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Arts:Museum Haiis American RenaissanceBY VIRGINIA CAREYThe World%u2019s Fair in Chicago in 1893 is where it all began. Titled %u201c The World's Columbian Exposition%u201d , this %u201c windy%u201d City exhibition opened the eyes of millions of Americans with impressive stage sets showing the nation%u2019s creative energy and potential of an American civilization. It was to be repeated with regular intervals at Expositions in Omaha, St. Louis, Seattle, San Diego and San Francisco. %u2018%u2018The American Renaissance,%u201d the newly opened exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, tries to bring that heady era back to life with a mind dazzling array of 225 works including architectural drawings, paintings, murals, sculpture, furniture ceramics and a series of lectures, films and a symposium of the forty year period between 1876 and 1917.It was a time when America had finally arrived as a full fledged power on the world scene and Americans thought of themselves as the 19th century heirs of European renaissance men. Fourteenth century giants such as Leonardo DaVinci and Michelangelo had redefined European culture and so Americans sought to set an example before the world combining desirable elements of the old and new, a European and American civilization.It took three years to plan and develop the exhibit under Curator Dianne Hauserman Pilgrim of the Brooklyn Museum, Richard Guy Wilson, Professor of Architectural History, University of Virginia and Richard N. Murray, Assistant to the Director, National Collection of Fine Arts. Funds were provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities and monies of the Brooklyn Museum. The Exhibit after it closes December 30 will be travelling to the Smithsonian Institution in Wahington, D.C., San Francisco and Denver Colorado.FOUR THEMESThe exhibit itself is divided into four themes: %u201cThe Great Civilization%u201d with a general overview of the period %u201c at its height of style and vitality\American Renaissance;%u201d %u201c The Medician Tradition%u201d which shows %u201c the use of art to create a genteel life style of opulence and ease...%u201d and %u201c Civic Art%u201d concentrating on the grandest accomplishments of the American Renaissance as %u201c exemplified by the great collaborativework on monuments, libraries, court houses and state capitols.%u201d FILM SERIESIn an effort to broaden the scope of the themes of the exhibit a symposium, films and a lecture series have been planned.The 1930 and 1940%u2019s films often used %u201cThe Gilded Age%u201d as a backdrop for their themes%u2014a glamorous, carefree era but troubled by the changes of the 20th Century.Starting October 28 a 12 film scries, showing on Saturdays and Sundays at 2 pm, will be headed by %u201c The Ma%u2019gnificent Ambersons%u201d by Orson Wells dealing with %u201c the transitory nature of life in a quickly changing era%u201d as the brochure explains. There are some well known films such as \Him Wrong%u201d with Mae West and Cary Grant, %u201c A Tree Grows in Brooklyn%u201d about an Irish immigrant family striving to overcome poverty and %u201c Meet me in St. Louis%u201d the well known screen musical. The series is free to Museum members, $10. for non members or $1. per film. LECTURE SERIESStarting November 4th and continuing each Sunday at 2 pm. through December 16 (except Nov. 25) a Lecture Series will be held in the Third Floor Lecture Hall. The three curators of the exhibition along with two guest speakers will take turns explaining such topicsas: %u201c Concepts of the AmericanRenaissance;%u201d %u201cThe Idea of the Interior in Late 19th Century American Art and Literature;%u201d %u201c Augustus Saint Gaudens and His Contemporaries;%u201d %u201c Antiquities, Importers and the American Decorative Arts;%u201d mural painters and architects of the era.The Lecture Series will be free tomembers, or $20 for non members or $4 per lecture.There will also be a two part symposium by the curators of the show and guestspeakers on November 16 and 17 including lectures, panel discussions and open discussions. The symposium is also free to members, $15 for non members or $10 or $5 for parts ofthe symposium.The American Renaissance,at the Brooklyn Museumthrough December 30 at 200Eastern Parkway. Hours areWed. through Sat. 10 am %u2022 5 pm,Sun. 12 noon to 5 pm, 638-5000X 326 for reservations to LectureSeries, Symposium or %u2018TheGilded Age on Film.