ENTERTAINMENT
The University Daily
KANSAN
October 31, 1983 Page 6
KU prof finds gratification in composing
By DAN HOWELL Staff Renorter
Composing, for Charles Hoag, KU professor of music theory and composition, takes a lot of time, paper and perseverance, and doesn't always bring recognition or material reward.
"If you depend on a lot of short-term
gification, then the act of writing music is not for
you."
"It's a couple years since such a big one came along, so I'm really glad," he said.
Houg has recently received some gratification, however. He is one of four to receive a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to compose a work for flute and piano.
He will use the grant next summer to write a piece to be played by university colleagues, in accordance with a requirement of the award. Hoag said Monday that he would write for "two fine colleagues." John Boulton, associate master of flute, and Richard Reber, professor of piano.
"WE COUNT OURSELVES to be very
thick. The long sigh noting the short supply of
farm land."
An anonymous NEA committee selected the composers based on review of earlier works. Hoag said. He submitted a personal favorite song to his six-part "Inventions on the Summer Solstice."
Hoag, who has professional symphony experience as a double bassist, is conductor of the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra. He has written numerous concert recordings and he have had commissions or have received prizes.
"I like to communicate ideas," he said.
I like to communicate ideas, ...
Many of his titles suggest history, such as "Tromboneheenge," or humor, such as "Filigree. Frogs & Fantasies."
Hoaag said that he composed in much the same way he did in college, with a piano and a spiral notebook.
"AS I REVISE, I transpose into another notebook," he said. "If it's written down, the next time I come to it, it has to survive inspection."
Refining the possibilities of a sketch marks the difference between composition and improvisation. Hoag said. The time it takes to become familiar with an idea is important.
"I don't count it as waste; I count it as process," he said, adding the revision usually involves redoing steps.
The grant, sponsored by the Cincinnati Composers Guild, assumes that the composer will produce a full work about 15 minutes long. Hoag said.
Boulton said that he enjoyed the chance to interact with a composer who can provide fresh music.
"IT'S A TREAT to have a composer right there," he said, explaining that he had played passages of compositions in progress for Hoag before.
"He'd have an idea; he might want to hear how it sounds." he said.
Second City humor enthralls audience
By PHIL ENGLISH Staff Reporter
The house lights come up as the six members of Chicago's Second City tour company wander into the crowd of pleased comedy fans to sit with the audience.
The Kansas Union Ballroom is being turned into a meeting of the Umpires Grove PTA.
One of the actors jumps on stage to assume the role of the PTA president. The topic of the meeting is sex education and the school system.
"I recognize Mr. Levine," motions the president.
"I don't know if anyone here recognizes the problem, we have concerning VD in our series."
"DID YOU KNOW that every 15 minutes, a student in this school contracts a veneered door?"
"I know that guy," screams the football coach from the back of the room.
Deafening laughter and thunderous applause fill the room.
For 2 1/4 hours, the Second City touring group, made up of Dan Castellaneta, Joe Keese, Harry Murphy, Jeremiah Bosgand, Madeleine Malate and Petro Perearchk kept a crowd of over 700 people mesmerized with its unique brand of improvisational comedy.
The Windy City comedians poked at everything from癌友 and sex to James Watt and the Viking.
THE FRIDAY NIGHT saw the group perform an ensemble exercise known as "Switch," which helps the actors develop their improvisational skills.
In the exercise, two members of the group begin to act out a situation. At any moment of the scene, another actor may interrupt them by saying "Freeze." The actors become startled and untie the old situation ends and the new actor enters and begins a completely new scene.
This can be a real nightmare for an actor, said Bosgang before the performance.
It takes a very clever person to be in Second City, said Joyce Sloan, producer of the traveling company. A rigorous audition is all it takes to discourage some people.
"AN AUDITION IS completely improviso, so we are definitely looking for someone who is smart, unique and can relay a certain presence to an audience." she said.
The audition for Second City can be an improvisational nightmare, too.
About 400 people are turned away every year, she said.
Bosagd said auditioners are tested for flexibility in a game called "Five through D4."
Two people are alone on the stage. One is the straight man; the other is being auditioned. The object is to reveal five personalities in one situation as fast as possible.
"The nature of the improvisational development of material is based upon how well a person can communicate and get along with his fellow actor," Bossang said.
"WHEN YOU ARE able to do this effectively, ideas can be developed, and when it's good, there is nothing more interesting to watch."
Although the group and its performing style are unique, the formula has proved to be useful in a number of contexts.
In 1959, an abandoned Chinese laundry in Chicago's Old Town housed the first performances of the group.
Such illustrious alumni as John Behliu, Dan Ackroyd, Alan Arkin, Bill Murray, Joan Rivers, David Steinberg and Mike Nichols started in Second City.
The original members found widespread success, and by 1961, Second City was performing on Broadway, and later in films, television and on recordings.
Bosgang said he liked the confidence the others gave him on stage.
'Everyone supports each other in a give-and-take relationship and there shouldn't be any one person who stands out more than the others.' he said.
Phillip Phillips KANSAN Harry Murphy and Modeline Malato of Second City improvise a scene in a series of sketches during their performance Friday night in the Kansas Union Ballroom. The group took suggestions from the audience of 700 for some of the improvisations.
Stephen Phillips/KANSAN
MOVIE REVIEWS
Rating System
futures as ball players, on a fluke play at the end of the game. Cruise stands up to the coach and rightfully accuses him of losing the game through a coaching mistake.
This is a great piece of America, but it's too syrupy and melodramatic to be anything more than just another movie about someone's dreams coming true.
Things look pretty sticky for Cruse, but does anyone in the audience think for a moment that he won't wind up getting what he wants? It really endures in the way of how the happy ending will be justified.
