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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 1986)
Friday, November 7, 1986AThe Battalion/Page 3 State and Local Staging allows for some overpowering images ■Z Christ gets new image in ‘Superstar’ By Karl Pallmeyer Staff Writer I When Jesus Christ came to Rud der Auditorium Thursday night, the audience might have been surprised to see he was clean-shaven and wear ing slacks, a purple T-shirt and riped jacket. This Jesus looked ore like Don Johnson than the Son if God. About 1,700 people were offered is new look at the Son of God when MSC Town Hall Broadway ■resented Tim Rice’s and Andrew i,loyd Webber’s rock opera, “Jesus Christ Superstar.” This new version of the 1971 musical, conceived by di- iector Scott Harris and choreogra pher Terry Rieser, told the story of ■hrist in a new fashion, i The original musical, best remem bered by modern audiences through the million-selling record album and Norman Jewison’s 1973 filmed ver sion, was an attempt to show Jesus in terms of the ’60s. The long hair, ads and robes of Christ’s time fit in well with the flower-power fash ions of the Woodstock decade. Jesus was shown to be the first superstar, similiar to the pop stars of the ’60s. Harris and Rieser have updated the musical’s staging so the costumes would be familiar to the “Miami Vi ce” generation. Fortunately Rice and Webber’s wonderful music was not changed much. The entire musical, which encom passes the last seven days in the life of Christ, took place on a single set. An inclining glass platform con taining a trapdoor was at the center of the stage. Movable vertical metal bars lined the back of the stage. Spotlights were clearly visible on their scaffoldings on the sides of the stage, an obvious attempt to em phasize the theatrical aspects of the superstar image. This minimalistic staging provided some overpower ing images. Jesus, Judas Iscariot, and the apostles and their women were dressed in the height of current The 11-person ensemble, which included brass, woodwinds, guitar, bass, drums and keyboards, . . . provided great accompa niment for the singers. fashion — with Jesus in purple, Ju das in black and Mary Magdalene in blue. The Jewish priests, led by Caia- phas, were dressed in green uni forms. Pontius Pilate was outfitted in a conservative business suit, and the Roman soldiers were dressed as po licemen. Except for the Tormentors, who were dressed like members of a motorcycle gang, the costumes would not look out of place outside the theater. Despite the title, “Jesus Christ Su perstar” is more about the people whose lives were touched by Jesus than the man himself. Judas, excel lently portrayed by Michael S. Proc tor, fails to see the divinity of the man he has been following for three years. He didn’t understand Jesus’ greatness until after he betrayed him. Anne Rickenbacher was won derful in the role of Mary Magda lene. She is a prostitute who falls in love with Jesus and ends up being changed by his love. Proctor and Rickenbacher’s singing was incredi ble. Stephen Burns’ rich, bass voice provided an ominous tone in the passages he delivered as Caiaphas, but he was usually upstaged by the breathy voice of Blake Hammond, who portrayed Annas. Kevin Bailey, Tom Wyatt and Mark Jacobsen were good as Pilate, Peter and Simon, respectively. Thom Goffs song and dance num ber as Herod was hilarlious and pro vided some light comic relief before the intense crucifixion scene. Paul Avedisian had the thankless task of portraying Jesus. Avedisian’s voice was consistently good except when he sang the falsetto passages. His biggest problem was that he lacked the awesome charisma asso ciated with Christ. It’s tough for any actor to play the greatest man who ever lived. The music was fantastic. The 11- person ensemble, which included brass, woodwinds, guitar, bass, drums and keyboards, played well and provided great accompaniment for the singers. The only problem was that the music was not loud enough. After all, this was supposed to be a rock opera. Despite the weakness of Avedisian and the lack of volume of the music, the new version of “Jesus Christ Su perstar” does an incredible job of presenting a timeless story in the terms of our time. official says plan to block Eastern buyout futile MIAMI (AP) — An Eastern Airlines offi- ial Thursday discounted a renewed union Effort to block the carrier’s buyout by Texas irCorp., saying the plan is insubstantial. Wednesday night, leaders of the carrier’s hree major unions met with about 600 em- loyees to report they are making an official ffer for the airline and are looking for fi- ancing. They also announced a lawsuit aimed at mlocking the Nov. 25 shareholders meeting ^xpected to ratify Texas