.
ET CETERA
University Daily Kansan, February 7, 1985
Opera star to give recital
Page 7
By PEGGY HELSEL Staff Reporter
It's a big jump from performing before European royalty to singing in the humble halls of the Crafton-Preyer Theatre. But it's a leap soprano Judith Blegen makes willingly.
Blegen is an opera singer who has appeared before Sweden's king and queen and with superstar Luciano Pavarotti.
However, Blegen, a Metropolitan Opera star, will perform for a less regal audience Friday when she gives a solo recital as part of the 1985 University Arts Festival and the 1985 University Arts Festival. The concert begins at 8 p.m.
ONLY A FEW tickets for the performance remain, and a spokesman at the Murphy Hall box office said the concert should be a Tickets cost $10 and $8. Student receive a 50 percent discount.
Blegen, a native of Montana,
aspired to be a violinist. She went
to the Curtis Institute of Music in
Philadelphia to study violin, choosing voice as a minor. Yet it soon became apparent that opera was her calling, and in 1970 she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in "The Magic Flute."
Blegen's career takes her around the world. She performs regularly with the Hamburg, Munich and Lisbon operas. She has performed with the Berlin Philharmonic in shows televised throughout Europe.
In the United States, Blegen sang in several telecasts of "Live from Lincoln Center," and appeared with them, "Ballo" and "Eilisir D'Amour."
THE SOPRANO PROBABLY became best known in the United States from her numerous appearances on tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
Larry Wasserman, Blegen's manager, said in a telephone interview from New York that Blegen had been one of the lawyers who said was "one of Johnny's favorites."
Carson isn't the only one impressed with Blegen. Wasserman said she
was the inspiration for the opera "Help Help the Globolinks" by Gian Carlo Meniotti.
Blegen possesses a wonderful stage quality, said James Seaver, professor of history and an opera aficionado.
SHE IS THE Met's No. 1 soprano for light lyric opera, he said, and also a vivacious actress.
"She is quite well-known in operatic circles, and quite well respected." Seaver said, "although not quite a household word."
Bleger song in Kansas City. Mo,
lost spring at the Folly Theater.
She's noted for her roles as Juliet in
"Romeo and Juliet," Susanna in
Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro",
and Sophie in "Der Rosenkavalier."
In Friday's recital, Blegen will perform works by Handel, Brahms, Strauss, Debusy and others. She's currently touring the United States and Europe. In Germany, Blegen will give a recital at the Hamburg Opera
Wasserman said the invitation to sing in Hamburg was "a very big honor. Not many singers get to give recitals in opera."
Band to relive its KC memories
Staff Reporter
When Rank and File performed last summer in Kansas City, Mo. the town was buzzed about the upcoming Jacksons Victory tour.
By SHELLE LEWIS Staff Reporter
But forget the Jacksons. A more vital memory of Kansas City comes to the mind of one of the band's guitarists — most of the fans at Rank and File's concert drove in from Lawrence to hear the band's brand of music.
The guitarist, Chip Kinnan, said in a telephone interview from Nashville, Tenn., that the group wanted to come to Lawrence on their current tour because they enjoyed the Lawrence contigent's enthusiasm.
"It was the first time we'd played in Kansas City." Kinnan said. "We had a real good time. Kansas City is a nice town and is very much like Something about the feeling of the air just reminded me of Austin."
Rank and File, originally out of Austin, Texas, but now working out in Hollywood, will perform at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the CBS Television Center, House, 642 Massachusetts St. This
will be the band's first trip to Lawrence.
The Blinkies and Otto's Chemical Lounge will open for Rank and File.
Tickets cost $5 in advance and $6 at the door and are available at Exile Records and Tapes. 1 W. Ninth St
Kinman, who was watching the movie "Scarface" with the group's other guitarist, Jeff Ross, yesterday in their Nashville hotel room, said the tour was progressing well — much better than last year's.
"Tuesday was a traveling day," Kinman said.
The group is now on a three-day break after leaving Peninsula, Fla., on Tuesday morning, he said.
Kimman and his brother, Tony,
Rank and File's bass player, write
songs for the group, which has
released two albums. The first,
second, and third in summer
1982 and the second, "Long Gone
Dead," early last year.
"We don't write songs together." Kinman said. "We each write our own and then we sit down and work them out together."
Kinman said the group planned to record another album soon.
"We're going to start working on it when we get back to L.A.," he said.
"It should be out by the beginning of next summer."
