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Tuesday, March 10, 1992
The Battalion
'Tosca' portrays
tormented lovers
By Timm Doolen
The Battalion
Despite the prominence of the
word "opera" in its title, OPAS
brings very few operas to A&M,
probably because of its perceived
inaccessibility to mass audiences
and because there's just not that
many quality touring opera com
panies.
Regardless, the attendants at
Giacomo Puccini's "Tosca" re
ceived a rare treat - a fine musical
performance. The supertitles
above the stage, which translated
the Italian lyrics, helped make the
opera accessible and understand
able. The fine singing perfor
mances by the three lead charac
ters, and the power of the original
story by Puccini, made the pro
duction by the New York City
Opera National Company very en
joyable.
The name of the play is given
to the leading lady - Floria Tosca,
a soprano, who is immensely jeal
ous of her lover Mario Cavarados-
si. Cavaradossi is a painter in a
church in Rome around 1800,
about 100 years before the opera
was written.
At this time, Napoleon Bona
parte is trying to liberate Italy
from the Russians, and Cesare An-
gelotti is an escaped political pris
oner who was trying to help
Napoleon.
Angelotti runs into the church
and finds his old friend Cavara
dossi, who hides him. The police,
headed by the evil Baron Scarpia,
search the place. Soon after, Tosca
enters the scene.
Scarpia plays on Tosca's jeal
ousy by making it appear as if
Cavaradossi was with another
woman. Scarpia's men follow
Tosca to a villa where the two men
are hiding; Angelotti escapes, but
Cavaradossi is captured.
In the next act, Cavaradossi is
tortured while Tosca is made to
listen. Under the pressure, she re
veals Angelotti's hiding place, be
traying Cavaradossi's trust.
Scarpia sentences Cavaradossi
to death, but tells Tosca he will re
prieve him if she gives into his
sexual eccentricities. She must de
cide if her love for Cavaradossi is
powerful enough to succumb to
Scarpia's humiliation.
This is a tragic, romantic melo
drama as was typical of the operas
of the turn of the century. While
here are a few comic touches, the
majority of the opera is deadly se
rious.
HUY NGUYEN/The Battalion
Quade Winter (in the role of Cavaradossi), left, consoles Sarah Johannsen (Tosca)
in the second performance of “Tosca” Saturday night in Rudder Auditorium.
This type of entertainment is
definitely not suited to everyone's
tastes, especially not at Texas
A&M. But this opera was a good
first look into the art form as it
was - a simple but effective and
moving story of love, lost love and
political and moral perversion.
The characters were all believ
able and the three leads on Friday
night had excellent voices, espe
cially Pamela Hoffman as Tosca.
Friday's performance in Rud
der Auditorium was short of a
sellout, and that's a shame, be
cause students should take advan
tage of these rare cultural oppor
tunities afforded to them. Maybe
it was the high ticket price, or the
lack of knowledge of the art form
by the general public.
Nevertheless, "Tosca" was a
wonderful production, and hope
fully OPAS will continue to bring
us such rare glimpses into fine cul
ture.
, George
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Aggie Players' 'Safe Sex' not a safe bet Theater'.-j |(^Review
By Timm Doolen
The Battalion
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t worth
The Aggie Players' "Safe Sex" is two
short one-act plays about people who did
not practice safe sex.
The first concerns two men, Manny
(Rene Trevino) and Jake (Ben Olsen), though
they could be just about anyone. They have
an interesting dialogue, to say the least.
Manny asks Jake a haunting question,
"Can you kiss?" He isn't asking about the
quality of Jake's kisses, but rather if Jake can
kiss another man without worrying about
infecting him with a disease.
Manny is infected with AIDS, but
doesn't want to admit it. Jake wants to have
sex, and cares little of the consequences.
"Manny and Jake" would have made a
better short story than a play because it uti
lizes none of the visual advantages of the
stage. For instance, there was no plot to
speak of,, jiist a 20-minute discourse on liv
ing with and being afraid of AIDS.
To its advantage, Trevino provided the
best performance of the night, by far out
shining Olsen, who didn't act as smoothly.
The second play improved on the story
line - it's a drama of how an ex-wife and ho
mosexual man deal with their lover's AIDS
death.
Ben Olsen, left, and Rene Trevino portray two homosexual men in the Aggie Players’ production of “Safe
Sex” at the Blocker Fallout Theater. »
The story was OK in this one, but the
performances were still flawed. The two
principals. Holly Hill and Mike Whiteside,
started out cold and stolid, and although
they warmed up considerably toward the
end, it never really congealed.
When you go on spring break, please
practice safe sex, but skip the play before
you go.
"Safe Sex" will be playing through Fri
day at the Fallout Theater, 144 Blocker. Tick
ets are $3. Call 862-2052 for information.