Air’s takeover of astern. Texas Air already owns more than 51 per- e$. Correction In an article in the Nov. 5 issue of The Battalion Mark Allen Burns was incor rectly identified as a student at Southwest ern University. Burns is a student at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. The Battalion regrets the error. cent of the Miami-based carrier’s stock. But as of Thursday noon no suit had been filed, according to the Transport Workers Union. “We’ve been hearing for some time about proposals and counterproposals,” Eastern spokesman Glenn Parsons said Thursday of the latest union plan. “This is just a lot of smoke.” Parsons noted that the board already had rejected a request by the two union officials serving on the board of directors to delay the Nov. 25 meeting so employees would have more time to ready their own buyout. “This merger will be complete” he said. “It will happen.” He also said many of Eastern’s employees did not back the union effort. On Wednesday, the three unions formally agreed to fund an employee stock ownership plan and negotiate with an outside investor to wrest control of the company from Frank Lo renzo, who built a union-busting reputation during his takeover of Continental Airlines. Lorenzo, 46, chairman and chief executive officer of Houston-based Texas Air since 1980, became Eastern’s chairman last month. The Eastern union coalition includes the TWU, International Association of Machin ists and Airline Pilots Association. Robert Callahan, president of the Trans port Workers Union local, said Wednesday, “We’re not fooling around. This is no show. “This is a coalition; this is our company. . . . We built it with our sweat, our hands. It’s ours, and it’s being robbed from us.” The planned lawsuit charges that Lorenzo bought his Eastern stock at bargain prices and Eastern’s officers would not consider a better offer from anyone. That includes employees who owned about 25 percent of the stock before the takeover and wanted to expand their ownership, said Charles Bryan, Machinist Union president. The suit claims that Lorenzo did not ac quire his shares legally and should be forced to return them. Union representatives were secretive at Wednesday’s meeting about the employee stock maneuver. But labor sources told WTVJ-TV in Miami that Eastern’s union members have agreed to raise $600 million by giving up 20 percent of their paychecks. Richard Buxton, a representative of Amer ican Capital Management Co., which is advis ing the unions on their takeover plan, said, “We’re concerned about human rights in South Africa, human rights in South Amer ica. Well, we’ve got some human rights being trampled on right here in the United States of America.” The employees will join forces with an out side investor or “white knight” to save the company from Lorenzo’s grip so that the em ployees will have a majority interest in East ern, according to the broadcast report. Eastern employees refused to disclose if they have an outside investor. Eastern lost $155 million in the first half of this year and $500 million this decade. Texas Air’s $676 million purchase of East ern was announced at the height of labor ne gotiations in February and approved by the Transportation Department in September. 6 top cadets earn awards for excellence By Tricia Pilger Reporter Six Texas A&M cadets re ceived the Wofford Cain Boot and Sabre Award on Thursday from the executive director of the Cain Foundation, Harvey Walker. Lt. Col. Donald Johnson, assis tant commandant of the Corps, said three seniors, one from each of the three ROTC programs re ceived $1,200, and three juniors from each program received $600. The Cain Foundation was es tablished in the 1970s by Wofford Cain. “It was originally established to help seniors in the Corps buy their boots,” Johnson said. Selection for the awards is based on performance in military science, academics and the Corps. The cadets already must be commissioned for a military ca reer after graduation, he said. David C. Bretches, a senior pe troleum engineering major from Odessa, is the recipient of the award from the Army ROTC program. The junior Army ROTC recip ient is Mark T. Stasney, a me chanical engineering major from Baytown. The Navy Marine ROTC re cipient is Joseph P. Lessard, a se nior from College Station who is majoring in electrical engi neering. Mark D. Andress, an aerospace engineering major from Lub bock, is the junior recipient from the Navy Marine ROTC pro gram. Freeman A. Kilpatrick Jr. is the Air Force ROTC recipient. He is a senior electrical engineering major. Loren H. Shellabarger is the junior recipient from the Air Force ROTC program. Shella barger is a computer science ma jor from Temple. 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