Entertainment
Page 6 University Daily Kansan, November 14, 1980
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Members of the cast of "Now Appearing," a play written by a student, gather for a jam session.
Rock play 'Now Appearing'
By JANE NEUFELD
Staff Reporter
"Now Appearing," a play by a KU student about the members of a jazz-rock band, will premiere at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the William Inge Memorial Theatre in Murphy Hall.
The group will perform actual concert numbers during the play.
"I was interested in combining the elements of theater with the elements of concert," said Laurie VanderPol-Hosek, the play's author and director.
Hosek, a KU graduate student in theater from Vermillion, S.D., said she wanted to capture the inherent excitement of a rock concert.
"The play's written out of a deep love of
them. It's what's they're fascinating,
intensely interested people.
Hosek's husband, David, composed the music for the play and is its music director. Cast member James Olson wrote the lyrics for the songs.
The play contains five major musical numbers, Hosek said.
She said she had worked with and observed a number of musicians, including Todd Rumme and Miles Davis.
She was assistant lighting designer for Browne and Raitt, did makeup for Utopia, Rundgren's group, and did "lifting and toting" in general.
Hosek said she also interviewed a number of musicians before writing the olay.
"Now Appearing" traces the private lives and public performances of five musicians in a rock group, alternating between scenes of them or a nightclub and scenes in their motel rooms.
The members of the band must learn to balance their personal and professional lives, Hosek said, and they must discover their reasons for being in a band.
She described the show as a comedy/drama.
Each of the band members gives a different reason for wanting to be in the band as the play starts.
Jason, the lead singer, loves playing music.
Wells, the keyboard players, wants fame and fortune.
"I want to live in a mansion in Beverly Hills and have a phone in every bathroom, he says.
"Deep in the heart of every artist I see an inherent desire to become rich and famous," he tells Jason.
Frank, the drummer, hopes that being in a rock band will make him appease to women
"Anyway, I just hope I get laid a lot," he says.
The band progresses from lighthearted, friendly closeness at the play's start to confrontations about missed performances and thoughts of breaking up the group.
James Olson, Pomona junior, is Jason.
In the end, the band members each must come to understand their real reasons for being mute.
"Now Appearing" was selected as the 1981 American College Theatre Festival.
The play will be judged in performance and in selections selected for regional and national competitions.
Hosek said she started writing plays two and a half years ago because she couldn't find good, inexpensive scripts when she was doing unimaginative work with Dakota on drama programs with children.
"I started adapting fairy tales into scripts," she said.
"Now Appearing" will be performed at 8 pm. Nov. 19-24. Tickets are on sale in the Murphy Hall Box Office and are free for tickets with KU IDs and $2 for the general public.
She said she wrote 12 children's plays in South Dakota, three of which received major productions in community theaters. "Now Appearing is her third adult play.
Flawless performances mark 'Ordinary People'
By KEVIN MILLS
Entertainment Editor
Get out your money and place your bets. "Ordinary People," the film based on Judith Guest's novel, is going to win the Academy Award for best picture of 1980.
Reminiscent of that other heart-rending masterpiece of family disintegration, "Kramer vs. Kramer," which won best picture last year, "Ordinary People" features flawless performances from the lead characters and a masterful directing debut by Robert Redford.
Redford, to the surprise of some members of the audience in attendance, appears only as a name in the credits. But his artistic presence is certainly felt, if not seen, from the moment the
Review
opening crests subtly blend into blue Illinois sky. While Redford's fortore would appear to be his acting and casting ability (his inspiration to cast all-American Mary Tyler Moore as the cold, repressed mother comes to mind), his visual wizardry cannot be denied. A painstakingly perfect upper-middle-class home is transformed into an emotional battleground, where problems are swept under immaculate carpets and doors serve as arbitrary boundaries of isolation.
But what really distinguishes Redford's direction is its unobtrusiveness. The story unfolds with precision and clarity—no heavy-handed symbolism or technical division halts the inexorable progression of Alvin Sargent's fine screenplay.
Set in the affluent Chicago suburb of Lake Forest, II., the film examines the social pretensions and preoccupations of the idle rich: the obligatory cocktail parties, the weekends in Dallas, the Christmas getaways ("We've never been home at Christmas," insists the character played by Moore).Beneath this gilded veneer, however, it becomes obvious that even people with extraordinary wealth have ordinary problems.
