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University Daily Kansan
Arts/Entertainment
Thursday, May 1, 1986
Colorful 'Fiddler' mixes humor and drama
Tammy Stude/KANSAN
Above, Hodel, played by Janet Lee Chapman, Overland Park sophomore sings "Matchmaker, Matchmaker" to her older sister Tzeitel. Right, Tevye, portrayed by Norma Paige, professor of music and voice, asks his wife, Golde
portrayed by Sharyn Brooks Katzman, Lawrence resident, if she loves him. She responds with the song "Do You Love Me." The play, "Fiddler on the Roof," will be presented May 1-4 and 8-11 at the Lawrence University Theater.
Love, tradition clash in musical
By Monique O'Donnell
Staff writer
Tzeitel, played by Kate Taylor Griffin, encourages Motel, played by John M. Holzuter, Overbrook sophomore, to ask her father for her hand in marriage.
Fiddler on the Roof, a musical by Joseph Stein, presented by the Lawrence Community Theatre, 1501 New Hamburg St. Performances are at 6:18 p.m. May 4-1 and 14:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. May 4 and 11. Tickets cost $50 and $3 for senior citizen and children.
If he were a rich man, he wouldn't have a lame horse, a bossy wife and the worries of finding suitable husbands for his five daughters.
But Tevye, the main character of Joseph Stein's musical "Fiddler on the Roof," is poor and doesn't get many breaks from his daughters or appreciate his problems. Tevy will sing and for Lawrence audiences.
"The play is not a comedy, not a tragedy," said Mickey Jones, Wichita graduate student and direcctor. "The play could call it a drama with humor in it."
Norman Paige, professor of music and voice, plays Tevey, the poor Jewish dairyman. The play is set in Israel and is part of the Jewish community in the Ukraine.
Tevey lives with his wife and five daughters. His three oldest daughters, Tezelt, Hodel, and Chava, are his children, willing to follow the traditional path.
First the community's matchmaker tries to pair Tzeitel with the
Toyee lets his daughter marry the man she loves, although it goes against the traditional way that marriages are arranged. But once this issue is settled, problems with the second oldest daughter, Hodel, arise.
butcher Lazar Wolf, who is quite a bit older. The butcher has money and Tevye likes the idea, but Tzeteli does not. To marry her, Motel, instead
Hodel decides on a mate and doesn't consult her father — she only asks for his blessing. Teve resolves his conflict by carrying on dialogues with his mother, who is the case with equal logic. Reluctantly, he gives Hodel his blessing.
When Chava, his third daughter,
runs away with a Gentile, he can no longer compromise his values and
forgive her.
their traditions." Jones said.
Tevey's story is that of an entire community, which tries to keep its world intact by clinging to traditions, said Jones.
"The community is in a precarious situation and the only way they can balance their lives is by clinging to
The Jewish community has to endure the anti-Semitic brutality of the Russian government. Although the community is constantly challenged by the tempests of vandalism, tradition and faith help keep their lives in order.
While the story encompasses the hardship of the Russian Jews at the turn of the century, it has been translated into a colorful and comical musical. The clothing is bright and the songs are fun and catchy.
The role of Tewee includes seven long monologues and a lot of solo singing parts, Paige said, but he enraged her when it caused it was both comic and dramatic.
"I would have liked to have gone for more realism," Jones said. "But our costume adviser said they should be more colorful."
But the most rewarding aspect, Paige said, is seeing how a middle-class Jewish man could touch so many people as he changes his strict moral code out of love and concern for the happiness of his daughters.
Jones said he considered directing "Fiddler on the Roof" a privilege because it had always been one of his favorite musicals.
Taking on this musical production was not an easy task, Jones said. The original script called for a 50-member cast, by choreography 34 performers in the limited space of the theatre was a challenge, he said.
The character of Tevye was created by Sholom Aleichem, a Ukrainian Jew. He wrote many stories, which Stein combined into
the musical, Paige said.
"They're really very funny stories," Paige said. "Like the line from the song I If Were A Rich Man, I were a Rothschild in the book."
Paige comes from a Jewish background, and sharing the cultural and religious background with his character made his role easy to identify with, he said.
"But the less formal production is a new experience for me." Paige said. "And this is only the third time that I've had a performance where I had to act and sing."
Even finest pieces suffer from age
Museum stores fragile art works
Staff writer
By Grant W. Butler
When a museum owns more works of art than it has room to display or when the works could be damaged by light, there is a need for storage, according to Jay Gates, director of the Spencer Museum of Art.
"You've got to do something with what you've got, and if someone gives you something that you can't show, it presents a dilemma." Gates said. "You have to treat everything you must," he praised a priceless masterpiece.
The museum stores a variety of works, from quilts and ceramics to paintings and drawings, to either preserve the quality of the works or to make room for works which are important or in better condition.
Although a drawing or photograph may be beautiful, works of art on
paper are not durable enough for permanent display, he said.
"Over time, even the finest paper turns brittle and discolored," Gates said.
But the works aren't allowed to whither away, he said. Works of art on paper are kept in light-proof boxes in the museum's storage area. They are also matted and covered in acid-free paper to prevent their decay.
Other works are placed in storage because of their quality, he said.
When works have become scratched or discolored, they are placed in storage until there is a grant for their restoration. The restoration for some works is expensive, so they may remain in storage for some time before
“There are distinctions in quality.” Gates said. “Some works are more important and are in better condition than the works that will be on exhibition.”
the money can be raised
The museum has a large collection of quilts that is usually put on display only in the summer, Gates said.
