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A r t s :Ei i liyfe Exists iCt? Ably Evuksd By u u u u c i i i i o u i c r iBrent Spiner (L) and Jon Polito (R) in %u201c Emigres%until Nov. 11. (Caravaglia Photo)BY JOHN PATTERSON%u201c Emigres\limes, in all places, are from somewhere else. The two nameless and slightly pathetic, characters of Slavomir Mrozek%u2019s new play at ihc Dodger Theater at BAM, inhabit just such a state of mind. Fleeing oppression and gaining release has irretricveably misshapen their lives and forced them to redefine freedom, existence, love, and trust. Their lives are an existential nightmare come true which must be reimagined if they arc ever to be delivered from it.This is the cunning task the author has set out to accomplish. All too often his philosophy and reality do not mesh%u2014there is an air of contrivance about much of the discussion which makes for clumsy transitions and bumpy pacing%u2014 but the work is so deeply felt, so energetically performed, and so ably produced that it is a most arresting and theatrical evening.Mrozek%u2019 s situation calls to mind Sartre%u2019 s %u201c No Exit%u201d . First, becausethe Polish cxile/author has also enclosed his characters in a physical no-man%u2019s land, and second, because he loo has attempted to give concrete expression to a spiritual state. In direct support of this is Andrew Jackness%u2019 remarkably imagined set which gives exquisite definition to the modern day limbo of the exile and separation. The plays two characters arc designated in the program as %u201c AA%u201d (Brent Spiner) the intellectual and anarchist, and %u201c XX%u201d (Jon Polito) the thick-necked, untutored worker. Their lives are perfectly defined by their enclosure.A sharply raked floor gives a floating, suspended feeling to this rectangular loft with its exposed plumbing. At either end, two large valises lie beneath nondescript bedsteads and in between are a table with two chairs. In the upstage right hand corner is a perfectly recreated makeshift kitchen: a dusty, two-burner hot plate onto which has wandered an old teakettle; and a smudged porcelain sink and spout, used both for cooking and washing, which is flanked by nails for the greying washclothcs and dishrags. A peeling brown screen, whose elegant shape implies better days and other households indicates a division from the rest of the room, but to no avail. This is a place without hope. Nothing can give it meaning beyond wh'at it is: a drab waystation on its%u2019 inhabitants daily round o f work, nostalgia for %u2018home%u2019 , and sleep.Tliis numbing rhythm is broken one New Year%u2019s Eve, as the two em igres celebrate with cognac during the intermission of a long, complicated squabble designed to characterize the attitudes of each of the men and to create a description of the lives they have created. The intellectual is desperately attached to freedom as an abstraction valued above all else while living, breathing humanity is seen as a secondary but necessary support. The worker thrives on the physical: cigarettes, hoarded money, tea, sugar, a necktie, a stuffed toy, an imagined woman, a day off, are the building blocks which constitute his life. Both depend on one another emotionally and on their %u201c fromncss%u201d for spiritual sustenance and therein lies their triumph and defeat as human beings, or so Mrozek would have it.Their mutual dependence asserts their basic humanity; their sense of homeland, their destructive selflimitation. Humanness is created in lime and space; serious disruption throws us into a confusion and doubt from which rescue is difficult if not impossible.This work has an EasternEuropean political air about it which isn%u2019t surprising considering the authors%u2019 origins, it deals with a dilemma which neither Europeans nor Americans share, at the moment. Relatively free access to home and family for most of these populations makes it unnecessary for them to deal with the contradiction of escaping from that which one loves most deeply. This places a significant distance between the play and its present audience. Thepiece begins to function as a kind of political illustration and my thoughts went immediately to the recent dance defectors. Though the illustration is interesting, this distancing softens the impact of the trauma this kind of emigre necessarily undergoes.Nor docs the anonymity of the characters actually help matters. For all the references to %u201c ...learning the language...%u201d , which implies that the characters are not speaking English, they are. Brent Spiner and Jon Polito cannot play no nationality at all, so they seem to float from country to country in an effort to find anchor for their very skillful characterizations and the sense of this happening is intrusive, Their performances are both tours dc forces, but at some points they also look like juggling acts rather than impersonations of specific people, which is quite a different matter. This method of implying universality long ago gave up tlie ghost, or should have. In any case, it docs not work as intended here.Despite this, the evening maintains an unusually high level of energy and holds interest right to the end, thanks to MessieursSpiner, Polito, Jackness, and Andre Ernottc whose direction is intelligent, clear, and helpful throughout. The Dodger Theater continues on its fascinating way in its first full season. It%u2019s worth a trip.