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OPAS presents
classic fairy tale
By Michael Landauer
The Battalion
t may be Switch-off for Kick-off week for
1 football games, but the Opera and Perform-
ing Arts Society does not care who does the
asking as long as students see this weekend’s pro
duction of Cinderella as an idea for a date.
“It’s a good first date thing,” Karen Allen, OPAS
chair and a senior biomedical science major, said.
“At this time in our life, where we’re dating a lot of
people and looking around for our Prince Charming
or Princess Charming, we can really empathize.”
Most students already know the story — Cin
derella spends her days working for her evil step
mother, but she sees the opportunity to go to a royal
ball as a break from her routine. The prince, on the
other hand, just goes along with the ball to humor
his father.
“And all of a sudden, they meet each other and
say, ‘Wow! There really is true love,”’ Allen said.
OPAS will be showing Roger’s and Hammer-
stein’s romantic musical Sunday at 3 p.m. and 8
p.m. in Rudder Theater.
“For me, it’s revisiting an old friend,” Allen
said. “You’ve seen Pretty Woman, which was a
Cinderella story, and you’ve seen Walt Disney’s
Cinderella. Now you can see it Rogers and Ham-
merstein style. It’s a different way to tell the same
story everybody loves.”
Allen said bringing Broadway musicals to A&M
is a top priority for OPAS.
OPAS Jr. brougnt Cinderella for children last
year, and Allen said the musical was something she
wanted to bring to A&M for older audiences.
“Every time we do a survey, people say bring
more Broadway musicals,” she said. “It’s absolute
ly wonderful, and we jumped at the chance to
bring it.”
Matt Clemens, who plays the prince in the pro
duction, said college audiences should be able to get
something new from the musical, especially if they
have not seen it in many years.
“In some ways, it brings you back to your child
hood because you remember the whole story, and
it’s basically the same outline,” he said. “But there
are definitely things in this that adults enjoy —
some things that a college audience will appreciate
that children won’t grasp.”
Clemens also said it may be a good date because
college students can see beyond the story they
learned as children. He said it will no longer appear
to be just a fairy tale.
“The kids see the magic and the little love story
going on,” he said. “But a lot of the adults can see
the awkwardness of a first love experience and
some of those things that we’re trying to portray a
little more realistically than just some sort of fairy
tale. It’s a lot more fun to try and be real.”
Although trying to make the musical seem real
presents a challenge for the cast, Clemens said the
fact that it is a Rogers and Hammerstein produc
tion is what makes it special for the performers.
“They’re theater greats — part of theater histo
ry,” he said. “It’s really an honor to do that work.”
As far as the musical itself is concerned, Clemens
said Rogers and Hammerstein were able to capture
stories better than modern musicals.
“If you try to compare them to some of the newer
things, you can’t,” he said. “They’re really the mon
uments of theater history.”
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Cinderella (Leslie Lorusso) and the Prince (Matt Clemens) dance at the ball in Rodgers and Hammerstein's production of Cinderella.
Timeless story crosses cultural boundaries
By Amy Uptmor
The Battalion
n the Chinese legend, Cinderella wore a
T I brocaded slipper, and the prince fell in
C’V-J love with the slipper before seeing her.
According to Jewish folklore, instead of a fairy
godmother, Cinderella had a magical staff
that was given to her by the Prophet Elijah.
More than 1,000 different stories of Cin
derella exist in different cultures. Many aspects
are different, but the essential story — the low
ly rising to nobility — and the encompassing
moral — the. triumph of the human spirit over
adversity — is universal.
Dr. Sylvia Grider, an associate professor of
anthropology; Dr. Lynne Vallone, an assistant
professor of English; and Dr. Donna Norton, a
professor of education, discussed the histori
cal aspects of the Cinderella story last night.
The discussion, “Cinderella: the Cosmopolitan
Perspective,” was held by the Opera and Per
forming Arts Society in conjunction with Sun
day’s performances of Rodger’s and Hammer-
stein’s Cinderella.
Grider said the original version of the story
dates back more than 1,000 years to a Chinese
manuscript. The version most people are famil
iar with, complete with Prince Charming and
the fabled glass slipper, is Perrault’s French
version, written around 1657.
Norton said many of the stories were not
meant for children, and some were even vio
lent. In a German version, one stepsister cuts
off her toe and the other cuts off her heel to fit
into the glass slipper.
Despite such cases, a Utopic world is creat
ed in the folk tales that people can relate to,
explaining the story’s timeless appeal, Val
lone said.
“The very ordered world it presents can cre
ate comfort for the listeners,” she said. “We can
all relate to Cinderella. We watch it and think,
‘We all know we’re princesses, if only someone
would see us for what we’re worth.’”
Vallone said the story’s roots are still seen
in many of today’s movies, such as Only You,
While You Were Sleeping and French Kiss.
The theme of a woman trying to find Mr.
Right is everywhere, even in everyday life,
she said.
“Prince Charming doesn’t always look the
same, but he’s always lurking,” she said. “We
all have that.”
Grider warned that the Disney version does
not necessarily represent the true story and
said the story should not necessarily be read as
one that is degrading to women.
“The Disney version is so oversimplified, and
it was clearly playing to a non-feminist point of
view,” she said. “Other versions present a very
strong heroine.
“It’s a rather profound story, regardless of
what Disney has done to it.”
Jeannie Bezdek, director of audience educa
tion and development for OPAS and a sopho
more psychology major, said OPAS hopes to
sponsor more educational programs in conjunc
tion' with their major performances. Programs
concerning opera and the Guild Hall String En
semble are in the works, including an arts fair
next year, which will offer information on the
arts to students.
