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Checkmate!
Ft. Worth theater's 'Chess' no stalemate
By Timm Doolen
The scene is the 1988 chess world champion
ship and the top Russian is facing the top Ameri
can in a best-of-eleven series in Bangkok, Thai
land. As the lives of those involved in the chess
tournament become intertwined, the game of
chess becomes a metaphor for the game of life
)litics, and
le our heads.
'Chess/' the
musical by Tim Rice (who also wrote "Evita"), is
a stunning theater-in-round production with a
talented cast and wonderful staging. The Casa
Manana theater, located in Fort Worth, kicked
off its summer season with the musical on June
11, and it will run until Sunday.
The story centers around three main charac
ters: the American champion Freddie (Romain
Fruge), Florence (Jodi Benson), Freddie's sec
ond, and the Soviet champion, Anatoly (Keith
Rice).
Soon after the tournament begins, Florence
falls in love with Anatoly, and at tne conclusion
of the first half of the series, Anatoly decides to
defect to America.
Eight weeks later the match resumes in
Budapest, Hungary, now with the two leading
"Americans" going against each other—Anatoly
has the lead, but Freddie is catching up, eventu
ally coming to a 5-5 tie.
Meanwhile, Anatoly receives pressure from
his wife and the KGB to return to the Soviet
Union. As the final game approaches, Anatoly
must decide whether to return to the Soviet
Union or stay with the woman he really loves.
This version of "Chess” was interesting being a
theater-in-the-round production, which has a
tendency to make the audience feel like they are
a part of the play. Cast members can be as close
as a few feet away, and the props and sets are
brought in and out on runways that run along the
aisles.
The music and singing quality was marvelous
— you might remember the 1984 hit, "One Night
in Bangkok," which is from this musical. Other
standouts are "Arbiter's Song," "Anthem," the
duet "You and I," and the climax song
"Endgame."
On an interesting note, the lead actress, Jodi
Benson, was the voice of Ariel in Walt Disney's
"The LittleMermaid."Hervoice wonderfully shines
on "Nobody's on Nobody's Side" and "Heaven
Help My Heart."
The costuming and stage design were almost as
marvelous as the singing, with stage manager Ri
chard Faster keeping the scenes flowing smoothly,
despite 19 scenes during the play.
Tne only real flaw I saw with the production was
an occasional bad amplification of the voices, but
that is to be expected with theater-in-the-round
productions, where it is not as easy to control all the
technical elements as a regular theater.
This production, which is a premiere for this
region, is one that should not be missed. I had some
reservations about it because it is a local produc
tion (as opposed to a Broadway tour), but the
performances were all of great quality with no
exception.
The Casa Manana theater is a little over a three-
hour trip from A&M, and with showtimes at 8
p.m., make sure you have plenty of time to get
there. There is also a Saturday matinee at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $20, but students get a 10 percent
discount. Phone Casa Manana for more details at
817-332-6221.
Casa Manana begins summer
season of musical productions
Casa Manana is one of the
leaders of theater in the Dallas
- Fort Worth area, and has a
strong summer program to
support it. For more informa
tion on any of the productions,
call the box office at 817-332-
6221.
"On the Town," July 9-21 —
This became a Broad way hit in
1944 and tells the story of three
American sailors looking for
the perfect woman. The pro
duction will featureeight danc
ers from the Fort Worth Ballet.
Among the songs in the musi
cal are "New York, New York"
and "Some Other Time."
"Les Miserables," July 23-28 —
A few years ago this became an
international nit based on Vic
tor Hugo's novel of the same
name. This is the Broadway tour
of Les Mis and as such is sure to
be wonderful.
"Les Miserables" tells the story
of a man who faces a number of
disappointments and trials in
his life and somehow manages
to keep going. The second half
of the musical revolves prima
rily around an attempted
French revolution in the mid
1800s by a handful of college
students.
I am a big fan of this musical
and believe it contains some of
the best music to ever reach the
stage. This one should not be
missed.
"Best Little Whorehouse," Au
gust 6-18— A local production
of the story of the Chicken
Ranch, probably Texas' most
famous brothel.
"A Little Night Music," Au-
gu st 20-Sept. 1 —Featuring the
song, "Send in the Clowns," this
Stephen Sondheim musical
deals with four couples and how
their loves $nd illusions affect
their lives.
-T.D.
r
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Individuals 12 years of age and older with "jock itch” or
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Costner misses
target with
'Robin Hood'
By Julia E.S. Spencer
"Robin Hood: Prince of
Thieves" is an unwitting time
travel fantasy. This is the unlikely
scenario: Somehow a 20th Century
American movie star complete
with '90s sensibilities and vocabu
lary, a midwestern accent, and a
taste for buddy-movie wisecracks
has been kidnapped by alien pro
ducers and plopped down in 12th
century England. He is being
forced to pretend he's a local
nobleman'sson justretumed from
a 6-year stint in a Turkish prison,
with a Moorish escapee whose life
he saved. Due to a spell cast by
these same aliens, none of the other
characters seem to notice that he's
an impostor. Despite the gross dis
crepancies in hairstyle, diction,
comportment, vocabulary and
politics, they never bat so much as
an eyelash. /, on the other hand,
was batting at around .300.
the poor, and vowing spectacular
revenge on the Sheriff and his
henchmen.
Costner, who has made a highly
successful career out of playing
average American guys, makes a
pitiful attempt at a British accent,
out never comes near it - and fi
nally just abandons the effort.
