The Michigan Daily - Friday, July 13, 1984 - Page 9
Comden and Green throw a party

By Susan Makuch
T HERE ONCE was an era in
Hollywood known as the Golden
Age of Movie Musicals. Many wonder-
ful products came out of this
era-Singin' in the Rain, The Ban-
dwagon, On the Town, and Peter Pan,
to name a few. The reason for the
unadulterated success of these films?
Well of course there is the abundance of
on-sci'een talent in each movie, but
there's also the lesser-known com-
modity of songwriters who provided the
wonderful tunes that brought these
films to life.
The dynamic duo who created the
songs for many of these musical
comedies, Betty Comden and Adolph
Green, have collected all their material
and taken it on the road. They'll per-
form their cabaret act, "A Party
with .-. " tonight and tomorrow night
at the Power Center.
Comden and Green are one of
Hollywood's most respected song-
writing teams. Their score for The
Bandwagon includes the catchy
showbiz anthem, "That's Entertain-
ment." The song has become so popular
that the MGM anthology of classic old
films shrieked "That's Entertain-
ment."
Another noted number from that film
was "Triplets." Many film buffs will
remember that in this production, Fred
Astaire, Nanette Fabray and Jack
Buchanan dressed up as baby triplets
and performed the song on their knees.
It remains .a classic musical comedy
number.

r 1n
Betty Comden and Adolph Green, songsmiths for many of hollywood's most memorable musicals, perform several of
their songs Friday and Saturday at the Power Center as part of the Ann Arbor Summer Festiv al.

Although The Bangwagon contained
some of Comden and Green's best
songs, their other accomplishments are
worth noting. For instance, before
Frank Sinatra recently revived his
career with his tribute to the Big Apple,
he sang about "New York, New York"
with Gene Kelly and Jules Munshin in
1949's On the Town. The Comden and
Green version is different than Fred
Ebb's, but it's just as lively.
Comden and Green didn't limit them-
selves to film scores alone. They are

also renowned for their theatrical
productions. Such gems as On the
Twentieth Century and Applause
belong to them.
Of course all these wonderful scores
have won numerous lauds from critics
and colleagues alike. Winners of both
Tony and Oscar awards, Comden and
Green run the gamut of musical variety
and style. The two composers began
collaborating more than 40 years ago as

members of "The Revuers", a song and
dance troupe that also featured such
soon-to-be notables as Leonard Ber-
nstein and Judy Holliday.
Comden and Green have been on tour
with their "Party" for almost seven
years now. The intimate evening brings
back memories of musicals past. With
this review, Comden and Green remind
us of those golden movie musicals.


Bars and Clubs
The Blind Pig-Friday night is
heavenly with the Teen Angels.
Saturday Scott Morgan and Band pick
up the pace.
Joe's Star Lounge-Who is that
standing on the shore over there? Oh,
that's Figures on a Beach on Friday
night. Saturday it's home-town music
heroes, George Bedard and the
Kingpins.
Mr. Flood's Party-Eddie "Guitar"
Burns steps in and lights-a flame both
Friday and Saturday nights.
Rick's American Cafe-On Friday
night the Roosters strut their stuff.
Te list
Saturday it's Ann Arbor's hottest,
SLK, with a scorching set of dance
numbers.
Summer Festival Activities
Tickets for all Summer Festival
shows are available by calling the
Festival box office at 763-0950.
The box office is open 12 a.m. to 7
p.m. daily.
Betty Comden and Adolph
Green-An evening of song with Com-
den and Green, writers of many of
Hollywood's best-remembered
musicals from the '40s and '50s-most
famous for such classics as Singin' in
the Rain, The Bandwagon, and On
the Town, the pair will perform some
of their best numbers in a cabaret
style atmosphere. Tickets are $11, $13,
$14 and $15 and the show begins at 8

p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights at
the Power Center.
Francois-Rene Duchable - One of
the brightest young stars on the inter-
national concert piano scene,
Duchable will be making his
American debut. Tickets are $3, $6, $8,
and $10. The show begins at 8 p.m.
Saturday night at Rackham
Auditorium.
Ars Musica-The local baroque en-
semble performs all of its pieces on
original 17th and 18th century in-
struments. Penelope Crawford is the
featured harpsichord soloist. Tickets
are $7. The show begins at 11 a.m. on
Sunday in Rackham Auditorium.
Edward Villella-A world famous
American Ballet star, Villella will be
lecturing on his art and demon-
strating it as well. Tickets are $3, $5,
$6, and $8. The talk begins Sunday at 8
p.m. in the Power Center. Also,
Villella will perform an "American
Salute" with his own dance company
on Tuesday and Wednesday nights at
8 p.m. in the Power Center. Tickets
for the performances are $5, $8, $10,
and $12.
Sherrill Milnes with the Northwood
Orchestra-Milnes is the
Metropolitan Operas leading baritone
and the most widely-recorded opera
star in the United States. Don Jaeger
conducts the Northwood Orchestra.
Tickets are $10, $12, $14, and $16.
The show begins at 8 p.m. Monday
evening at the Power Center.
Clare Bloom-The legendarv star of
Limelight and Richard III presents
"These Are Women", a salute to the
heroines in Shakespeare's plays.
Tickets are $11, $13, $14, and $15. The
show begins at 8 p.m. at Lydia Men-
delssohn Theater.

Star show shines bright
(continued from Pages) night sky is projected.
Planetarium Theater is one of the Finally, once you're seated, you'll
smallest in the country. The notice a peculiar-looking contraption
planetarium at Cranbrook is 40 feet in sitting in the middle of the room. No it's
diameter, while the planetarium in ntaMrins cehpt's h
Chicago is 65 feet in diameter and seats not a Martian spaceship-it s the
planetarium's projector. The projector
over 500 people. is in the shape of a dodecahedron (12
However, smallness does have its ad- sides) and has a bright light at its cen-
vantages. The theater generates a cozy ter. The light shines out through
atmosphere which becomes even more thousands of tiny pinholes in the
intimate by the fact that the show is dedecahedron and makes little specks of
presented live instead of using a pre- light on the domed ceiling. Each little
recorded lecture and a computer to speck of light corresponds exactly to a
coordinate the special effectsstar in the sky. The planets, which are
The second thing you'll notice when bigger, brighter, and move around in
you enter the theater is its domed bi e e Ra eaod
ceiling. It's on to this ceiling that the See STELLAR, Page is
WOOD WORKING CLASS
Begins
Tuesday, July 17, 1984,
7:00 - 10:00 p.m.
6 weeks
At:
STUDENT WOOD & CRAFT SHOP
537 SAB - Phone 763-4025
SHOP HOURS: MON. - THUR. 3- 11 P.M.
FRIDAY 11 A.M. - 5 P.M.