Review
"Lawnmower Man' uses computer graphics
to repeat horror movie cliches successfully
By Kevin Robinson
The Battalion
"The Lawnmower Man"
Starring: Jeff Fahey, Pierce Brosnan, Jenny
Wright, and Geoffrey Lewis
Directed by Brett Leonard
Rated R
Now playing at Post Oak 3
"The Lawnmower Man" stands as the best
Stephen King movie that King had nothing to
do with. In a ploy that has worked before to
boost ticket sales to movies such as "Children
of the Corn" and "Graveyard Shift," the mak
ers of "The Lawnmower Man" bought the
rights to one of King's early short stories and
then turned the story into a two hour movie.
"The Lawnmower Man" however, goes
one step further. Screenwriters Brett Leonard
and Gimel Everett have scrapped King's story
entirely and have written their own. Believe it
or not, this is definitely for the best. King's
original story was a gross little horror piece
that appeared in "Night Shift," a collection of
King's short stories.
Leonard and Everett's plot combines some
of the oldest horror movie concepts with cut
ting edge computer graphics and technology.
King's name isn't needed to sell this picture.
Pierce Brosnan plays Dr. Larry Angelo, a
brilliant scientist experimenting with uses for
virtual reality technology. His work is funded
by the Shop, a secret government military op
eration. As is usual in movies, the military is
only interested in Angelo's technology to de
velop a weapon. Angelo, of course, is interest
ed in advancing the state of humankind. What
a humanitarian. When Angelo's experiments
go awry and several men are killed, Angelo re
fuses to continue his military aspects of the ex
periments and takes a leave of absence.
Job Smith (Jeff Fahey) is a retarded garden
er who tends to the lawn of Dr. Angelo. Smith
is abused by most of the neighbors and jumps
at the chance to play Angelo's "games" when
the scientist takes interest in him. Angelo
hopes to increase Smith's intelligence through
the combination of his virtual reality programs
and psychoactive drugs.
The experiment works all too well. Not
only does Smith's intelligence improve dra
matically, but he begins to manifest telepathy
and telekinesis. His abilities advance even
more when Angelo returns with Smith to the
Shop laboratory. Unfortunately, these changes
soon take a dark turn when the Shop switches
Smith's benign drugs with the aggression pro
moting drugs of the former military experi
ment. His power continues to grow daily.
Despite plot holes the size of craters, "The
Lawnmower Man" is a hell of a lot of fun. The
story is straight out of the old Universal mon
ster pictures. Obsessive scientist tampers with
something man was not meant to know. Scien
tist creates a super-human. Something goes
bad and he suddenly realizes that he's some
how created a monster.
It's a fairly cliched story and the "Lawn-
mower Man" milks the concept dry. There's
even the old "Frankenstein" switch, only in
this movie it's not brains, but good and bad
drugs. Then there's the Shop laboratory itself,
which looks so Gothic that Boris Karloff could
walk around the corner and seem right at
home. Instead of being tired, however, the old
horror movie cliches are as comfortable in this
movie as a pair of old jeans.
What makes "The Lawnmower Man" stand
out even more from all the other mad scientist
flicks is the incredible computer animation of
the virtual reality sequences. Computers have
come a long way since "Tron" came along in
the early '80s. The film makes the most of the
new technology with virtual reality sequences
that are literally breathtaking. The computer
ized sex scene is worth the price of admission
in itself.
Of course, virtual reality really has nothing
to do with increasing intelligence or giving
anyone psychic powers, but that's a moot
point. Deprivation tanks don't really cause
people to turn into cavemen and energy be
ings, but "Altered States" was a pretty cool
movie. There's even a sequence that would
have pleased Stephen King (after all the movie
has his name on it). When Smith finally takes
revenge on the townspeople that abused him,
its done in a style so reminiscent of the the old
E.C. horror comics that it could have been
"Creepshow 3." King would have loved it.
"I heard they were
GOOD!’
NACHOS TOGO
For Deliveries Call 696-3327
Campus
Directory
Pick yours up in room 230
Peed McDonald Building
8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday - Friday.
TEXAS A&M
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improve your grades.
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TUTORING
$6.95 PER SESSION
TUE 3/10
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Sec. 510-14
Sec 510 - 14
ch 28, 29, 30
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RHYS 219
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Sec. 504-11
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ch 6
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9-11
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CALL MON - THU FROM 2 - 5 FOR DETAILS
NORTHGATE. BEHIND 7/11,2 PESOS
Stop By Messina Hof
For Spring Break Essentials!
Pick up picnic supplies, wine, wine accessories
and inflatable wine coolers in Messina Hof’s
Retail Sales and Tasting Room.
Open M-F 8-4:30, Sat 10-3 & Sun 12-4
Call 778-WINE (9463) for reservations.
Hwy 21 east of Hwy 6. Right on Wallis Rd.
Come Ride With Us...
File For Elections!
^Student Body President*Yell Leaders*
*Class Councils*Student Senate*
*RHA Officers*OCA Officers*
When: March 9-12, 9am~5pra
Where: 139 MSC
Questions? Call Student Gov’t at 845-3051
MSC Town Hall
Presents
/LYLE\
LOVETT
Monday , March 30
Rudder Auditorium 8pm
Tickets on Sale NOW
Students $10 Non-students $14
Rudder Box Office 845-1234
or Foley's at Post Oak Mall
All Seats Reserved