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                                    Wagoner Leaves Audience UnamusedBY JUDITH STUARTHere is a company that is comprised of well trained professional dancers yet the concert last week at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, left us untouched and relatively unamused.Dan Wagoner & Dancers performed last Thursday through Sunday in the LePercq Space. The program was repeated each night and it consisted of three pieces that were wholly different from one another in spirit. The first, %u201c A PlayWith Images and Walls%u201d was a work set to poetry spoken live by the poet, George Montgomery, interspersed with live music and voice.There were scenes depicting various activities and relationships around a household. However, a start-stop pattern to the movements did not get varied enough in its constant repetition. Then too the women were costumed in short gingham-type dresses which they hitched up on either side undertheir panties when they wanted more leg room to move. That kind of dress is particularly unflattering as it cuts and distorts the long lines of the body, preventing the movement intended to define the piece from being easily viewed. This dance, along with the next was entirely too long without unfolding interesting enough variations, both in movement and meter.The second work, %u201c SevenTears%u201d was relentlessly long with a very predictable structure. It began withinterest but the evenness with which it repeated itself, musically as well as in dance was difficult to comprehend. It was characterized by movements which started to look very grand, perhaps even eloquent, yet were aborted before they had a chance to breathe. The last section, which took forever in coming, bore little relationship to the major body of the work, thus giving the appearance of having been tacked on.The program ended with a muchlighter dance called %u201c Yonker Dingle Variations%u201d (Parlor Music by Michael Sahl) which was an amusing interpretation of Yankee Doodle Dandy. The dancers had an opportunity in this particular work to really move openly and freely and even enjoy what they were about. The choreography looked to us as if it was Wagoner doing Twyla Tharp without achieving either the style or wit of the original.Heights Players Trace Fiorello%u2019s Pre-Mayoral CareerBY JEAN LENIHANThe day Fiorello H. LaGuardia read the funnies over the radio to the children deprived of newspapers during a strike reigns as the most popular memory of this loveable, controversial mayor.BY LIBBY HAYMANAfter successfully filling five floors of his building with artists%u2019 lofts, the owner of 33 Flat bush Ave., a seven story edifice in Downtown Brooklyn, is now developing the second story as a vendors%u2019 market. A1 Attara, who lives on the top floor of the 1914 building, originally built for offices and a bank, says that the market will feature vendors of %u201c high quality%u201d items, such as designer clothes and leather goods.A partner in the vending venture, Laura Citron, reports that \term for the enterprise, since the vendors are being selected for the merit of their wares. The emphasis on handcrafted designer, or antique items will make a sort ol %u201cGalleria,%u201d Attara adds. The new market will have several dozen booths and will probably open by %u201clate November.%u201d Food concessions, in the back of the large, high-ceilinged space, are also planned to serve specialty items. Hours will be Friday afternoon and evening, and all day and evening on Saturday and Sunday.Attara obtained the building several years ago after a developers' scheme for an entertainment center on the site fell through. With floors of 6,000-6,500 square feet of space, and ceilings 11%u20196%u201d high, as well as a roof %u201c suitable for outdoor photography%u201d and other uses, the building has been rented quickly at $2-$3 per square foot,%u201d Attara reports. One theater group, The Alonzo Players, has rented an entire floor, while designers and musicians rent other spaces.Attara has still another plan for the building, a long term design to put a restaurant on the ground floor. Although the building is in the Brooklyn Center Urban Renewal Area, and subject to clearance or redevelopment under the City%u2019s Urban Renewal Plan, Attara thinks it is unlikely that the spot will be redeveloped that way. %u201c I don%u2019t think the neighborhood is able to digest more office buildings,%u201d he comments.Attara also points to the length of time it has taken the developer ofth e a r e a e v e n lu nC g,n th e p ro c essof putting an office building on (he neighboring site at Fulton, Flatbush, and Nevins, where GeorgeNow that our current mayor chooses to read john lists for our entertainment, it is understandable why people would want to journey back to the days of LaGuardia, as captured in the new Heights Players production, %u201c Fiorello%u201d .Klein, President of Brooklyn Center Development Corporation will be building a live story office building. Attara notes that 33 Flatbush is only subject to such development %u201c for another year and a half,%u201d probably too short a time for his own development of the building to be threatened.