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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 4, 1976)
"rite and saccharine, hut very funny Fantastick odds for play By B. J. STRODE Contributor Anytime I leave congenial sur roundings to attend a play I have always considered trite in a theater is air-conditioned to about 40 degrees Fahrenheit, and end up en joying myself, little short of a miracle has occurred. gThat was indeed the case on 'hursday night when I attended the opening of the Aggie Players produc tion of'The Fantasticks” in the MSC Iroom. irected by Bob Wenck, the play is still too saccharine for my taste, but very funny. As is appropnate for v a play of this genre, there is very j. little character development. The roles are stock types rather than in dividuals. Two characters who did seem to evince autonomous per sonalities were Bell, played by Bruce Kates, and Henry, portrayed £ by James Hall. Their antics con trasted with, but in no way detracted ^from, the stock characterizations of ___the rest of the cast. ■ji be show got off to a slow start but ■puked up rapidly. The first charac- we meet is El, Gallo (Michael ^Hlson), who looks as seductive in ™th( first act as he proves to be in the second. Wilson is fatally charming as 6|[ the narrator/bandit in spite of a cer tain immaturity of voice which would better suit a younger role. He sings well and combines a man-of- the-world flair with an irresistable little-hoy-lost innocence. The effect is altogether pleasing. Kin the role of Matt, the boy next door, Brian McPherson is pompous, - poi :tic and frequently ridiculous — tlu perfect adolescent suffering his first love pangs. He seemed to be having some throat trouble but he ^didn t allow it to interfere with his singing. More than any other player, his voice fit his role, and he was at his “ best when in the midst of song. Boni Petersen appeared uisa, the sweet young thing with MANOR EAST 3 THEATRES MANOR EAST MALL 7:00-9:10 just a hint of budding sensuality. She captured the essence of the love- struck teenager, alternately starry- eyed and coguettish; all in all, Peter sen and McPherson made an adora ble couple. Boni has a remarkable voice that has obviously been trained, but was too heavy for such a frail, young character. She also had the misfortune of being required to sing a lot of “Ah’s” in various emo tional states. This phenomenon reached its epitome in the second act with “Round and Round,” a predict ably redundant number with a lot of wordless vocalizing. Bruce Kates as Bellomy and Philip Hafer as Huckleby portray the re spective fathers of Louisa and Matt. They form an admirable team and have the benefit of some of the best choreography in the show. Though most of the play is uninterestingly blocked, Hafer and Kates won a warm audience response for their fancy footwork in the second act per formance of “Plant a Radish.” Henry and Mortimer are two down-and-out entertainers hired by El Gallo to assist in the abduction of Louisa. Henry (James Hall) does re citations and Mortimer (Thomas Owen) does death scenes. Both are delightful, and each does a fair amount of scene-stealing. Hats off! Vanessa Watts has perhaps the most difficult role in the play, that of The Mute. Without speaking a word, she must react to the other players and convey a sense of her “self’ to the audience. She does a pretty good job, but in my opinion, The Mute should be a non character, neither acting nor react ing to anything that goes on, and above all remaining unobtrusive. However, that is a directorial deci sion and Watts does the best she can with a well-nigh impossible task. The MSC Ballroom requires, if anything, more ingenuity than does the Forum. The set, as far as I can tell from the program, was designed EVERYONE’S GREAT ADVENTURE OF ALL TIME! * • * PETER | PAN «s»[Gl s £ijm\ Walt DiSney s ^ HORSE tail the TeChimiCoipR® 6:15-8:00-9:45 The western adventure of a lifetime. JOHN WAYNE LAUREN BACALL THE SHOOTIST” 6:05-7:50-9:35 Starts Friday GATOR Come and get him. BURT REYNOLDS ,s"GATOR“ Levy Gardner Laven presents BURT REYNOLDS m GATOR'' cosiamng JACK WESTON LAUREN HUTTON JERRY REED asB-rmj M t Caii Written o, WILLIAM NORTON Directed b,BURT REYNOLDS Produced b, JULES V LEVYand ARTHUR GARDNER Music by CHARLES BERNSTEIN TODD A 0 35 Production Services by DEVON/Persky Bright United Artists West Screen at Dusk Skyway Twin 822-3300 ‘Shadow of The Hawk’ & (PG) ‘White Line Fever’ East Screen at Dusk ‘To The Devil A Daughter’ & ‘Sam Whiskey’ Call For Times Campus us 846-6512 COLLEGE STATION Call For Times ‘Young Divorcees’ (x> & ‘While The Cat’s Away’ (x> by Roy O’Valle and constructed by Jane Vanore and Marla Hammond. It is simple and functional, although the post at each corner may well have obstructed someone’s view. Costumes by Shirley Kitzman and Nancy Gandy were appropriate in all but two cases. Louisa should have worn a more realistic dress to match Matt’s natural look. And The Mute should have left her skirt in the stor age