When the quilts are in storage, they are placed on rolls made of acid-free paper and bound in fabric covers. The quilts are then mounted on racks that are over 10 feet tall.
"People don't think of quilts as works of art because cats lay on them. Cokes get spilled on them and they get holes," he said. "But if you are donated to the museum, they have to be treated as praised works of art."
"We've gone all the way to the ceiling," Gates said. "We're faced with a position of one of these days having to say no."
The museum also has a large holding of English ceramics, which is rarely displayed because many of the works are duplicates and don't meet
the standards of the collection at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo.
"It would be silly for us to have an exhibition of English ceramics when the largest collection in the world is at the Nelson," he said.
While the works of art in storage are not on display for the general public, Pat Fister, curator of Oriental art, said it was possible for researchers to the works for research papers or an appointment by making an appointment.
"Most students who want to see something are art history majors or graduate students who want to do history." We collect our visitors' collectors by "Flicker." Flicker said.
But the collections are available to all students, she said.
"We're pretty good about that because we are a University and a teaching museum," she said.
'Cocoon
By Grant W. Butler
Cocoon, by Ron Howard. 3:30, 7:30
and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday in Woodburn
Auditorium of the Kansas Union. Rated PG,
119 min cooler
filled with golden moments
Descriptions of "Cooon," directed by Ron Howard, usually emphasize the geriatric breakdancing, the spacemen with removable skin, the steamy swimming pool sex scene and the whi-bah special effects ending.
Staff writer
But there's much more to "Cocoon" than the superficial elements that make the film sound like a combination of "On Golden Pond," "E.E. on Golden Pond," and "A Harbor." "Cocoon" is a succesion story, at the heart of the film is good acting and human emotion which should appeal to all ages.
The three men, played by Don Ameche, Wilford Brifford and Hume Cronyn, discover a swimming pool that has fountain of youth qualities at a mansion next door to their retiring nurse. In the pool, the men become immunicancerous cells disappear and long-dormant organs come back to life.
Review
Art, Ben and Joe are old, decaying and waiting to die.
The source of their rejuvenation is not the mythical water sought after by Ponce De Leon. The water has been energized by aliens from outer space who are using it to revive their companions who were sealed in co-
coons after being stranded on a mission to earth.
In the end, the aliens offer to take everybody from the retirement center away in a spaceship as stellar ambassadors.
The performances by the silver-haired actors in "Cocoon" are no less than golden.
But other old people take advantage of the water and its energy is lost, jeopardizing the aliens' mission.
Ameche bristles with youthful vitality and energy, and his performance earned this year's Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Gwen Verdon, Jessica Tandy and Maureen Staples are excellent as the three men's girlfriends and wives.
There are also good performances by Steve Guttenberg and Tahnee
Welch as the interstellar lovers.
On sure, there's mushy, stomach-churning sentimentality in "Cocoon." The tearful goodbye scene between Joe and his grandson, played by Barret Oliver, is reminiscent of the handkerchief Saturday matinee.
The film also resorts to dazzling special effects, courtesy of George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic, to grab the audience. But the effects never overpower the characters or are more important than the story line.
But the most important aspect of "Coconut" is that while Howard has made a movie with all the elements of current pop film culture — sex, dancing and spacemen — the film is dealing with warmth and emotion.
By Monique O'Donnell Staff writer
Chorus joins orchestra to celebrate ode to joy
The KU orchestra and choir want to end the semester with an elaborate concert, and the conductor students will join the celebration.
More than 265 students from the University Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Choir, University Singers, Concert Choir and University Chorus have joined to the annual Major Works Concert at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday in Hoch Auditorium. The concert is free to the public.
The concert will feature vocal and instrumental music by Giuseppe Verdi and Ludwig Van Beethoven.
The first piece, Verdi's "Stabat Matter" from "Four Sacred Pieces," will be performed by the combined choirs and orchestra, and directed by James Ralston, director of choral activities.
"It's a very special and compelling piece of music." Ralston said.
The performance of the Verdi piece lasts only 12 minutes. Ralston he said he chose the piece because Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, although 70 minutes long, was not a complete concert in
Wayne Kompelien, Mineota, Minn., doctoral student, sings the bass solo of the "Ode to Joy" in the song "Saturday." At Ninth, which, he said, summarizes
Ralston said he was also rehearsing the choirs for the fourth movement of Beethoven's Ninth.
"Beethoven is a screamer." Ralston said. "The music is very demanding on the voices of the actors because the ranges are so high."
the romantic spirit of the time.
"Beethoven wrote music for voices as though they were instruments, and this doesn't lend us the flowing line." Kompellen said.
Zuohuanqh Chen, conductor of orchestra, said the students of choir and orchestra were serious about rehearsing for the concert. Beethoven's Ninth has only been performed recently by the University of Kansas, he said.
"It's very difficult music to learn," Chen said. "But I really hope students can come and enjoy such tremendous music."
The orchestra and choir rehearsed for three weeks, Chen said. Although he would have liked to have had three months for rehearsal, he is satisfied with the quality of the students' performances at this time.
In order to support the large chorus, Chen decided to double all the woodwind instruments and some of the brass instruments.
The concert features a good variety, he said. "Stabat Mater" is a religious piece and the Ninth can be secular - religious piece, he said.
Most people think of the Ninth in terms of the "Ode to Joy" which uses the words of Friedrich Schiller's poem "Freude Schoener Goetter Funken," Chen said. But most of Beethoven's Ninth is a song about doubt and questioning. It is not until the fourth movement that all the subthemes are united to a finale of universal brotherhood.
"The Ninth is by far the deepest,
most philosophical of all his
he said. "And it's a
classified and immortal
symphony."