%u201c Fiorello%u201d , which opened November 9 at the Heights Players Theatre at 26 Willow Place, traces the obscure period of LaGuardia%u2019s life before his mayoral term, in a light, funny musical. It begins at his ever-bustling law office in Greenwich Village, and takes us to the point of LaGuardia's decision to run for mayor again. (In his first try he was deveated by the corrupt James J. Walker). Romance overflows in this musical: withLaGuardia%u2019s passion for Thca, a young woman who LaGuardia frees from jail (after she has been arrested for soliciting during a sweatshop strike), and between Dora (a co-worker of Thea%u2019s) and Floyd, the bumbling, overweight cop who arrested Thca. The best musical numbers involve the men in Fiorcllo's campaign office, who react negatively to Fiorello%u2019sincorrupt able honesty and dedication to charity cases in bright humorous songs.Ross Charap, as LaGuardia, looks like the former mayor and portrays the tenderness and stubborness of LaGuardia with exuberant energy. The scenes between LaGuardia and Thca falter somehow; Dawn Wicklow (as Thca) does not meet Charap's energy or power. Much more balanced arc the confrontations between Dora and Floyd, portrayed wonderfully bv Aimec Klcigcr. (a newcomer to the Heights Players), and Joseph Costanza. Kleigcr%u2019s mousy voice and enormous eyes add great touches to the ridiculously sincere lines she delivers, such as, (concerning Floyd the cop), \an honest job I%u2019d marry him%u201d . The best musical numbers occur in the campaign headquarters where, between games of poker, a group of men rcdiculc Fiorcllo's honesty and endless dedication to charity cases. Scott Martin, who directed and staged the musical numbers, did a fantastic job with these witty interludes.The actors made a valiant effort with the corny themes of this play, and, as always, the lights, sets, and costumes were well done. Stronger vocals were in need by a few of the characters, yet on the whole it was an enjoyable production.%u201cFiorello%u201d, will be performedNovember 16, 17, 23 and 24 at8:30pm and November 18 and25 at 2pm. For reservations call237-2752, where you can leave amessage on tape machine.Tickets are $4.50 and reservations must be picked up at least15 minutes prior to showtime.ArtsbriefsGraphics Go At Henry HicksIn this nightmare age of technology, with the graphic arts reaching out to embrace the tenets and teachings of streamlining and conservation, there do remain some printing throwbacks to the older styles. Arthur Paul Gan zer%u2019s chunky linoleum Block Prints and acrylic paintings on canvas, showing at the Henry Hicks Gallery, show the techniques and magicks of styles that have crossed the decades, using some of the simplest methods around to create some of the most enchanting designs.Arthur Paul Ganzer%u2019s art is on display at the Henry HicksGallery, 93 Atlantic Ave., Nov. 17 through Dec. 2, openingreception on Nov. 18, l-5pm. Gallery Hours: Sat. and Sun.noon-6pm. For more information call the gallerv at522-3693.Telling Time%u2019s Tall TalesHans Christian Anderson was one of the greatest storytellers the world has ever set fables on; he%u2019s responsible for tomes, tablets and tons of tales of all sorts on all matter of topics. One of Anderson%u2019s prime pieces, %u201c The Snow Queen,%u201d will be reaching the Brooklyn College campus stage under the sponsorship of the Educational Theatre Guild, when the Pumpernickel Players do a one-day special premiere of their version of the story.%u201cThe Snow Queen,%u201d by Hans Christian Anderson, at theWhitman Theater on the Brooklyn College campus[Flatbush and Nostrand], Nov. 24 at 2pm, all seats reserved;tickets are $2.50. Call 462-3525 or 284-4835 for informationand reservations.%u2018Arsenic%u2019 Plays The SlopeThought your home life was a bit bizarre? Here%u2019s a family typical of the theatre. There are three younger Brewsters, one a drama critic, one a maniacal killer fresh escaped from jail, and one who believes that he%u2019s Teddy Roosevelt (no, really. Stay with it). Their two aunts are more on the serene, staid side, and spend the miscellaneous times of their older days poisoning lonely old men with cups of tinged tea. %u201c Arsenic and Old Lace,%u201d a perennial favorite, brings all together on the Park Slope stage with a performance by the Gallery Players, directed by Bill Walters, the %u201chateful stage manager%u201d who works for the P.D.Q. Bach touring company.%u201cArsenic and Old Lace%u201d will be performed in the OldFirst Reformed Church, Seventh Ave. and Carroll St., andbe performed Nov. 23, 24, IW. 1. 7. 8 and 14 at8pm, Nov. 25, Dec. 2, 9 and 16 at 3pm. Admission is $3 [$2students and seniors], for Information and reservations call499-8239.Pianist Lazar Berman returns to the Academy of Music November 26when he will perform with the Brooklyn Philharmonia. He will playpieces by Liszt ana Beetnoven ana Sonatas by Haydn arid nuSinau, fortickets call 636-4120.Arts Building WillNow Hold MarketNovember 15, 1979, The PHOENIX, Page 15
                                
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