Kansan Reviews
THEATRE: 'A good time'
By BOB BUTLER Kansan Arts and Reviews Editor
I saw "Destry Rides Again" last night and I had a good time
I wasn't particularly moved, I wasn't driven to a state of deep inner awareness, I didn't gain any everlasting insights into human nature.
I just had a good time. It was refreshing.
Which doesn't mean the Experimental Theatre's production was flawless, because it has its problems. But there's something very "good time" about the show that invites relaxation. An audience should be able to sit back and take this one easy.
This didn't always happen last night. "Destry Rides Again," which was written by Leonard Gershe with music and lyrics by Harold Rome, is a parody of westerns and yet at the same time asks to be taken seriously. Producing a show like this requires a cast which can walk the thin line between parody and realism without falling too much to one side. Last night's performance was too serious. The death scene of the town drunk, who is promoted to sheriff and then killed when he takes the job seriously, could have been a great take-off, but it was played so straight the audience failed to catch the humor. And when the chorus started humming a funeral dirge, which could have been the comic highlight of the scene, the effect was merely ludicrous.
The plot of "Destry" is nothing new. Bad guy Kent (K. W. Kemple) rules the town of Bottle Neck, running a saloon and whorehouse, cheating at cards and killing off anybody who opposes him, including the sheriff. For a joke, he pins the badge on Washington Dimsdale (John Young), the town drunk. Dimsdale, recalling his lawman days with the famous Destry, sends for the famous lawman's son. Destry (John Myers) arrives, falls in love with Kent's girl, Frenchy (Ellen Lippman), and proceeds to clean up Bottle Neck.
Although there is nothine Rome's score, it does catch a star performers with several their stuff. Far and above the most successful in this capacity was Ellen Lippman's Frenchy. Miss Lippman has a lovely voice and she is a fine actress besides. John Myers as Destry is less successful as a singer, but he shows a good understanding of Destry, the lawman who refuses to use a gun.
Director choreographer Anita Sorrels was faced with some uncomfortable problems in setting up dance numbers on the tiny Experimental Theatre stage. Whenever more than four people try to dance they practically kick down the viewers in the front row. The same was true of an over-stylized bit with bullwhips. The three cowboys involved looked like lost apache dancers.
More successful are the small numbers, such as the one in which the proprietress of "Paradise Alley" attempts to train her girls in the art of respectability.
The cast was uniformly good, with several minor characters almost stealing the show. Nancy Goss, Christy Brandt and Becky Balding as the three dance hall girls gave entertaining performances as the "ladies" of Paradise Alley-smoking cigars, belting booze and lounging around with legs splayed. Steve Lewis as a drunken cowboy had few lines, but was consistently humorous as he wandered in and out of scenes in a state of perpetual inebriation.
Some of the action in "Destry" was pretty realistic, especially the final showdown, with bullets flying and bad guys falling out of balconies for ten-foot drops to the stage floor.
K. W. Kemple's Kent was appropriately villainous and John Young's Dimsale was a likeable alcoholic on the wagon whom I was sorry to see killed off.
All in all, "Destry" is a diamond in the rough. It needs some polishing before it becomes a real gem and hopefully subsequent performances will cure first-night jitters and find the cast completely sure of themselves.
particularly memorable about western flavor and provides the good numbers in which to show
Feb. 13
1969 KANSAN 5
Kansan Arts Calendar
Today
7 & 9 p.m.-SUA Special Film—"King Kong"-Kansas Union Ballroom.
8;20 p.m. - Experimental Theatre "Destroy Rides Again."
8:20 p.m. - Concert Course-Henryk Szeryng, violinist-University Theatre
Fridav
All Day-Kansas Music Educators Convention-Murphy Hall.
7 & 9 p.m.—SUA Special Film “Don’t Look Back”—Kansas Union Ballroom.
7 & 9:30 p.m.—Popular Film“A Countess from Hong Kong”“Dyche Auditorium.
Saturday
All Day-Kansas Music Educators Convention-Murphy Hall.
7 & 9:30 p.m.-Popular Film-"A Countess from Hong Kong"-Dyche Auditorium.
8:20 p.m. - Experimental Theatre "Destroy Rides Again."
Sunday
3:30 p.m.-Recital-Jerald Hamilton, organist-Swarthout Recital Hall.
7 & 9:30 p.m.—Popular Film“A Countess from Hong Kong”—Dyche Auditorium.
8:20 p.m. – Experimental Theatre“Destroy Rides Again.”
OUR VALENTINE LATE SHOW .. IT WILL EVEN MAKE CUPID BLUSH!!
"SPICY . . A LOVE CHARADE!" VADIM'S - Herald Tribune "CIRCLE OF LOVE"
with JANE FONDA as the "Wife"
A WALTER READE STERLING PRESENTATION
EASTMANCOLOR
THIS MOTION PICTURE IS FOR ADULTS ONLY
Fri. & Sat.
11:45 only!
INTERVIEWS
for
SUA Relays Concert Steering Committee Monday, February 17 Tuesday, February 18
Positions available:
Arrangements Chairman House Manager
Secretary
General Chairman
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Off Campus Tickets Chairman
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publicity Chairman
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Off Campus Publicity Chairman
'The Birthday Party'
Applications can be picked up in the SUA Office, Kansas Union.
Robert Shaw, left, stars in the film version of Harold Pinter's play "The Birthday Party," now showing at the Hillcrest. A review of "The Birthday Party" will appear in tomorrow's Kansan.
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