Monday, January 25, 1999 The University Daily Kansan Section A·Page 5 --good job of of taking normal, everyday things and showing how absurd they were. Achorus of dukes serenades a doubtful Phyllis, played by Dominique Boucard, Overland Park park. The KU Opera presented the comical opera "tolanthe" at Swarthout Recital Hall over the weekend. Performances also will be Jan. 28-30 at 7:30 p.m. photo by Matt J. Daugherty/KANSAN KU Opera's 'Iolanthe' gets grins from local jokes By Ezra Sykes Konson staff writer The KU Opera is acting a little absurd. And that's exactly what it wants. The group, who gave three presentations of Gilbert and Sullivan's comedy "Iolanthe" during the weekend, used everything from playing spoons to KU basketball references to draw laughter from the crowd. Norman Paige, professor of music and dance, said it was a tradition to include local jokes in Gilbert and Sullivan productions. Directors and actors collaborated to come up with appropriate humor for the crowd that also included references to Hashinger Hall, the Y2K problem. Drew Carey and anti-Missouri sentiment. Marc Scrivio, who played The Lord Chancellor in Saturday's performance, said staging the play was difficult because of its comical subject matter. "Gilbert and Sullivan is a world of its own," he said. "It has a style and character to it unlike any other performance. You have to let go of all realism and naturalism and jump into the world of parody. You have to play the silliness seriously." Dominique Boucard, who played Phyllis in Saturday's performance, said the opera did a "The setting is a fantasy land but it's very real to the people in it," she said. "They are past the stage of being clueless." Boucard thought "Iolanthe" was ideal for those who normally would not attend an opera because it was a comedy and because it was in English. The opera begins with the fairy Iolante being pardoned by the Queen of the Fairies after spending the last 25 years in exile for the capital crime of marrying a mortal. Upon finding out his mother has returned, Ioanthe's son, Strephon, who is half fairy and half human, declares his intentions to marry Phyllis, a local shepherdess. But Strephon has competition. The entire British House of Lords is captivated by the beautiful Phyllis and pleads with the Lord Chancellor, her guardian, to give her to whomever in the House she chooses. A struggle ensues for the hand of Phyllis and, with the help of the fairy chorus, Stenhront enters parliament, where he is able to pass whichever bills he chooses because of his half-fairy status. The opera will be shown at 7:30 p.m., Jan. 28-30 at Swartwout Recital Hall. Tickets are $7 for the public and $5 for students and senior citizens. Spencer exhibit to focus on '60s art movements By Ezra Sykes Kansan staff writer Art was a changin' during the 1960s and a new exhibition at the Spencer Museum of Art shows how. John English, Lawrence resident. "Decade of Transformation: American Art of the 1660s" opened Saturday at the museum and will run through March 14. went to look at the exhibition yesterday. The exhibition, taken entirely from the museum's own collection, includes pieces by '60s artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Motherwell and Grace Hartigan. The idea was conceived by Cateforis and Andrea S. Norris, museum director, as a way to incorporate Spencer's large collection of art from the '60s and at the same time help graduate students gain practical experience. Abstract expressionism uses shapes and colors to portray feelings or ideas without using recognizable subject The exhibition contains examples of basic artistic movements prevalent during the 60s. matter. "It's all part of the cururial process." Cateforis said. "You imagine how things would look on a wall." Pop art rejected the abstract, using images culled from mass media and pop culture such as advertisements and comic books. Graduate students Jill R. Chancey, Stephanie Olson and Rachel Epp Buller and Cateforis set about to organize the exhibition in a logical and attractive way. "There is a good deal of irreverence here." Catefores said. The project has been in the works for about the past three years, said David Cateforis, associate professor of art history. The counter-cultural art movement includes psychedelic pictures from the drug subculture of the '60s and pieces protesting the Vietnam War. English, who studied art at Emporia State University during the 1960s, said that era's art movements were controversial during their inception. "They were turbulent times and people were going in every direction," he said. "Everyone was trying to find something different." The exhibition also will be accompanied by a series of faculty presentations and films. The show and exhibition catalog were supported by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. 928 Mass. Lawrence, KS Brighton anglisses The Etc. 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