trunk. Otherwise, everyone was dressed to fit his or her part. Walt Meissner headed the light crew for the show. He and whoever helped with the make-up are to be congratulated on the undetectability of their work. With the exception of Louisa’s too-heavy make up, all the players looked like regular people, which in this play is a desirable ef fect. The major faults in the show are not directly attributable to the Aggie Players. The theater was much too cold; the play — in spite of its record-breaking Broadway run — is still trite, and there is a dearth of interesting movement. An outstand ing exception to this latter complaint was the fight scene between the would-be abductors and our hero. Matt. One shortcoming, however, is with the actors themselves. Though all were capable of performing their songs, there was very little blending of voices. Hafer consistently over powered the others, whereas Kates could scarcely be heard. McPherson and Petersen especially sounded much better alone than in tandem. My personal “worst moment” of the evening occurred during the per formance of “It Depends on What You Pay.” A sense of humor is fine, and certainly nothing should be sacred to the satirist; but “The Fan tasticks” is not satire, and light hearted references to rape in that song destroyed much of its humor for me. The play ended happily for all, not least for those of us who rushed ea gerly into the hot night to thaw out. The Aggie Players have overcome fantastic odds to bring you a pleasant evening. Researchers return from West Texas Twenty Texas A&M University researchers return to Bryan - Col lege Station this weekend for a short break in an archeological dig in West Texas near Del Rio. Students and faculty from the dig, plus a number of students from A&M’s first archeological field school nearby, will have to readjust to walking on level ground after weeks of scaling rugged canyon country at the site. This year’s investigation at the dig, a large cave, has been funded by the National Science Foundation. NSF’s $54,900 grant for the project is the largest single aid ever awarded A&M anthropologists. Just before striking camp for the break, researchers were excited to find one almost perfect arrowhead to add to the volume of other artifacts and material recovered, some of it as old as 9,000 years. A comprehensive study of the cave’s inhabitants — includung what plants of the area were important and what state of health the nomads exhibited — is underway. The field school, which runs through Aug. 13, is being held in conjunction with the excavation. A&M’s Texas Clipper arrives back home Texas A&M University’s T/S “Texas Clipper” arrived back home Sunday completing the final leg of its centennial-bicentennial cruise with a jaunt from Freeport with more than 200 special guests aboard for the one day outing. The 173 cadets of Texas A&M’s Moody College of Marine Sciences and Maritime Resources arrived in Freeport at 7 p.m. Saturday, an hour ahead of schedule, and were greeted by parents, friends, wives and hus bands as the ship docked in the Brazos harbor. Many of those who were there to welcome the Aggies boarded the vessel the next day, along with 228 invited guests, for the final journey home. The “Clipper” sailed from Galves ton June 6 and had covered 6,019 miles when it returned. Ports of call this year were Boston; Halifaz, Novia Scotia; Washington, D.C.; New York; Charleston, S.C.; New Orleans and Freeport. Embrey’s Jewelry We Specialize In Aggie Rings. Diamonds Set — Sizing — Reoxidizing — All types watch/jewelry Repair Aggie Charge Accounts 9-5:30 846-5816 APARTMENT PLACEMENT SERVICE 3200 South College 823-7506 Reserve your apartment now for the Summer or Fall Semester before the prices increase. We Will Show You a Wide Selection of Apartments in the B-CS Area. OUR SERVICES FREE TO YOU Cynthia Jensen 779-2047 Murray Sebesta 693-8950 Jenny Pitts 846-1924 J. Glenn - Broker tfloom Top of the Tower Texas A&M University Pleasant Dining — Great View SERVING LUNCHEON BUFFET 11:00 A.M. - 1:30 P.M. Each day except Saturday $2.50 DAILY $3.00 SUNDAY Serving soup & sandwich 1100 A.M. - 1:30 P.M. Monday - Friday $1.50 plus drink Available Evenings For Special University Banquets Department of Food Service Texas A&M University “Quality First” me da i i aliun page 3 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4. 1976 PLAY BANK VAULT 1,000 FULL DETAILS AT LEWIS & COKER ODDS CHART as of JULY 22. 1976. Program #475 ODDS FOR 26 GAME PIECES This Program is available at 27 Lewis & Coker and K-Mart Food Stores located In Galveston. Brazoria. Harris. Victoria and Brazos Counties in Texas. Scheduled termina tion date of this Program is August 10. 1976 but. game officially terminates with distribution of all game pieces. This Program may be repeated by popular demand. COPYRIGHT ¥VJ. JEFFERY 1«7«. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED AUGUST 5-11 LIMIT RIGHTS RESERVED PARADE OIL BANQUET FRIED CHICKEN CROWN ROAST budgetIeIf U b 67* ^ _ _ _ HEAVY BEEF * CHUCK STEAK - 69*