Although Rank and File has weathered some changes in its line-up over the years, the band has undergone no personnel changes since last summer's Kansas City concert.
"It's the same Rank and File, ' Kinman said.
The band's drummer, Bobby Kahr,
and Ross have played with the band
for about a year, he said. The
Kinman brothers formed the band.
Chip Kinman classified the group's music as pure rock 'n' roll.
"We work on the level of a rock band and leave it to the audience to decide the rest," he said.
Steve Zuk/KANSAN
The audiences that Rank and File has played for on this tour simply have come to listen to the tunes and discern the band's style, Kinnan said.
"I hope everyone comes out with the attitude that they are going to have a good time," he said. "If the audience comes with the attitude they are going to have a good time, then they will."
The defendant in "Inherit the Wind," played by Bob Welch, professor of psychology, consults with the judge, portrayed by Ambrose Saricks, professor emeritus of history. In the background, the defense attorney, played by Charley Oldfather, professor emeritus of law, talks with a reporter, portrayed by Lawrence Sherr, professor of business.
Prof inherits role of attorney
By RICK ZAPOROWSKI Staff Reporter
Some disputes never die. Some don't even fade away.
This weekend Lawrence actors will revive a 60-year-old issue when they stage a rendition of the 1925 Scopes "Monkey Trial." The heated trial not only brought recognition to the issue of creationism vs. evolutionism but also to the trial lawyers.
The role of Henry Drummond, patterned after well-known attorney Clarence Darrow, will be played by a veteran of the court and of the stage.
Charley Oldfather, professor emeritus of law, will portray the volatile Drummond in the Lawrence Community Theatre presentation of the courtroom scenes from "Inherit the Wind." Oldfather said, "He's a famous lawyer representing unpopular causes."
"Inherit the Wind," written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, will be performed at 8 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday at 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets cost $4 for the general public and $3 for students and can be reserved by calling 843.SHOW.
After the Lawrence performances, the cast of "Inherit the Wind" will
compete in the Festival of American Community Theatres (FACT).
The Lawrence Community Theatre production, featuring 10 KU faculty and staff members in the cast and crew, will compete against 11 other plays at the state contest Feb. 17 in Topeka. The winner will advance to the regional finals for North Dakota. National finals are scheduled for July in Wisconsin.
Oldfather remembers the festival well. In 1979 he starred in the Topeka Civic Theatre's production of "The Good Doctor." The show won the national FACT competition in Memphis and went on to play in Ireland.
He's also no stranger to stages in Lawrence. He recently starred in the Lawrence Community Theatre "The Man Who Came to Dinner" and since his retirement in 1974, he has performed regularly for theatre groups in Topeka, Wichita and Lawrence.
Oldfather, who will turn 65 years old Sunday, said he considered himself an amateur actor. However, he said, viewing acting as a hobby doesn't diminish his input into the roles.
"It probably takes more concer- tion to win back than I've done all my life, be said."
The role Oldfather now plays in experience he gained from practi-
ing law. He said that his efforts in he courtroom helped to make his character more realistic.
"An actor is a person who remembers," he said.
Oldfather should encounter few problems applying his memory to his role in "Inherit the Wind." He is working in the show for a third time.
"But I don't like to publicize that," he said, "because if I miss a couple of lines, people say, 'Look, he still can't get his lines.'"
He first performed in the play in 1976 for the Topeka Cove剧院. He also performed in the Kansas Repertory Theatre's production in 1977.
The 1977 production was directed by Bobby Patton, director of the Lawrence Community Theatre production.
Patton, director of KU's division of speech and drama, shortened the script to meet the hour time limit needed to enter this year's festival.
"It has a nice continuity to it," he said. "We've cut it down to just the courtroom scenes. My realization is that the play was in the courtroom scenes."
Patton said the play — revolving around the battle about whether to teach creationism or evolutionism in the classroom — remained interesting six decades after the infamous Scopes trial.
Phi Delta Theta presents The 10th Annual
-20 teams competing from seven different Universities
—All proceeds donated to ALS Research at the KU Med Center
Featuring the Rock & Roll sounds of "AND/OR" at the Lawrence Opera House
2-6 p.m.
*Tournament*
FRI. night: 6-11
SAT.: 7 a.m.- 11 p.m.
SUN.: 8 a.m.- 10 p.m.
*Championship game
SUN: 9 p.m.
—Raffle Prize
Shoot-off
at Half-time!
Fri., Feb. 8,
admission
sponsored by
with ticket
($4 at the door)
Cook
and KZR106