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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