61
ARTS
Page 10 Tuesday, July 10, 1984 The Michigan Daily
Soundin2 out Marceau
.
By Eric Mattson
MARCEL MARCEAU'S perfor-
mance at the Power Center Sun-
day night was filled with great momen-
ts, but at times it seemed as if the
world's premiere mime was a bit slow
on his slippers.
Still, the greatest problem in the two-
hour show was not with the soundless
motion but with the often distorted
music. Either the Power Center ought
to invest in a pair of decent speakers, or
Marceau should find a higher quality
nn Arbor
V mmer
jfjestidalj
tape. But for the most part, Marceau's
performance was laudable.
From the opening strains of Hum-
mel's Trumpet Concerto, Marceau
moved with the grace which made him
famous in his first U.S. tour nearly 30
years ago.
There were, however, times when the
show dragged. When Marceau por-
trayed Bip the Clown using a dating
service, for instance, the sketch
seemed to go on forever, although the
last two minutes were filled with a
great deal of energy.
Marceau created the tragicomic
clown in 1947, and Bip since then has en-
tertained thousands with his sometimes
pathetic, sometimes happy-go-lucky at-
titude.d
Marceau began the evening with six
style pantomimes, including the classic
"cage" and a very poignantrendition of
"The Maskmaker." Encompassing the
entire spectrum of emotions, Marceau
drew laughter and applause for his
rendition of the man who cannot
remove his happy face, even though he
is crying.
In another skit, Marceau was "The
Angel," and a plethora of lighting and
music helped the 58-year-old mime act
out the trip from heaven to Earth and
back to heaven again.
ONE NIGHT ONLY
DETROIT CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Presents
"TAMBOURINES
TO GLORY"
A Musical Comedy by Lonston Hughes
Featuring a Cast of 25 Singers
and Dancers in a
LIVE ON-STAGE EXTRAVAGANZA
SATURDAY, JULY 21
8:00 P.M.
Michigan Box Office
Theatre 668-8480
Reserved Seating: $7, 8.
Students & Seniors: $5, 6.
Marcel Marceau demonstrates the art of mime to his class yesterday at Lydia Mendelsshon Theater. His Sunday night
show at the Power Center was an energetic show filled with many of his famous routines.
In his trip to Earth, Marceau
mimicked perfectly the fallen
angel-drinking, dancing, and chasing
women. In the end, however, the angel
literally sees the light and returns to
heaven.
"The Trial," a pantomime of our
justice system, parodies the judge,
defendant, and lawyers with
frightening accuracy, although it was
sometimes difficult to discern exactly
which part Marceau was playing.
The bored judge, the pleading defen-
se attorney, and the accusing
prosecuting attorney play their parts to
the hilt, climaxing when the judge
weighs the defendant's innocence on
the scales of justice.
And in a scene reminiscent of Dr.
Strangelove, Marceau plays a robot
who eventually strangles himself. He
may not have been as snappy as the
robot-like breakdancers on the Diag,
but as Marceau has said, mime is
largely an interpretive art, not an ac-
curate representation of our day-to-day
activities.
After a brief intermission, Bip the
Clown plays everything from a china
salesman to David and Goliath in a
captivating performance.
As David and Goliath, Marceau uses
one of his few props-a tall, thin board.
Each time Bip walks behind it, he
emerges as his alter ego. When David
finally slays Goliath, Marceau won
laughs from the audience when-as
Goliath-he motions for David to come
out and take a bow. Naturally, David
obliges.
A standing ovation prompted Mar-
ceau to -perform an encore, a
sometimes disturbing portrayal of Bip
in modern and future life.
The skit was marred by a slow and
ambigious beginning, although some
aspects of modern life were clearly-
discernable. When a bright red light
signals some sort of apocalypse, Mar-
ceau becomes a future primitive man,
suggesting that life is merely cyclical.
His portrayal of the future was cap-
tivating and haunting.
Mime is really a fascinating art.
There is, of course, no sound except the
squeak of the performer's slippers and
a mimimum of music. The music and
the lights certainly enhance the act, but
the real burden is on the mime himself.
To spread the ancient art he helped
resurrect, Marceau is in town to
establish a School of Mime at the
University, the only mime school out-
side Marceau's school in Paris.
Marceau will perform a different
program in the Summer Arts Festival
tomorrow and Thursday at 8p.m. in the
Power Center. If you're into mime, and
even if you're not, it's well worth the $11
ticket price.
Technicalgoofs plague mime gig
The following observation was written by Eric Mat- maybe give him a good pair of socks.
tson's less-than-cultured alter ego, Matt Ericson. But the problems didn't stop there. Marceau's assistant
apparently had either laryngitis or one bad case of stage
A(ieifright, because he forgot every single one of his lines.
C#AN YOU believe it? Whatever the cause of his forgetting them, the backstage
We pay $11 for tickets to see this world famous Marcel people made him go out on stage anyway. Worse yet, beheld
Marceau guy, and the people at the Power Center forget to his cue cards backwards so that the people in the audience
give him a mike. I mean I couldn't heara single word he said could read them.
the whole show, and I had good seats! Not only that, but they The cue card slip-up actually worked out for the best. The
also forgot to set up the stage - it was almost completely writing on back told us what skits Marceau was doing and so
empty. with a little imagination we could see what was supposed to
Marceau was pretty good about the mixup, though, he just have happened if there had been-sound and props.
kept pretending everything was right there on stage with Finally, though, comes the matter of the man's health. He
him. was full of energy - he danced around almost non-stop
The audience wasn't much of a help either, since they kept trying to cover up for everything that went wrong - but he
laughing and clapping whenever Marceau tried to cover up was so pale that he must either have been very ill or
for the backstage foul-ups. desperately in need of some sun.
Another problem was his squeaky shoes. Since the sound In all, Marcel Marceau deserves a lot of praise for trying so
was already off, all you could hear was, "squeak, squeak, hard to cover up for what went wrong behind the scenes.
squeak" - just like that.- The least they could have done Let's hope he gets rid of his illness, gets a little sun, and come
would have been to go out and buy him some new shoes, or back with a stage crew that gets things done.
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