%u201dBrooklyn Ballad Sings A Varied SongBY ROSEMARY GREBIN PALMSMae West, the Dodgers, Hart Crane, Walt Whitman%u2014all were part of the Oct. 12-14 program %u201c Ballad of Brooklyn%u2019%u2019 at the Brooklyn Academy. Brooklyn Rediscovery, a program of the Brooklyn Educational and Cultural Alliance (BECA), enlisted Myrna Lamb to cull from fifteen fat volumes of literature and music, already gleaned from hundreds of sources, and then to adapt these choice passages into a stage presentation. And this she did: as the program notes, she used %u201c poetry, prose, and song from the various periods of history to reveal the many faces that are Brooklyn.%u201dDirector Margot Lewitin guided her eight actors in the difficult task of making interesting and coherent two and a half hours of potentially disjointed readings. Although the actors were hired as readers, oneespecially excelled in this art%u2014 Beth Dixon, who with precise accents and inflections made the words of such disparate writers as Carson McCullers from Georgia, Ellen Terry of the British stage, and Ethel Barrymore distinctive and alive.Carlos Carrasco read well, too, but was most compelling in the part of Reverend Henry Ward Beecher as he dramatized the horrors of a slave auction. Sam McMurray was particularly good at evoking the words and feelings of Brooklyn%u2019s blue-collar worker. He and E. L. James opened the program with a powerful and comic dialogue from Thomas Wolfe%u2019s %u201c Only the Dead Know Brooklyn.%u201d James was best in the dramatic bits and had a fine singing voice, as in the sea chanteys.Other high points in the production included ilsebet Tebesli as alittle girl meeting Colonel Roebling, builder of the Brooklyn Bridge, in a sketch from Wolfe%u2019s %u201cThe Web and the Rock%u201d , with Allan Wasserman her amusing, teasing father; Hether Blackmon (a.k.a. singer Dolores Smith) as Lena Horne singing %u201c Stormy Weather%u201d ; and Verna Hampton impersonating Mac West.An integral part of the program was the music, thanks to Jimmy Foster, musical director and pianist, and able musicians Bill Perlman (guitar), Joseph Walker (drums), Tommie McKenzie (bass) and James Vass (saxophone/flute). All (he actors had credible singing voices, and Gail Conrad%u2019s choreography enlivened the production.But I have some less enthusiastic remarks. First, the audience should have been prepared for the nature of the production, namely, that it was essentially a readingrather than a play or concert. (Some disgruntled theatre-goers departed.) And as a reading it was too long, even with the lively songs. (Why, when Lamb had such wealth of historic material, did she allow songs composed by members of the cast? Though, I must admit, I enjoyed %u201c D Train to Your Heart.%u201d )Finally, the audience could, with the help of a detailed program of credits, make connections between the disparate elements. (It seems a long distance between Lena Horne and Lenny Bruce.) One could wish for more written transitions or use of other media%u2014slides, captions, varied lighting%u2014to make bridges for us. Yet we come away with our impression of Brooklyn%u2019s pluralities and multiplicities verified. A mostly delightful %u201c Ballad of Brooklyn%u201d does %u201c reveal the many faces that arc Brooklyn.