%u201c Emigres%u201d by Slavomir Mrozek,Dodger Theater at the BrooklynAcademy of Music. The AtticTheater%u2014through November 11.Merrill And Foss Deliver Operatic GreatsBY JON C1NERThe Brooklyn Philharmonia, under Lukas Foss%u2019 direction, opened its new season this weekend with selections from operas by Mozart and Verdi. Opera star Robert Merrill took on most of the vocal responsibilities singing several standard arias of Verdi and Mozart, which were interspersed with some unusual orchestral and choral pieces.If Magda Olivero and Victoria de los Angelas can still haunt the boards of this city%u2019s two major opera houses, then it should not surprise anyone that Robert Merrill is holding his own on the concert stage. Apparently the veteran baritone has not suffered the ravages of a 35-year professional%u2019s career. While the technique is not as supple, the tonal color not as rich, the voice still has personality and the power to project it.This was most evident in the two Verdi arias that Merrill chose to sing. Unfortunately, he was also obliged to sing three basso arias from Mozart%u2019s %u201c Don Giovanni%u201d and %u201c The Marriage of Figaro.%u201d Merrill never had the broad-based warmth for the Don%u2019s serenade or %u201c Non pui andrai,%u201d and he still does not. And he all but swallowed the tongue-tying passages in the %u201c Champagne%u201d aria.But once he got on more familiar terrain%u2014namely %u201c Di Provenza%u201d from %u201c Traviata%u201d and Iago%u2019s %u201c Credo%u201d %u2014 Merrill was his old gifted self. He has always been able to lend drama to his singing without hayino to ham it nn anH parh performance portrayed a dramaticsituation tellingly. The encore from Rossini%u2019s %u201c Barber of Seville%u201d was delightful and the audience loved it.The rest of the program had several pleasant surprises. Foss has been an erratic programmer, often uncovering some forgotten music that deserves an airing out, and just as often treading over the best-forgotten warhorses. Here, he performed the %u201c Sinfonia,%u201d from Aida, which served as the preludeBY JUDITH STUARTHarry/Dance is wonderful! Senta Driver has taken that long awaited step beyond the post moderns experiments with walking and running and stillness. They%u2019re dancing again and dancing well, I might add.Last Wednesday Senta Driver and company opened with two new works in the LePercq Space at BAM. It was a good start to the dance season at the Academy. There is wit, humor, and serious dance performed well by all.The evening was divided in two parts and while the basic movement quality carried over from one to the other, the content and form were very different. The first piece, %u201c Primer,%u201d was performed in silence. The sounds of the dancers%u2019 feet and the irregular, sometimesfor the opera%u2019s La Scala opening and then retreated to the archives. It is really an overture on the level of %u201c La Forza del Destino%u201d or %u201c I Vespri Siciliano,%u201d and if one resists a smirk at hearing some of the opera%u2019s more tender melodies in accelerated tempos with full orchestra and cymbal crashes, one can feel some electricity. Foss also made a good case for the balletmusic from Act III of %u201c Othello,%u201d which is a standard cut in operaregular, audible patterns they made, were the only accompaniment.%u201c Primer%u201d took a long time to get started. It was as if the dancers were warming up right there, yet once they took off they were clear, energetic and wonderful to look at. There is a line that Driver creates in her work, a line that gets repeated in many ways. A movement is started at one extreme in the body and the rest of the body flows directly out of that first movement, always lyrically and often humorously. At some points it looked as if the dancers were testing physical laws.The movement patterns involved the group in work for quartets, duets, solos and occasionally trios.S rn 'a D riv p r w h ilp vp rv n rin in a t inthis effort, clearly displays thehouses.Foss also unearthed the Mozart concert overture %u201c in the Italian Style,%u201d also known as the Symphony No. 32, K. 318. The exhuberant work dispels the notion that anything Mozart wrote before the Sinforia Concertante, K. 364 is %u201c early%u201d or %u201c trivial.%u201dThe orchestra accompanied the Brooklyn Philharmonia chorus in two beautiful pieces from %u201c Idomeneo,%u201d which are rife with wrenchlyricism and cleverness often associated with her mentor, Paul Taylor.The second piece on the program, %u201c Simulcast,%u201d was a collaboration with Driver and choreographer/dancer Peter Anastos. Three directors chairs were on stage when the lights came up. A recorded voice began what turned out to be a very funny interview with the two choreographers about their collaboration. The two were simultaneously moving into their dance. There was more concentration on the voice than the movement at first but when the dance itself displayed some of the humor originally heard in the interview, the audienccs%u2019s attention shifted.The last three sections were tomusic which camp almost as asurprise. The first selection, calleding suspensions and a lush vocal texture. But the chorus could not muster a large enough sound to create any dramatic effect.The orchestra itself seems to be in good shape. It gave an especially virtuosic performance of the overture to %u201c The Marriage of Figaro.%u201d The passagework in the strings was exceptional.%u201c Amarcord%u201d by Nino Rota, sounded like old recorded music of the forties and the company did a variety of hilarious social dance spoofs. The next was the funniest. It was variations on %u201c A h !,%u2019 %u2019 , Mozart%u2019s work that is more commonly known as %u201c Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star%u201d and the slapstick style of the dance was perfectly set to it. It culminated in a reverse pas de deux, with Driver partnering Anastos while he danced on point.The last was a Tchaikovsky selection, %u201c Lebedinoye Ozero,%u201d and the company happily mugged its way through this grandiose composition. It was good to see this company dancing so well and performing with sensitivity in such intelligent works.Harry/Dance Gives New Works: Some Serious, Some Humorousi