At the film's outset we meet Conrad Jarrett (played by Timothy Hutton), an intelligent but emotionally confused teenager who cannot deal with his girlfriend. Following hospitalization for attempted suicide,
Conrad returns home to an unysympathetic mother (Beth, played by Moore) and a caring but ineffectual father (Calvin, played by Donald Sutherland). He is expected to pick up where he left off before his suicide attempt, but that proves impossible. He has to repeat his junior year of high school since he missed the final exam. Conrad only can realize that it is no longer fun. His friends, who were always more Buck's friends anyway, treat him with respect but without affection.
Conrad's mother is seemingly oblivious to such details. In a bold break from her cheeury image in the role of Mary Richards, Moore portrays a woman of exchavizing rigidity and appalling cruelty. Her concerns for her family are uniformly exterior: where shall they go for the holidays, what should she wear, when the day comes? It will be Moore. Moore to portray a stereotype, but her performance is illuminating beyond her one-dimensional superficiality.
Donald Sutherland, too, delivers an impeccable performance as a father torn between mother and son. The subtle, understated role is somewhat of a change for the normally famboyant Sutherland. Judd Hirsch, as Conrad's psychiatrist, will certainly receive an Oscar* for her work in treating Conrad may initiate a resurgence of business for American psychotherapists.
Against such stellar performances by theater veterans, film newcomer Hutton has the supremely challenging task of focusing attention on his pivotal character of Conrad. He succeeds a tribute not only to his own abundant talent but to the coaching techniques of Redford as well. We feel Hutton's anguish acutely, and echo his jubilant singing. Hutton asks and receives the audience's empathetic investment. He doesn't let us down.
"That 'Ordinary People' will win the Oscar is a minor point. This is a film that the Academy can understand and appreciate, unlike other excellent, but intellectual, current releases ("Stardust Memories" and "The Elephant Man," to name two). What is important are the precedences established here: Robert Redford's directorial eminence, Mary Tyler Moore's expanded acting range, Judd Hirsch's temporary break from TV's "Taxi," and perhaps most importantly, Timothy Hutton's sudden emergence as a film star of the 1980s. When one film provides so many revelations, it almost restores your faith in American cinema.
Warfield performs show for Scholarship Fund
Warfield, best known for his roles as Joe in the movie "Showboat" and as Porgy in the opera "Porgy and Bess," has spent the fall semester on campus teaching voice courses, conducting masters' classes and seminars and privately teaching outstanding voice students.
Bass-barrite William Warfield, the Langton Hughes visiting professor of voice, will perform in concert to benefit the KU Music Scholarship Fund at 8 a.m. p.m. Monday in the University Theatre
The recital is Warfield's first public performance since joining the music faculty. He combined his work with two other musicians combined KU choirs, choruses and orchestra Nov. 28 in a performance of Mozart's "Requiem."
For his recital, Warfield will be accompanied by pianist Carole Rose. He will sing a six-part program, including a series of five sea chanties, chain gang songs, Anglo-American songs, Negro spirituals and old American songs. His program spirits and the old "Dry Bones" and "Didn't It Rain?"
Warfield has been called "the singing ambassador of the world" in recognition of his many trips abroad for the U.S. State Department.
Tickets for Warfield's KU recital are on sale in the Murphy Hall box office. All seats are general admission. Tickets are $1 for KU students and $2 for the public.
Spare Time
TODAY
MUSIC: Kathy Petree, paino doctoral recital, 8 p.m., Swarthout Recital Hall.
Son Seals Blues Band, 9 p.m. at the Lawrence Opera House
Mama's Pride, 9 p.m. at G.P. Loyd's West
THEATER: "Grease," a musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, 8 p.m., University Theatre
ART: Jan Gaumnitz, watercolors, and Betty Lessenden, ceramics, at the Gallery, 745 New Hampshire St.
Martin Cheng, watercolors, Kellas Gallery, 7 E. Seventh St.
"Likeness: Portrait Photographs from the Collection," "Tokaiido: Adventures On The Road in Old Japan" and "The Donald Match Collection," at the Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art.