\Theatre Guild Thrives At Brooklyn College CampusBY LINUS GELBERWith the Brooklyn College School of Performing Arts catering to students and the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts handling adult professional yearnings, you%u2019d suspect there wouldn%u2019t be any other action on the campus down at the long end of the IRT line. But you%u2019d be wrong: filling in the final angle in the Gershwin Hall and Whitman Theatre centers is the Educational Theatre Guild, a small--but growing--non-profit group presenting a showcase of children%u2019s entertainment over the year.The Guild was founded three years ago by Merle Lefkowitz and Gloria Fischer, both of whom did children%u2019s theatre work at BAM before tney left. %u201c We arc ihe Guild-just the two of us,%u201d Lefkowitz says. \there is a lot of work to do.%u201d Each year so far, the Guild has eked outafloat on its season%u2019s proceeds, but, as it gets no outside funding, accessories run scarce.All goes well despite what Lefkowitz terms their %u201c shoestring%u201d operation. This season a full nine shows, six live and six movie screenings, will be presented. The films are the most basic and deep-rooted Disney favorites; live shows pick from innovative and attractive performing groups throughout the borough. Some of the coming attractions for the season will be a magic and illusion show, two fairy-tale performances by the Pumpernickel Players, who work with black light as a medium, and a New Year%u2019s performance of Sleeping Beauty played with fivefoot, life size puppets. %u201c And the- ~i~%u00bb %u00bb%u00bb r| J 1 U . V I O l i f j i n , I j V. k I W r i I W . | z v / w > > oout. %u201c I guess in a nutshell what we%u2019re trying to do is bring quality performances here at affordable prices. We keep the ticket costsdown so everyone can come.%u201dUnfortunately, low prices and high rents don%u2019t balance a checkbook, and Lefkowitz is looking toward private and state funding to ease finances. %u201cThe New York State Council on the Arts is considering us-we%u2019re keeping our fingers crossed,%u201d she says, %u201c I think we%u2019re fundable, and I think we%u2019ve proved that we are workable.%u201dFor the meantime the Guild is satisfied with its makeshift setup, but Lefkowitz aspires toward an eventual expansion. %u201c If we had our own theatre, it would be beautiful,%u201d she says wistfully. %u201c Someday I%u2019d love to buy a theatre so we could use it at our own discretion.Lefkowitz finds the BrooklynC 'o m n n e *\\ o o rfo p t en n t tn run An' ' %u2014 %u2022%u2022r %u2014 %u2014 r - ............toperation like the Guild. %u201c It%u2019s central,%u201d she says. %u201c It%u2019s so easy to get here: and it%u2019s nice, and safe, there%u2019s parking, there are restauIII..... ..........%u25a0%u25a0Ill....III!................ Hill 111rants and branches of every fast food chain-rcally, it%u2019s an ideal location.%u201dTHE LEGEND OF SLEEPYHOLLOW: with the Sorceror%u2019s Apprentice, performed musically and with black light costumes by the Pumpernickel Players. Oct. 28, 2pm, Whitman Theatre. All seats reserved. $2.50.THE INCREDIBLE MERLIN:Magic, illusion, and feats of magnetism from all over the world, performed by Jack Adms and friends. Nov. 3, noon a. > 2pm, Whitman Theatre. All seats reserved $2.50. THE LO%u2019 l BUGwith INCREDIBLE JOL .NEY; a children%u2019s double feat-ire of cars and pets. Nov. 12, 1> i, Whitman Theater $2. THE SNOW QUEEN:P rom iero stage nerformance of the Hans Christian Anderson tale, presented by the Pumpernickel Players. Nov. 24, 2pm. Whitman Theatre. All seats reserved, $2.50.YOU%u2019RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN: From the Broadway Play, performed by the Ryan Repertory Company. Dec. 8, noon and 2:30pm, Whitman Theatre. All seats reserved, $3. SNOW WHITEAND THE SEVEN DWARFS: An on-stage musical performed by the Gingerbread Players and Jack. Dec. 27, 2pm, Whitman Theatre. All seats reserved, $2.50. SLEEPING BEAUTY: Complete with Tchaikovsky%u2019s ballet theme and five-foot puppets, staged by the Pickwick Puppet Theatre. Dec. 30, noon and 2 pm, Whitman Theater. All scats reserved, $2.50.PETE%u2019S DRAGON: A musical Disney film fantasy, combining cartoons and actual action. Jan, 13, noon and 3pm, Gershwin Theatre, $2. For information, reservations and group rates, call 462-3525 or 284-4835.October 25,1979, The PHOENIX, Page 17