The Michigan Daily - Saturday, July 9, 1983 - page 11 'Fifth' come By Ellen Lindquist F LFTH OF JULY, which opened July 6 by the University Players at the Power Center, is a very hard play to review because, while the cast perfor- med convincingly, the play itself left me cold. Fifth of July, by Lanford Wilson, is about a circle of former '60s hippy tur- ned '70s conventional friends who reunite, presumably, each year on the Fourth of July. The play is set in 1977 in Lebanon, Missouri, home of the legless Vietnam veteran, Ken and his homosexual lover-botanist, Jed. Other characters are June, Ken's sister who has become domesticated since her radical, promiscuous flower- power years, her 13-year-old precocious terror of a daughter, Shirley, and Sally, June and Ken's aunt. There is also Gwen and John, a mod, vivacious, tac- tless couple and Weston, the only 1960s holdover, a spacey, frizzy-haired com- poser. The play had many highlights but did not seem to hold together exceptionally well. The best performance was Margaret D. Gonzoles. She is dynamic as Gwen, the hypochondriac rich inheritor of a copper company, who reminisces about the friends, "Oh God I loved us back then" - referring to their days of peace, love, freedom and mar- ches on Washington D.C. Gonzales flies into her part with great energy and self- consciouslessness. Her acting is as frank and gung ho as is her character. Allen D. Fox, the bleary-eyed, disoriented composer who absent min- A selection of campus film highlig Das Boot (Wolfgang Peterson, 1982) A look at World War II from the other side of the trenches. This effort reeut the tremendous hardshins of dedly strums his guitar, is great as Weston, most of whose lines are "sure" or "far out." Fox's timing in saying these lines is perfect, eliciting many a chuckle from the audience. He is so ab- sent in his part as Weston, as is the character Weston, that he seemed to float on and offstage, airbourne by his incessant marijuana smoking. Fox's characterization of this spacey persona created the most sincere moments on stage. Fox seemed to be so immersed in his character that one could not make the distinction between Fox and Weston whereas some of the other actors seemed extremely con- scious of the fact they were acting in a play. Weston was unique as a character also because he was the last element of the '60s which had survived unchanged into the '70s. The audience, like the characters, laughed at Weston in the realization that an era of such space cadets had once flourished. Allen D. Fox is precious as Weston, especially when, ruffled by the other characters who laugh at his attempt at telling an eskimos folk tale about a family who starves because they can- not bear to eat caribou meat thawed by a fart, he storms away, gesticulating with his middle finger, saying, "f-you." His anger, because it is so petulant, is very funny. Most of the other characters were also strong, but not as strong as Gon- zoles or Fox. The set - the facade of a clapboard, colonial southern home with a large swing - was beautiful, lit in shades of brown, pink and green. Perhaps the play seemed dull ghts s a da3 because nothing really happened in it, no fault to those who performed in it. Fifth of July consists of dialogue, like most plays, but without much action or scene changes. The characters conver- se about such topics as why did John and Gwen leave one week early to go to Europe blowing Ken's chances of joining them in order to evade the draft. The truth comes out as Ken falls off his wooden legs and crashes to the porch. But within the confines of this static plot, the actors play remarkably well. Timothy Hopper who plays the Nam Vet, Ken, maintains his tight-lipped ex- pression of doom throughout the whole play. He does a convincing job of being legless, tossing his legs forward on late crutches as if he is wearing a prosthesis. Douglas Sills as John well exuded the greed of his character while Pauline Gagnon creates an untolerable brat, Shirley, complete with a grating, loud voice. Mary Jeffried was good as the despondent June, but her despondency seemed to lack depth. The University Players did what they could with this corny play, and there were great moments, but unfortunately some of the energy which should have unified the play as a whole seemed locked up inside some of the actors and actresses self awareness that they were acting, rather than becoming the part they were playing. ding. (Saturday, July 9; Auditorium A, 7:00, 9:35). Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Mike Nichols, 1966) A great film. Edward Albee's play is transformed into a wild, mean movie concerning the strange relationship between a milquetoast husband and his bitchy wife. Just listen to some of the best dialogue ever captured on film. With Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal, and Sandy Dennis. Albee's dialogue spoken in Burton's accent is almost too good to bear. (Thursday, July 14; Lorch Hall, 7:30, 9:45). NOMAN BA ES SCOMNGHOME wait tilyouSee ANTH ONY PERKINS i 7-Vey OAK PICTURE FOX FILMS MON, TUE THUR, FRI, 7:10-9:25 MON, TUE, THUR FRI, 7:25 - 9:30 SAT ,SUN oWED, SAT SUN ,WR -, 1:003:00-5:05-7:10-9:251:10-3:15-5:20-7:25-9:30 the German submarine fleet through the adventures of one U-boat. Tight- direction and acting help make the two-hour-plus saga endurable, but one is ultimately left with little more than a standard War ic with a trick en- I- compiled by Richard Campbell- No Nona hurts show (Continued from Page 10) An Inch," and his punked-up version of the Persuaders' "Some Guys Have All The Luck." He also included several songs from the new Pride, "It's Not Dif- ficult," "Say You Will," and Kool & The Gang's "Take My Heart." He brought the crowd to its collective feet at the set's conclusion with "Looking For Clues," and really got the place cooking with encores of The System's "You Are In My System," his own new single, and Moon Martin's "Bad Case Of Lovin' You" - his hit of 1979. Palmer's set was musically strong, though perhaps lacking a bit in showmanship and inspiration. With this in mind, it is particularly unfortunate and upsetting that Nona Hendryx did not appear. Perhaps with a bit of her show-womanship preceding him, Palmer himself might have been a bit more loose. No reason was given for Hendryx's absence, but there were rumours that the rest of her tour may have been cancelled as well. The Buzztones opened the show, with a mix of traditional '70s rock and, you guessed it, synth-funk. Their set was unobtrusive and danceable, reminding me in its course how much I'd rather hear '80s cliches such as White Funk, than those of the '70s like incessant guitar power chords. Under normal circumstances, I might have enjoyed the band more, though the singer's voice seemed a bit flat, and his persona - leather jacket, tough, urban - a bit worn. Admittedly, these criticisms are colored by the fact that the band was in the tough position of filling in for the highly vaunted Hen- dryx, whom I was looking forward to seeing. It was stilla good time. But with Nona Hendryx added to the bill, it might have been a truly memorable one.