MOVIES: "Network," 3:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., "Magic," 7 p.m. and "Jimi at Berkeley/Charlie is My Darling," midnight at the Kansas Union
SATURDAY
MUSIC: Son Seils Blues Band, 9 p.m. at the Lawrence Opera House
Mama's Pride, 9 p.m. at G.P. Loyd's West
THEATER: "Grease," a musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, 8 p.m., University Theatre
"The Ghost of Andrew Carnegie," presented by the Seem-To-Be-Players, 1:30 p.m., Lawrence Arts Center
MOVIES: "Network," 7 p.m., "Magic," 3:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. and "Jimi at Berkeley/Charlie is My Darling," midnight at the Union
SUNDAY
MUSIC: Ramsey Lewis, with the Heath Brothers, 8 p.m. at the Uptown Theatre, Kansas City Met.
KU Percussion Ensemble, student recital, George Boberg, director, 8 p.m., Swarthout Recital hall
ART: Ruth Bowman, fibers, and Jon Havener, metals, Lawrence Arts Center
MONDAY
MUSIC: William Warfield, baritone, benefit concert, 8 p.m., Swarthout Recital Hall
XTC, 9 p.m. at the Lawrence Opera House
MOVIES: "Sergeant York," 7:30 p.m. at the Union
TUESDAY
MUSIC: Trombone Choir, student recital, 8 p.m., Swarthout Recital hall
MOVIES: "The Magnificent Ambersons," 7:30 p.m., at the Union
WEDNESDAY
THEATER: Now Appearing," a new play by Laurie VanderPol-Hosek, Inge Theatre Series, 8 p.m., Inge Theatre
MOVIES: "Knife in the Water," 7:30 p.m. at the Union
Spyro Gyra rocks Uptown with hard funk
By DAN TORCHIA
Staff Writer
Kansas City, Mo.—The roadies had finished setting up the sound equipment for Spyrro Gyra's Wednesday night concert when the band members walked into the Uptown Theatre a few hours before the show. As they walked down the stage, they admired the theater's empty elegance.
"Nice, nice, very nice," one member said.
They immediately went onstage and began a sound check. Drummer Elli Konkonoff and bassist David Woolford started a loose funk rhythm. The other members of Spyrgo Pyro - Jay-Beckeman, saxophonist Tom Schuman, keyboards, Chesapeake and Gerardo Vezel, percussion -lolled them.
Jav Beckenstein. founder of Svvro Gvra. delivers a sonrano sax solo.
The few roads that remained onstage went off. Hallway back in the cabaret area of the Uptown, a sound technician mixed the sound for concert, which was to begin in about three hours.
Backstage, Simon Buckman, the road manager, was busy making sure all the arrangements for the band were in order. While talking to a couple of people, he yelled to Belez, who had wandered away from his arsenal of equipment on the far side of the stage.
"Our latest album, 'Carnival,' is doing well." he said. "I made a breakout account in all four countries of the country."
"Hey Gerardo," he shouted above the music,
"you want to do an interview?"
Beelz came offstage and went up the stairs to the dressing rooms. On the third floor, three rooms were reserved for the band. The middle room was for food, which had not arrived yet, but beer, soft drinks and juice were iced in down the beelz took a bottle of apple juice and sat down.
Belez was referring to the music trade publications' designations, "Breakout" means
that the album is selling well and is being added to radio playlists around the country.
A single from the album, "Cafe Amor," has been released also. Beezel said that the success of "Morning Dance," the group's hit, did not allow them into consciously trying to make another blast.
Musically, Spyro Gyra is a diverse blend of styles and influences. Funk influences like Earth, Wind and Fire and James Brown are included. Weather Report and Return to Forever.
"We take all sorts of influences and mix them all together," he said. "It's ridiculous to say that one type of music is best. It is enough if people know, these guys are doing some nice stuff."
The crowd of 1100 reacted that way Wednesday night. The elegance of the Uptown was just right for the band's sophisticated blend of music. The music was far from bland and homogeneous; as the band was on hard band. After the band played a ballad for its third song, the pace never slowed down.
Is it hard to play almost two hours of uptempo funk?
"No, actually it's pretty fun." Beckenstein said. "It's like a hard-played football game. Sometimes I go onstage sick and come out healthy. I sweat the sickness out."