertaining, perhaps
thought-provoking evening is guaran-
teed.
LaRonde and Of Thee I Sing are con-
cluding the Michigan Repertory summer
season this weekend, and both
comedies come highly recommended
by Daily drama critics-what other
motivation do you need? It's also an
outstanding week for films, highlighted
by Dr. Strangelove at the Michigan
Theatre on Thursday at 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9
p.m. It's undoubtedly Peter Seller's
most intelligent (and perhaps his fun-
niest) performance and the film's nuke-
paranoia theme has become ironically
topical again-some fifteen years later.
ALSO SHOWING Thursday (at
Angell Auditorium A, 7 and 9 p.m.) is
See DRAMA, Page 9
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Vice-president Alexander Throttlebottom (Pat Garner) cuddles southern belle
Diana Devereaux (Jane Kinsey) in a scene from George Gershwin's musical
satire of American Politics, 'Of Thee I sing.' The performances will continue this
Thursday and SaturdaT, Auust 7 and 9, at 8 p.m.