FILMS: Funny Girl—again
By MIKE SHEARER Arts & Reviews Editor
I suppose you can go to the amusement park once too often, and the roller coaster may begin to lose its initial thrill after the first few rides.
But, "Funny Girl," the bright and exciting musical which won Barbra Streisand half an oscar last year, can be seen more than once without losing its beauty. Each trip to this particular ice cream parlor can offer a brand new flavor.
Even on film, Streisand seems to improve over her last performance, but that might simply be the imagination of a fan and a musical buff.
Kay Medford and Ann Francis provide excellent supporting performances, and Barba Streisand is "gawgeous" enough to make up for Omar Shariff's sloppy accent, acting and singing.
The musical is an all time favorite musical, exciting and moving. Streisand's, Fanny Brice as one reviewer put it, upstages the Statue of Liberty in her pursuit of Nick Arnstein.
Slides backup Summertree
Bv GENELLE RICHARDS
Kansan Staff Writer
A different kind of play requires a different kind of set, and that is just the way it is with "Summertree."
"Summertree" opens Thursday night in Swarthout Recital Hall and runs through Friday.
Instead of the usual set with backdrops "Summertree" replaces the conventional with slides projected against the wall at the back of the stage.
The nine slides of various colors and shapes are shown during the production. Made by Phyllis Hansman, a freshman at the University of Missouri, some of the slides contain pieces of dried plants and colored ink, giving the effect of colored branches in the background.
KU's Together gets together with singer Johnny Winters
By JOE BILL NAAS Kansan Reviewer
Wiping his sweating hand on his bellbottoms, Rod Mikinski, Kansas City senior, watched the curtain rise in front of him.
He looked into the blackness and wondered if there was really anyone out there. Then he saw flickers of light and hundreds of cigarettes glowed throughout the darkened auditorium.
When the stage lights flashed on, Rod's hand moved up to his bass guitar and his fingers hit the strings. A roar of sound crashed from the amplifiers behind him and echoed off the back wall of the auditorium, several hundred feet away.
Now his tension was gone and he could turn to check out the five other members of Together. They too were getting into the music, and on their faces he saw a look of confidence which hadn't been there minutes before.
Oct. 15
1969 KANSAN 5
This August night was a turning point for Together, a Lawrence rock band comprised mostly of KU students. They were playing before 4,000 people in Memorial Hall in Kansas City, sharing the bill with the Vanilla Fudge. And much of the audience thought Together outperformed the nationally famous group.
Friday night, Together will be back on the stage at Memorial Hall. This time they will precede the blues phenomenon, Johnny Winter. They know they will have to be good.
Their music has changed radically from a few months ago when they were known as The Renegades, and played mostly soul music. They were then in great demand at barn parties and school dances.
"The Winter audience will be a lot more critical than the people who came to see the Fudge," said Terry Gerkovich. Kansas City graduate student, band leader and lead guitarist. "But we're not nearly as nervous for this one; we've got a lot more confidence in our music," he said.
But the group wanted a new sound. They were tired of doing stuff by the Temptations, James Brown and the Four Tops. "It's no use trying to play James Brown when you're not him," said Bob Garrett, Kansas City senior and organist. "I'm a musician, not an impressionist," he said.
So they took the first step and added a rhythm guitarist, Bill Lynch, Washington, D.C., sophomore. Then they started rearranging material to fit their new hard rock style. The dummer, Mike (Taz) Waugh, Olathe senior, is enthusiastic about their new style. "We each have the opportunity to be more individualistic. I enjoy myself much more now,
and that's what counts," he said.
If they felt confined by their former style of music, Together broke off the chains at the Fudge Concert. Mikinski moved all over the stage, and when he kicked on his fuzz-tone, his bass sounded like a freight train.
Waugh brdke loose on his new drum set ("Two bass drums, you know. It's a hell of a lot harder to play," he explained.) and even surprised the rest of the band with his complex solos.
And Tom Rejba, the lead singer and the only member of Together who doesn't attend KU, proved to be the most exciting member of the group. When the old Renegades used to play at the Red Dog and Rejba went into his long soul monologues, people sometimes walked out because they didn't think he really felt what he was saying.
A planned monologue is much too inhibiting for Rejba. His natural style is spontaneous and unpredictable. During the Fudge concert he sent the mike stand crashing to the floor and ripped off his shirt, not for stage effect but because he felt like it.
A female reviewer for a Kansas City underground paper called Rejba "a new sex symbol." And if Rejba as an individual captured the loyalties of the girls in the audience, Together as a group certainly gained a new stature in the eyes of Kansas City rock fans.
Friday night these fans will hear some of Together's new material, including an original jam song. Playing with Johnny Winter is a heavy challenge, but the members of Together are confident of their ability to reach the audience. And to those who have already heard Together in concert, that confidence seems justified.
FOREST FIRE TOLL LESS
COLLEGE STATION, Tex.
(UPD)—Forest fires reported in Texas during 1968 burned 9,187 acres, the second smallest number recorded, according to the Texas Forest Service. The most fire-free year in Texas was recorded in 1957, when 689 forest fires burned 7,812 acres.
experimental theatre series Swarthout Recital Hall October 16,17,18 8:20 p.m. For tickets, call UN 4-3982
Other slides have pieces of colored cellophane and a special solution. The solution dissolves the cellophane creating various shades and shapes.
For instance, slides representing Vietnam have red angular shapes in them. While slides forming the backdrops for scenes including the mother and father contain plants and blue and green colors.
For the scenes with the young man and girl, the slide consists of blue circles to give the impression of love. But the scene with the young man and his father shows the feeling of a lack of communication and of harshness with the prickly dry plants.
A special slide is shown at the beginning and end of each act containing a mixture of colors, shapes and plants.
"The purpose of the slides is to help form the proper setting and environment," said Jay Epstein, St. Louis sophomore, slide projectionist.
Again, getting away from the traditional kind of play, "Summertree" features a guitar at various intervals during the play. Peggy Friesen, Shawnee Mission senior, plays parts of songs and the song entitled "It Was Only Yesterday" which was used in last year's senior film.
PELLA, Iowa (UPI)—Wyatt Earp, famed western marshal, was given his first gun at the age of 11 when he lived in Pella.
His childhood home still is standing.
THE Hillcrest
"The guitar is used to comment on the characters and the action of the play," said Stephen Reed, Wichita state director.
Before the play begins, the audience listens to "Chorales and Preludes" by Bach, played offstage on an organ.
Instead of sets with furniture and props, "Summertree" uses black wood platforms and pipes. One large structure containing many levels at different elevations represents the tree and is of major importance to the play.
As one of the poster advertisements for the play says, "Summertree is its own moratorium."
"An ensemble production is especially important in this play, because everything is working to a total end. So many art forms are working together," said Reed.
Starts
TODAY
Janus Films Presents DIRECTORS' FESTIVAL
ORSON WELLES' CITIZEN KANE
Welles' first film,
Welles' first film,
landmarked contemporary movie-
making for its technical virtuosity.
Wed. and Thurs.
Only
7:10 and 9:20
Francis Truffaut's "Jules and Jim" Oct. 17-18
Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon" Oct. 19-20
Alfred Hitchcock's "Lady Vanishes" Oct. 21-22
M. Antonioni's "L'Aventura" Oct. 23-24
Ingmar Bergman's "Wild Strawberries" Oct. 25-26
Sergei Eisenstein's "Ivan the Terrible" Oct. 27-28
All Seats $1.50