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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1985)
REVIEW The Chorus expands its repertoire: Or, singing ain't all they do! b y J im H un g e r Perhaps Pirandello would have com e up with som ething like E ighty Singers in Search o f a S tory Line. Com poser and author Tom Sim onds, when confronted with the problem of fitting a m ultitude of m ale choristers into a m usical narrative, hit on the idea of using the U.S. Senate as an appropriate vehicle for the Portland Gay M en ’s Chorus in Z illion s: or H o w We Paid O ff the N a tio n a l Debt. And as unm usical as that august governing body seems, the musical works surprisingly well. Developing a dram atic idea that will ac c o m m o d a te a large cast of characters is itself an intriguing task, but m olding a group of generally untrained actors into an effective theatrical experience is a considerable feat indeed. S im onds’ accom plishm ent culm i nated in the M arch 17th and 18th perform ances of Z illio n s by the Chorus and several guest performers. Ironically, while the idea of a musical c o m edy focusing on the Senate is fairly success ful, the acting of the chorus in unison is one of the weak points of the show. T h e difficulty lay in having the Chorus arranged in typical perform ance form ation on risers while attem pting to convey the im age of a group that doesn’t operate in this manner. Better actors m ight have been able to pull it off with convincing body language: a few m ore props m ay have helped in this case, perhaps the suggestion o f desks, or the impression of a m ore casual group formation. A few subtle technical effects such as d im m ing of the lights on the larger group when they w eren* directly involved in the m ain action would have helped keep them out of focal attentio and allowed them some undistracting respite T h e harm onic perform ances of the entire Chorus, however, were always very good, at tim es superb. Division into baritone co n servatives and tenor liberals was an effective device for extracting droll hum or from the fundam ental dichotom y intrinsic to the Senate. O n e m elodic strain which was par ticularly appreciated by the audience was a m etaphoric rendition of senatorial debate a la Beachboys. For the most part, the perform ances by sm aller ensem bles were excellent. The Tourists, the Bankers, and the Cabinet were all hilarious during their m om ents in the limelight. B. Gail Hillyer, Jonathan Squier, D onnie W ayne and Wayne E. Harris were appropriately gawky and gauche as the tourists. The bankers’ revelation of their inner desires as contrasted with their actual stern exteriors had the quality of truth to it: Bob Sherw ood is effective as the lead banker, and J im Anctil, Richard Brown, and Bill Liddicoat do well as the other bankers. T h e Cabinet, too num erous to mention, were especially entertaining when they were perform ing their public service advertisement for the cookie sale. The well-sung, obtruding high tenor of the Secretary of Transportation (n a m e withheld), elicited peals of laughter from the audience and Steve Fulm er was properly priggish as the Secretary of State. W hile the performances of many individual singers were good, several were very clearly superior. Marty Cam pbell was excellent in the role of President Pro Tern, capturing the finer nuances necessary to m ake his own them e song especially am using, and evoking a touching poignancy in the song “Ohio" which represented the nostalgic feelings of home, wherever that m ay be. Guest performer Cydne Pidgeon delighted the audience with the most outstanding individual perform ance of the night, as the sole w om an legislator in the Senate. Pidgeon’s glorious operatic soprano in her own them e song was truly burlesque at its finest: her acting aplom b assured her the center of attention whenever she was on stage. Pidgeon and B. Gail Hiller were the only really visible w om en in the production - an investing consideration on several levels. The paucity of w o m en ’s roles further highlighted the wonderful perform ance of Pidgeon, as did her brightly colored, very fem inine attire. W hile Hillyer’s gender m ade her m ore visible, the type of yokel character she played tended to deem phasize her sexuality. The dearth of w om en symbolically underscored the inequi table representation of w om en in govern m ent, and for that matter, in alm ost every organization in our society. In som e ways Z illio n s missed num erous opportunities to accentuate this message: others m ight feel this is unfair criticism for a com edy musical, but som e of the m ost biting and effective co m m en tary is traditionally disguised in the ludicrous attire of satire. Another weak point in the d ram a was in its treatm ent of politics as an appropriate target for satiric ripostes. Al though politics was a m ajor source of the com edy, the digs were periodically vague and hence ineffective. In the first scene the Senate votes in bill after bill raising the national d e ficit, but all of the liberals and all but one of 1 0 % O F F ALL C H A M P A G N E IN A P R I L W IT H T H IS AD P eter de G arm o Don O m an 14 3731 S.E. H a w th o rn e Portland, O regon 97214 (503) 232-1010 the conservatives support the bills, which are vague in nature except for the fact that none have anything to do with military spending. Several jabs are m ade at President Reagan, but they tend to be am biguous, and at one point an oppressive king is brought in as a sort of com plication, but this device appa rently has no function as a vehicle