Page 384 - Demo

Page 12, PHOENIX, May 9, 1974Heights Players Perform Dandy Musical Oliver'A frolicsome scene from The Heights Players%u2019 production of %u201c Oliver.%u201dscheduled for weekends of May 10 and May 17.Two more performances areBY TOM FERRELLThe Heights Players%u2019 spring musical, Lionel Bart%u2019s %u201c Oliver,%u201d directed by John Bourne, lives up to the standard established by this ambitious group in the last several ycars-that is, it%u2019s a dandy production. The show has been skillfully scaled down for the Players%u2019 small arena stage, and may well have gained in interest with the reduction in size.The big production numbers are, of necessity, not very big, and the choreography is often limited to getting the actors on and off stage tidily, or keeping them in the center with a few square-dance figures. The chorus of welldisciplined children marches around a lot-a good way of keeping the kids, literally, in line. Charles Crozier%u2019s set is minimal but functional (as it ought to be-this is a show about poor folks, after all). Charles Laemmle%u2019s costumes arePenn. Ballet in Fine Form at BAMby Wynne SchwartzOne of the perennial treats at the Brooklyn Academy of Music is a visit from the Pennsylvania Ballet. This fine company which features Lawrence Rhodes, one of the world's great dancers, just completed a four-day stint of two programs that was warmly received by an enthusiastic Academy audience.Mr. Rhodes%u2019 technique isstraightforward, with all his movements originating from the center of his body. His facial expressions are both direct and subtle, but do not alone account for the strong emotions he communicates to an audience. Fascinating to watch, he is totally committed to the use of focus and movement through space. Breathing is an integral part of his technique and artistic expression which relates openly and sensitively to the other dancersBicyclesSales / Rentals / RepairsD I X O N S3 i * e722 [ M Unoh $B E T W E E N G>TH $ 7T H AVENUES %u2022 636%u00bb-OOfc7i----------------ri 'I8I%u25a0IIIIIIIII\\ 0 e W, 5t O U - M ltv i mand to the audience.In the case of the women dancers, however, 1 feel that some of their emotional honesty is being stifled. It was most evident in the May 2 program in which emphasis was placed on the stylistic value of classical beauty and romantic arms among the women. In Balanchine%u2019s %u201c Four Temperaments%u201d this stylization was so overwhelming that all the dancers' temperaments seemed identical. Benjamin Harkarvv%u2019s %u201c Time Passed Summer%u201d was similiary limited. This lovely ballet performed to Tchaikovsky%u2019s songs featured marvelous costumes that created a genuine tu rn -o f-th e-c en tu ry Russian atmosphere. The ballet concerns five women attending an open-air concert of the songs, who have separate dancing selves portrayed by other dancers. The choreography is a fine mixture of classic, modern, and Russian folk dancing.On May 3 the dancers gave a fine performance of Balanchine'sConcerto Barocco. Opus Lemaitre, choreographed by Hans van Manen to Bach%u2019s Tocata and Fugue in D Minor. Certain elements of the performance, however, were personally disturbing. The clenched fists of the entering dancers create a violent atmospnere that seems choreographically inappropriate to the strong, but hardly violent music. But the theme of violence is not carried too far symbolically and the ballet has an understatement that saves it. It is a good vehicle for Lawrence Rhodes' powerful dancing.Carmina Burana, with music by Carl Orff and choreography by John Butler, was an exciting and moving spectacle. The music and singing by the New York Choral Society were superb. Sensitive choreography and simple costuming evoked a beautiful medieval atmosphere.Wynne Schwartz Is a professional ballet dancer who lives andteaches ballet In Park Slope.1i8IIIIIII8II8111iIiI!The YWCA of BrooklynPrivate Health CM for Men & WomenFeaturing...%u2022Luxurious heated pool-distance swimming%u25a0Gym, Jogging track, Tennis practice,%u2022Table tennis Hand Ball, Paddle Ball,Paddle tennis.Fully equipped exercise room%u2022Total privacy in showers, lockers,dressing rooms.%u2022Professional personal supervisionin conditioning,%u2022SaunaHealth Club DirectorHy Schaffer: 875-1190$150.00 per year.JOIN NOW! YWCA Health Club30 Third Avenue, Brooklyn,%u2019Y W C AY. 11217particularly attractive in the second-act pink-and-white street scene, and the staging throughout is sufficiently ingenious. Everything that%u2019s supposed to work works unobtrusively, and smoothly enough so that the audience is left to concentrate mainly on the performances, and there%u2019s a lot to concentrate on.Though the cast is strong throughout, those actors who have the highest dialogue-to-singing ratio come off least well, which is no fault of theirs, since the book only rarely rises to the Dickens novel (when it does, as in the scene between philanthropic Mr. Brownlow and misopacdic Dr. Grimwig, it%u2019s a delight). A notable exception to this rule is Sandra Prosnitz, who in the small part of Old Sally plays a death scene that any D. W. Griffith tragedienne might envy. Jon Fogler, the child principal, sings well and touchingly, but his movements are a little stiff. Since %u201c Oliver!%u201d gives its title character a taxing slow ballad in the first act one would rather have it that way than the other way round. Liz Boecher as Bet, Oliver%u2019s female child counterpart, exhibits a pretty voice.Robert Rodriguez' lively Artful Dodger even looks Dickensian-his face cries out for mutton-chops-- and his slightly off-balance cockiness occasionally suggests a touch of the Mad Hatter as well. As Fagin, Andy Krawetz is plain wonderful, crooning in an accent that's part Cockney, part nineteenth-century-literary Jewish, dancing, shrugging and raising his eyes to heaven like a criminal Tevye. Ed Healey, wearing a terrific make-up scar, gives the part of Bill Sykes a physical menace, a not-very-controlled violence that lends plenty of conviction to the melodramatic ending of the show.Best of all perhaps against this stiff competition is Karen Richter%u2019s Nancy Sykes-at once bawdy and pathetic, she transforms the essentially maudlin song \As He Needs Me,\tearjerker that quite properly stops the show. Miss Richter has performed for the Heights Players in a number of productions, and gets better and better. Ensemble singing is good throughout, especially In the second-act number \All the actors in this production have been well drilled, their Cockney accents are for the most part secure, and it%u2019s easy to hear and understand every syllable in the intimacy of the small theater. In the case of %u201c Oliver!\be a mixed blessing at times, but the tunes are catchy-everybody knows half of them at least already-and the first-night audience plainly had a wonderful time. A lot of children in the house seemed to be having as much fun as the adults who brought them; the two scheduled Sunday matinees should appeal to parents who don't want to send the kids to the movies yet again. \continues through the next two weekends at the theatre at 26 Willow Place in the Heights, with matinees on the twelfth and the nineteenth.____Incredible!Great coffee in your office for only pennies a cup.784-3030 BUNN COFFEEOur Office Coffee Service supplies an incredibly good cupof coffee at a very low cost.;* * ;* * .%u00ab * a a ----------11 u a>IM O IA T V C U | l U U J t u %u00bbYuban* Coffee. All you buyare kits including coffee, filters, sugar and creamer. Weprovide the equipment andm a intenance a i no cati'Scharge, Call now.