“There’s a barrier sometimes to students in
getting that information,” she said.
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I hate my Friends.
Now see, there’s part of
the problem. I’m so addicted
to Friends, the witty NBC TV
show with our trend-setting he
roes, that I’ve filed the charac
ters in my subconscious as be
ing real. But real people aren’t
that stupid ... I don’t think.
If I seem bitter, it’s because
last night’s episode brought
weeks of frustration to a boil.
As we know, the writers of
the show have been toying with
us, letting us think that, any
minute now, Ross and Rachel
are going to “get together.” Last
week Ross and Flachel kissed,
world peace was declared and
all was well.
But this week the choice
had to be made by Ross —
Rachel or Julie.
But in the process of choos
ing Rachel, Ross made a prc/con
list featuring Rachel’s negative
attributes. The stupid part is
that the list was saved on Chan
dler’s new computer.
Just as Ross tells Rachel that
he has broken up with Julie and
he has always wanted her, his
list gets discovered.
Ross even tries to make up
for it by dedicating U2’s
| “With or Without You” to
I Rachel over the radio, but he
| fails miserably.
We should be sick of the
teasing.
It isn’t like they are doing
anything original. Like the
| general public is sitting on
their couches wiping the drool
away and saying, “Oooh, look,
j This show is so clever and en
thralling the way it teases us.
Michael mpp*!
Landauer
Aggielife
Editor
Feed me more, and please, cut
some of the one-liners we love
to make room for more mis
leading crap.”
The only problem is that we
keep tuning in, giving the TV
executives reason to picture the
above scenario. And it isn’t real
ly too far off the mark.
We have been teased before
by TV romance, and after a
while, it hurts. It makes you
distrustful. It makes you won
der if you can ever get seriously
involved with another TV show.
We can remember Moon
lighting and relive one such
hurtful relationship with a TV
show. After what seemed like
an eternity — the show only
lasted three seasons — the writ
ers finally put David Adisson
and Maddie Hayes together.
The only problem is that they
didn’t know what to do next.
Who’s the Boss? had the
same problem, among others.
After years of teasing its audi
ence, the show paired the ma
cho housekeeper with his
wealthy boss and then quietly
left the air.
So it appears that we have
found our problem. Writers
for Friends won’t know what
to do with the couple they cre
ate. But they should try to
break the trend. Put Ross and
Rachel together, and then —
try to imagine it now — go on
with writing comedy.
It is not as if the writers
would be selling their trade se
cret. It might require new ap
proaches to some of their comic
situations, but hell, everything
has been done already anyway.
And it’s not like the show’s ac
tors are going to stay after their
current contracts — they’re no
where near as attached to these
characters as we are.
The writers know us too well.
We are weak. We harbor
enough sexual frustration that,
if harnessed correctly, could
provide lighting and power to
Chicago for more than a year.
It’s like that relationship
we bitch about to our friends
but can’t get enough of. If
American audiences didn’t
like to be teased, Three’s
Company, Cheers, Melrose
Place, Mork and Mindy and
60 Minutes would never have
gained popularity.
It just wouldn’t be entertain
ing to watch a show with guys
and girls living together who
were in no way attracted to
each other. We have enough of
that in our real lives.
There’s only one way to
break the cycle and free our
selves of the writers’ mystic
power. We must take control of
our frustrated lives and send
sinister TV writers a message.
We can live — with or with
out Friends.
Michael Landauer is a ju
nior journalism major
What's in a name?
Ray Wylie Hubbard follows
traditions of Americana music
By Libe Goad
The Battalion
A strong tie exists between a
brand of country music called
Americana and men that go by
their full name. In the tradition of
country acts like Robert Earl Keen
and Jerry Jeff Walker comes Ray
Wylie Hubbard.
Hubbard, best known for the
song “Up Against the Wall, Red
neck Mother,” popularized by Jerry
Jeff Walker, will bring his grass
roots honky tonk to 3rd Floor Can
tina tonight.
Terry “Buffalo” Ware, who re
cently traveled with Hubbard
across Europe and the West Coast,
will appear with Hubbard to per
form songs from Hubbard’s recent
album, Loco Gringo’s Lament.
Lament, released nationwide,
stands out in Hubbard’s mind as
his best album yet.
“It’s like a real record,” he said.
“In the past, some of my projects
were half-baked and underfunded.”
Promoters boast that the album
shows Hubbard’s maturity as a
songwriter and musician.
“Loco Gringo’s Lament... repre
sented his evolution as a
writer of uncommonly
honest portraits of life and
love, alternately mixing
deep personal sagas with
poignant character studies
about those who live on
the darker side of life,” h. press re
lease said. x
The album may sound similar to
Robert Earl Keen’s Gringo Honey
moon in more ways than the title.
Hubbard’s sound echoes Keen’s folk
Hubbard
style and those of Americana
artists Kevin Welch, Guy Clark
and Joe Ely.
"I feel good being in the same
circle with Keen and Ely."
—Ray Wylie Hubbard
“My music carries pretty much
the same attitude,” Hubbard said.
“I feel good being in the same circle
with Keen and Ely.”
The “attitude” they have falls
under the Americana label.
“It’s a label for people that fall
through the cracks of Top 40 coun
try,” he said. “Americana is more
folk-based with an edge.”
The country on the charts uses a
music formula that Hubbard tries
to avoid.
“There’s nothing wrong with it,”
he said, “but I don’t care for it.”
Hubbard assures his fans that
he will not cater to popular tastes
and that people will have a good
time at his shows.
“If they don’t,” he said, “I will
go down to where they are and
make them.”