for com m entary. Z illio n s also includes two dance routines which are m oderately successful. The “T im e Goes By” tap dancers are hilarious in their terpsichorean interpretation of the dull pas sage of tim e spent waiting, especially when their actions m im ic the m ovem ent of clocks. T h e dancing itself is undramatic, in spots, though, with periods of inactivity which, even though they represent waiting, are too long. Steven Poole does a nice job with a num ber entitled "An Am erican Lullaby," which incor porates som e signing into it: however, the piece doesn’t fit into the body of the action very well. “Lullaby" is a pleasant, euphonic word, and the Am erian Sign language rep resentation of it is beautifully evocative, but the senators at that point are experiencing som ething m ore akin to lim bo than lullabies, and so the sense of the song is a bit incongruous. Z illio n s , as a whole, provides its audiences with a very entertaining evening of musical and com ed ic delight. At points both the h u m o r and the music reached transcendent levels which are certain to be rem em bered with pleasure for som e time. I know I person ally found myself with som e frequency at that stage of uncontrolled guffawing where the hilarity of the m om ent causes one to forget not to cackle too loudly or with one’s m outh wide open. The text of the musical, I think, could use som e reworking, a few barbs sharpened here and there, or m ore included where the opportunity exists but is not taken advantage of. Still, all in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable night of entertainment. C IN E M A Improper Conduct Im proper Conduct, a film by Nestor A lm endros and O rlando Jim enez Leal, is a docum entary consisting of interviews and com m entaries by form er inmates of Cuban prisons and prison camps. The film is unified by the bitter resentment of all who cam e in contact with Castro’s solution to two prob lem s very high on the Castro family's list of priorities — homosexuality and everything else. Apparently Raoul Castro, on a trip to Yugoslavia, was favorably impressed by their treatm ent for hom osexuality-prison cam p. Huge concentration cam ps were set up in Cuba and huge num bers of internees spent tim e there as slave laborers. Providers of those nom inated were the usual ones — those around us. Little guys were turned in because, say, som eone else wanted their room in the boarding house. Bigger gam e were turned in by higher officials who coveted their nice homes. The charges were h o m o sexuality, being hippies (wearing brightly printed shirts, liking the Beatles), extrava gance. im proper c o n d u c t. . . anything . . . everything. Using the old favorite ploy of coaxing each citizen to be his neighbor’s keeper by appeal ing to greed and exploiting the hum an be havioral com ponent that lends itself so well to enslavem ent. Castro achieved success in his endeavors efficient in the extreme and thorou gh . The best m ethod for oppressing a people still is pitting one neighbor against another. T h e w orld’s largest prison (1 0 0 ,0 0 0 ), was built in Cuba by prison inmates. M any m ore m en were im prisoned than wom en. The w om an w ho told of her four m onth ordeal in jail (for consorting with writers), told one of the m ost lurid stories. Possibly this was be cause fewer w om en were incarcerated than m en, so accom m odations were not built and overcrowding was even m ore excessive. For w om en, the changes in spiritual bondage were reflected m ore in a trans m uted form of prostitution,one that m utated to a type tolerable to officials, who knew about it, exploited it. Everything depended on appearances; substance went for nothing. This film has its applications everywhere in the world, in the past, in the present, and the future. W e look upon the devastation of C astro’s policies and are appalled. But one m ale in 4 0 in O regon is either in prison, on probation or on parole — his person in hock to the state. We have politicians clam oring to build m ore prisons so we can put away still m ore males. M ightn’t ve be well advised to rework our term s for punishable offenses. Could we think of m ore m eaningful ways for som e o f these m en to pay their debts to society? Is it possible we require a m ore accu rate definition of what m en are? Swann In Love b y E lean or M a lin S w a n n In Loue is another in the spate of slow-m oving period pieces that have become popular since the enorm ous success of T V ’s B rideshead Revisited. Jerem y Irons, who starred in that mini-series, stars as Swann, the hostile witness to his own restless and destructive love. Handsom e, but not m acho, Irons is a master at playing well-heeled, spoiled, m elancholic heroes. Swann, son of "reformed" Jews, is wealthy and respectable enough to be received by the upper classes. He regularly makes the rounds with his good friend, Baron Charlus. played by Alain Delon. But S w ann’s obsession with a high-class prostitute has derailed him socially. Hand som e, wealthy, and ch a rm a n t enough to m ake a good m arriage, instead, he remains addicted to Odette; he can lose his co m p o sure in a crowd m erely from m em ories of her bosom . She is beautiful in the m anner of a sad-eyed Botticelli drawing. But he tried to avoid having an affair with her, actually think ing her ugly for a tim e. As often happens, putting off the inevitable merely m eans that she has had tim e to stockpile am m unition, and when their affair finally gets off the ground (in broad daylight, in his open coach) he becom es a slave to Odette. Ju*t Ou», April 1985