Costner and his dialogue coach get
an F. Funny for a guy so adamant
about his actors learning to speak
Lakota Sioux for "Dances With
Wolves," and insisting on using
subtitles to increase authenticity.
He has no such scruple here. He
lacks the presence and bearing to
play a larger-than-life legend, and
fails to be a believable leader of his
men, cajoling them instead of com
manding them. He mumbles dia
logue Brando-style, instead of
speaking with the dignity and grav
ity befitting a greatly wronged
nobleman. His manner and deport-
This isn't to
say that this re
visionist retell
ing of the Robin
Hood legend
isn't entertain
ing. It is, very
much so. There
are enough
stunts, tricks,
catapults, zing
ing and flaming
arrows, ex-
plosions,
quarterstaff
fights, sword fights and one-man-
against-10 fights topleaseany arm
chair swashbuckler. As long as you
don't think too hard or examine
the script too carefully, you'll have
a good time, but this is definitely
not a film for purists.
Kevin Costner plays Robin of
Locksley, a young nobleman who
returns from the Crusades, and
finds his castle in ruins and his
father dead, executed for alleged
devil-worshipping. The evil, mega-
lomaniacal Sheriff of Nottingham
(Alan Rickman) has seized his
property as well as that of many
poor people. Feisty Marian Du
Bois (Mary Elizabeth
Mastrantonio), a childhood play
mate of Robin's, who happens to
be King Richard's cousin, has so
far escaped a similar fate, but she
may be next... Outlawed for de
fending a young poacher, Robin
joins a band of robbers in Sherwood
Forest, becoming the ringleader as
they steal from the rich and give to
Costner makes a pitiful attempt
at a British accent, but never
comes near it - and finally just
abandons the effort. Costner
and his dialogue coach get an F.
ment are just much too American,
and his comic exchanges with
Muslim sidekick Azeem (Morgan
Freeman) while amusing, are
straight out of modern-day mis-
matened-buddy movies.
Speaking of anachronisms, this
Robin Hood is rife with them. The
licentious Sheriff makes dates at
10:30 and 10:45, and Azeem has
brought a telescope and gunpow
der with him, although centuries
would pass before clocks, tele
scopes or gunpowder were in
vented. Shakespeare did it in
"Julius Caesar" you say? Well, to
paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen, this
ain't no Shakespeare. Thankfully
there are no "Yo!"s or Arsenio-
type woofing in this film the way
there were in "Harlem Nights,"
but Americans are not likely to get
a very accurate picture or Medi
eval attitudes or culture in this re
visionist, pseudo- "politically cor
rect" film.
I felt that if 20th century-style
nonsense and banter and was go
ing to be included, why not hire
Mel Brooks, "Airplane!'"s ZAZ
team or better yet, Monty Python,
to make it an all-out action comedy
gag-fest, and get Bruce Willis to
reprise his wisecracking Petruchio
role from Moonlighting's delight
fully silly "Taming of the Shrew"
episode. Or maybe sign on the
comicbrilliance of that otner Kevin,
Oscar-winner Kevin Kline. In
stead, we have an uncomfortable
hybrid that can't decide whether
to be serious or silly, and ends up
being neither fish nor fowl.
Apart from Costner, the support-
ing players are pretty good.
Freeman's quiet, imposing pres
ence as straight man to Costner's
smart aleck is everything Robin
should have been. Mastrantonio
plays a feminist Marian, display
ing the considerable talent for com
edy hinted at in "The Abyss."
Christian Slater is an exception to
the above; as
Will Scarlett
he overacts
and fares only
slightly better
with his accent
than Costner.
Alan
Rickman's
Sheriff, how
ever, is won
derfully over
the top. He
plays his well-
f jracticed vil-
ain ("Die
Hard") to the hilt, stopping his scen
ery-chewing progress only to wax
Freudian on tne parental origins of
his problems.
This movie is already shaping
up to be a summer blockbuster; the
lines were as long as those for
"Batman" two years ago, and
people seem to love it, despite its
cartoonishness. It could have been
a really all-round splendid picture,
but unfortunately the dollar signs
in the producers' eyes prevented
them from going the route of a
more serious, credible drama and
hiring a classically trained actor
likeTimothy Dalton. The result is a
shamelessly commercial film
which has the audacity and imper
tinence to claim Robin Hood as an
American, weakening the legend
in the process.
Robin Hood is rated PG-13 for
frequent violence and for yet an
other shot of Costner's now-fa-
mous derrierre.
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Individuals 12 years of age and older with "athletes foot" are
being recruited for a research study of an antifungal medication.
$150.00 will be paid to volunteers who complete this study.
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VOLUNTEERS IN PHARMACEUTICAL
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776-1417
tudy
DEPRESSION STUDY
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Individuals are being recruited for a research study on depression. If
you have been diagnosed with depression or would like to find out
more about this study, call VIP Research. $125.00 will be paid to
qualified volunteers who enroll and complete this study.
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VOLUNTEERS IN PHARMACEUTICAL
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776-1417
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707 S. Texas Ave.-Suite 101D
1 Blk. South of Texas Ave.
& University Dr. Intersection
College Station, Texas 77840
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What Stanley H. Kaplan Doesn't Know
About the New LSAT.
S STANLEY H. KAPLAN
Take Kaplan Or Take Your Chances
P.S. Find out what we do know about the new LSAT
and how we can prepare you for it.
Call 696-3196 or
stop by
707 Texas Avenue, Suite 106E
College Station, TX 77840
For Class schedule
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