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COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA—Lee MacMorris, Hutchinson graduate student, is shown at a tense moment with William Kuhlke, Denver, Colo. graduate student, during the opening of "Come Back Little Sheba."
Single Talent
Kuhlke Eclipses Company In 'Come Back Little Sheba'
By TOM SAWYER
The University of Kansas has one actor. His name is William Kuhlkhe and he is a graduate student from Denver, Colorado.
As the protagonist in Thursday's University Theatre production of "Come Back Little Sheba," he understandably eclipsed an adequate company of supporting players. Nowhere has the sharp line between affected, hollow technique and warm, sincere acting been so graphically defined.
The play itself, now well-worn, is the melodramatic account of an alcoholic doctor (Kuhlke) and his relationship with his sluttish wife Lola, played by Lee MacMorris, Hutchinson graduate student. After a shotgun wedding, Doc felt his career had been ruined and so was driven to drink. In spite of her love and devotion to Doc, Lola has allowed herself to become an unkempt, sloppy, middle-aged housewife. Following help from Alcoholics Anonymous, Doc seems to be progressing, but relapses when he discovers that his young female college boarder, Kay Ewert, Abilene senior, is being courted by an animalistic athlete, John Husar, Chicago, Ill, junior. Distrubed over the imminent defoliation of the young girl, Doc gets drunk and tries to kill Lola in a crescendo of delirium tremens. However, while he is in the hospital, Lola reforms, dons a girdle, and welcomes home a sober Doc.
The performances were not so much a case of "good" and "bad" as they were "acceptable" and "brilliant." Though the other players did nothing grossly wrong, they never rang quite true; acting for them seemed to be an avocation.
Kuhike, on the other hand, was a jewel in a rockpile. Mechanically, he knew his lines and spoke them well while losing nothing in inflective shadings; artistically, he was vibrant, sympathetic and, most importantly, he was real. He established the theatre's peculiar empathy through the cumulative effect of subtleties of gesture, movement, and concentration which achieved their maximum impact in what could very possibly be the finest piece of characterization ever seen in the University Theatre.
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Anyone working in such a trite play must run the hazards of comparison. Kuhike stood the test extremely well; he surpassed Burt Lancaster in the movie version and nearly equalled the brilliance of Sidney Blackmer in the original Broadway production. Miss MacMorris, however, was not as successful in her rather unartful interpretation; she seemed torn between imitating Shirley Booth and being herself. Only once did she appear enough the slattern to drive a man to drink. And if she did win our hearts in this instance, it was because she was more acceptably familiar with the dialogue at that point. Miss MacMorris is primarily a competent stage actress; in this attempt at versatility she tended to overact in proportion to the spatial closeness of the audience.
Both Miss Ewert and Husar were charming as the frolices young couple. Husar was particularly effective as Cheeta, the overexposed javelin-thrower. He joined with Frank Moon, Lane graduate student, as the muscle-bound milkman in furnishing the only two significant bits of comic relief.
Plans for the Presbyterian University Center, announced in late 1954, are nearing completion later this month. Still in the tentative stage, plans drawn by architects Bradley-Keene of Topeka, will be reviewed by the Synod Wesleyan Foundation board at a meeting July 29.
Plans For Center Near Completion
Construction of the three-story; $250,000 building should begin in late November, according to John H. Patton of the School of Region. It will be completed by the fall of 1958.
From the technical departments came very good use of lighting, properties, and costuming. For two years the University Theatre has thrown everything but the kitchen sink on stage in an effort to impress audiences. After this offering of William Inge's play, absolutely nothing remains to be seen. There in the middle of the Union Ballroom, bathed in colored lights, was a bonafide kitchen complete with sink. Unfortunately, it boasted no garbage disposal unit, which would not be an inappropriate receptacle for many of Mr. Inge's sordid situations.
For the uninitiated, William Inge is a native son. Because he is a graduate of this school, the University Theatre has seen fit to saturate local audiences with a long and dreary cycle of his plays. "Come Back Little Sheba" was his first and, so far, his best work; since its writing, the play-wright has spiralled downwards. Nevertheless, the administration has paraded in front of us the tiresheLL collection of prostitutes, perverts, drug addicts, alcoholics, and other pieces of flotsam that even Mr. Inge had the good taste to omit from his major works.
The Center will be located at 12th St. between Oread and Louisiana. The plan includes a chapel which will seat 300 persons.
As an isolated instance, this presentation was fairly well produced and acted. All in all, it proved to be quite the berries. But if this represents a trend to display the accomplishments of our alumni, we may console ourselves with the fact that Olsen & Johnson, the Minsky brothers, and John Wilkes Booth were graduates of other schools.
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Cole Porter's Musical Hit Opens At Starlight Theatre
The Incomparable Hildegarde, a star of the entertainment world for two decades, took over the Starlight boards Monday for the one-week stay of Cole Porter's musical hit, "Can-Can." The lively, long-run Broadway success will run through July 21.
A strong supporting cast is featured with Hildegarde. It includes John Tyers, popular baritone who is making his eighth Starlight appearance; Sherry O'Neil, attractive, strawberry blonde dancer; Ferdinand Hilt, who originated the role of a French art critic in the Broadway production of "Can-Can;" George S. Irving, who made an earlier appearance this season on the Swope Park stage as a navy officer in "South Pacific;" Mort Marshall, who has been cast in two major comedy roles at Starlight in "South Pacific;" and "High Button Shoes;" and Joseph Macaulay, who is making his fortieth character portral at the open air theater.
The story of night life in Paris in the '90s has as its main setting a restaurant owned by a prancing Montmartre jeebel, played by Hildegarde. In a role that might easily have been written for her, the Milwaukee lass has an opportunity to sing some of the songs classed as her best-known numbers—"C'Est Magnifique," "I Love Paris," and "Allez-Veus-En."
Debüt In Dallas
Hildegarde made her legitimate stage debut in this role at the Dallas State musicals last summer and found herself successful in another new medium—which has been the story behind her enduring stay at the top of the entertainment world. Following her successes in European clubs, she moved into radio as mistress of ceremonies on "The Raleigh Room." which maintained a spot in the top ten radio shows for its three-year run. She went on to capture the concert stage with a "one-woman show" in a tour of North America, and has now entered the television field as an interviewer in a new series soon to be released by NBC-TV, called "Zero-1960." She continues to pull down top figures in her club engagements and plans another tour of the country this winter with a full orchestra and supporting acts.
Abe Burrows write the book for "Can-Can," which has a double plot. The strongest plot deals primarily with a young, priggish judge who, intent on suppressing a new and rowdy dance called the "can-can," changes his mind when he falls in love with La Monc Pistache, who operates a restaurant. Their romance ends happily
The second plot concerns a girl who dances her head off and some how drives her suitors at one another's throats. Miss O'Nielt, as the dancer, is making her second Kansas City appearance of the year. She was seen earlier as Lola in the national company version of "Dann Yankees."
Tyers, last seen at Starlight in "Kiss Me, Kate" in 1953, returns in a role he has often portrayed with great success.
Apache Team Signed
An Apache team, Lucienne and Ashour, has been signed for special dance numbers. Veterans of vaudeville and top attractions in supper clubs, they demonstrate the fine art of a highly specialized dance routine.
"I Am In Love," "Never Give Anything Away," "It's All Right With Me," and "Every Man Is a Stupid Man" are some of the Cole Porter tunes that make "Can-Can" a continuing success wherever it plays.
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