"All the Right Moves" is the story of "Flashdance" told from a different perspective. Tom Cruise (Risky Business) plays a high school senior relying on his football playing ability to get him out of the small steel-mill town where his family lives. The movie even includes scenes in the mill, with Cruise pretending to be a working man.
Everything seems to be going just right for Cruise, until he and his teammates lose the most important game of the season, and possibly their
The coach kicks Cruise off the team and begins blackballing him, keeping the college recruits from joining.
All the Right Moves
Cruise carries this movie with his acting ability. Craig T. Nelson (Poltergeist) plays the coach and also is very good. But the screenplay
belongs on daytime television and the directing,
by Michael Chapman, is drab and lifeless
But because Cruise is such a great, Nelson winds up apologizing and offering him a full scholarship to the college where he has been offered a job. Not only that, but the college just happens to be one of the best in the country for Cruise's planned field of study.
The film does seem to be a realistic portrayal of high school football in America. Up to a certain point, that is. For the first two thirds of the film, the characterizations seem realistic.
Warms your heart, doesn't it?
—Mike Cuenc:
fair
Cast members for the University Theatre Series production of "Hair" rehearse in the Crafton-Pruer Theatre. Stephen Phillips-KANSAN
'Hair' captures spirit of 1960s
By JOHN HOOGESTEGER Staff Renorter
Staff Reporter
The tribal-love rock musical will be presented Thursday through Saturday and Nov. 10-12 at 8 p.m. in the Crafton-Preever Theatre Theatre University Theatre and the department of music.
The musical "Hair" captured the spirit of the counter-culture movement of the 1960s when it brought rock music to Broadway 15 years ago and shocked the theater goers with its content.
The musical is dated and is no longer controversial, but its underlying theme is still relevant to many current issues, says the play's writer, Sue Jones, Montpelier VL, graduate student.
Jones said that the play would not be updated and that any change in the way the play was interpreted would have to be made on the part of the audience.
"The issues today are the same, but the reactions are different." Jones said. "The hippies rebelled through long hair, drugs and sexual freedom."
"There is a direct correlation between then and today that will be obvious to people who are in the present."
The actors have proclaimed their Nov. 11 performance as "Veterans Day" and dedicated the performance to Vietnam veterans and to the Marines in Lebanon for their "bravery and dedication while defending the country at great personal, physical and emotional risk."
" "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." she said, quoting George Santayana, an early 20th-century writer. "It is a way of reminding people about the '60s."
said. "People have been trying to forget about Vietnam, but if we forget then it can happen all the time."
"Hair" has a theme, but little plot. Set in a New York street in 1967, "Hair" deals with a tribe of hippies and their defiance of standard values.
The play shows individual incidents in the lives of the tribe members that deal with finding and losing love. The leader of the tribe allows himself to get away from the tribe, meeting with the disapproval of his friends.
The Broadway version of the play shocked many people when the actors performed nude.
"We're not performing 'Hair' for its shock value, and we're not imposing audity on the cast. It would be a voluntary move for them, and so far they are undecided.
"It's an act of vulnerability for the actors."
Jones said. "Shedding their clothes is a way of
Jones said that the off-Broadway version did not include the nude performance.
saying 'Here I am, what am I supposed to do?'
"If people want to know what they decide, they'll have to come and see the show."
Jones said the 22-member cast had come together well as a group.
In order to give the cast a feel for what it was like in the 1960s, Jones brought in speakers who were active in the anti-war movement of the '60s and who experienced Woodstock and drugs.
"Normally you have to go to a book to learn about a period piece, but I had living, breathing examples. Jones said "For people over 35, the period piece is an extraordinary experience."
In an effort to help people understand the play, Jones is used slides of photographs from the '60s
Jones said that the slides were the only obvious directing innovation in the show, but that she was striving to integrate the choreography with the performance.
The music for the KU production is being provided by the department of music with an 11-piece rock music group. George Lawner, professor of orchestra, is the musical director.
SPARE TIME
SILFIS will show "Shock Corridor" at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Woodruff Auditorium in the KK building.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY Pok-Chi Chu, assistant professor of design, are on display in room 402 of the U.S. National Museum of Art.
"LA STRADA" will be shown by SUA Films at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Woodruff Auditorium Admission is $1.50.
MICHAEL KIMBER will present a faculty viola recital at 8 p.m. today in Swarthout Recital Hall in Murphy Hall. Admission is free.
THE KANSAS BRASS Quintet will present a faculty recital at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Swarthout Recital Hall. Admission is free.
THE MUSICAL "HAIR" will be presented by the University Theatre and the music department at 8 p.m. in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre. Tickets for students are $2.50, $2 and $1.50, and for others are $5, $4 and $3. Prices on other nights vary.
'MK SMITH GOES TO Washington' will be
p.m. on Thursday in Woodford Auditorium for $150.
REGION
LAWRENCE
A FACULTY OHOE recital will be given by Susan Hicks, assistant professor of oboe and music history, at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the University Church, 852 Vermont St. Admission is free.
"FLIGHTS OF FANCY — Organ music for Halloween" will be performed by David Dioebold at 8 p.m. today at the Country Club Christian Church, 61st and Ward Parkway, Kansas City, Mo.
"DRACULA" will be performed by the Wanado
doves player at 8 p.m. today in the Kansas City
Stadium.
HENRY MANCINI and the Boston Pops will perform at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Kan. Tickets are $17.50, $15 and $12.50
"BENT" WILL BE presented at 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday through Friday at the Unicorn
Theatre, 3514 Jefferson, Kansas City, Mo.
Tickets for students are $5.
BY BERKE BREATHED
BLOOM COUNTY
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