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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 2011)
theater BY RICK LEVIN Nurse Ratched (Sabra Slade) crashes the party in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest Taking Care of Your Four-Legged Family for Over 30 Years Full Service Clinic: • Well Pet Care • Orthopedic Surgery • Cancer Management • Behavior Consultations • Dental Care Cameron Jones, DVM Barbara Maki, DVM Cary Heyward, DVM Appointments Available 8am-6pm Weekdays 9am-4pm Saturday info@amazonparkvet.com • 541-485-0161 • 725 E. 25th Ave. Eugene Keeping with Kesey BUY ONLINE : Cuckoo’s Nest restores novel’s vision www.HultCenter.org OR CALL FOR TICKETS : 541-682-5000 EUGENE BALLET COMPANY PRESENTS This Weekend! Alice In Wonderland Saturday, February 12 at 7:30 PM Sunday, February 13 at 2:00 PM SILVA– Tix: $48-$22; St, Y Alice’s trip down the rabbit hole introduces her to the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter’s wacky Tea Party, the court of the Queen of Hearts and ends in a lobster quadrille with the Mock Turtle and Gryphon. Free Ballet Insider pre-talk in The Studio, 45 minutes before each performance. EUGENE SYMPHONY PRESENTS Scheherazade Thursday, February 17 at 8:00 PM –SILVA– Tix: $59-$15; St, Y A musical potpourri of orchestral showpieces, this concert features Dvorák’s rambunctious Carnival Overture and Rimsky-Korsakov’s stirring Scheherazade. Plus, audience favorites, Dean Kramer and Claire Wachter, join the orchestra in a performance of Poulenc’s charming Concerto for Two Pianos. SHO PRESENTS Third Annual SHO Wine Tasting Saturday, February 19 at 4:00 PM –LOBBY– Tix: $15 21 & OVER The Hult Center’s non-profi t membership organization, presents its annual fundraising event. Enjoy tastings from fi ve regional wineries, light catering, samples from local chocolatiers, a silent auction and live entertainment. EUGENE SYMPHONY PRESENTS Cirque de la Symphonie Sunday, February 20 at 2:30 PM SILVA– Tix: $80-$15; Y This concert has it all: power, grace, beauty, and athleticism! Don’t miss a minute of this spectacular event, highlighting unbelievable physical feats and amusing circus antics by jugglers, acrobats and aerialists. ENTERTAINMENT ON SALE: THE SHEDD INSTITUTE PRESENTS EUGENE OPERA PRESENTS ALICE IN WONDERLAND Imagination Movers (SILVA- March 2) Aria Auction & Gala (SILVA- March 4) WELLS FARGO BROADWAY IN EUGENE PRESENTS The New Musical Wicked (SILVA- April 20–May 1) Tickets on sale, Friday, Feb. 11 at 8 AM : Phone, Window, Online & EMU Outlet HULT TICKET OFFICE HOURS: Tue-Fri, 12- 5 PM ; Sat, 11 AM –3 PM ONE HOUR BEFORE PERFORMANCE MON-SAT, TWO HOURS BEFORE ON SUN. UO TICKET OUTLET IN THE EMU: Mon-Fri, 9 AM –5 PM 32 FEBRUARY 10, 2011 EUGENE WEEKLY M ention One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest anywhere outside the Pacifi c Northwest, and the image you’ll spark in most folk’s mind is Jack Nicholson leering like a salty sailor beneath a navy blue stocking cap. Fair enough. As with his maniacally outsized role in The Shining, Nicholson tattoos himself all over director Milos Forman’s adaptation of Ken Kesey’s classic novel — hooting, hollering, cajoling and otherwise cantering around with bulging eyes and gonads the size of bowling balls. It’s a strong performance in a decent movie that paints its strident social commentary in broad, manipulative strokes. But it’s hardly what Kesey intended when he wrote the book. Apparently what most upset Kesey, aside from fi nancial issues, was the fact that Nicholson’s bravura performance stole the focus away from big Chief Bromden, who narrates the novel. The current staging by LCC’s Student Productions Association, based on Dale Wassermann’s script, goes a long way in restoring Kesey’s original vision of a society that, in the words of LCC director Chris Pinto, sometimes blurs the line “between sanity and insanity.” It’s a lovely production, vital and redemptive, which is all the more impressive for our deep familiarity with the story. The frenetic, furious pace of the fi lm is replaced by a more measured and melancholy rhythm that leavens its tragic message with bittersweet humor and wry ambivalence. The mood is set from the opening scene, which fi nds Chief Bromden (the excellent Kunu Dittmer) standing alone on stage, addressing his dead father. To the tone- deaf, the Chief’s meditations — about the “combine” that controls the world’s outcasts with magnets and wires — might sound like paranoid ravings, but they are in keeping with the traditions of Native American storytelling, which animates the wide world with spirit and intention. These soliloquies open nearly every scene, working to frame the story as a timeless fable open to endless interpretations and retellings. Directed with economy and fl air by Pinto, the production is propelled by strong performances all around. At the heart of Cuckoo’s Nest are three archetypical characters — the spirited R.P. McMurphy, the dwarfed Chief Bromden and the uber-uptight Nurse Ratched, a “ball-buster from way back” — and here each role is performed with uncommon sensitivity and nuance. As McMurphy, Johnny Rogers is less antagonistic than righteously empathetic, his actions fueled not by ego but humanity and a sense of injustice. Sabra Slade’s Nurse Ratched, with her pinched restraint and passive- aggressive condescension, brings to mind the psychosexual terror of Judith Anderson in Hitchcock’s Rebecca. Dittmer gives a powerhouse performance as the Chief, a haunted, misunderstood man perfectly in tune with his surroundings. And a special nod should go to the superb Steven Coatsworth, who plays the aristocratic inmate Dale Harding. One could argue that Kesey’s story is dated — that we no longer scramble the brains of our undesirables with ice-pick lobotomies. Not so. Despite its particular setting, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, like The Great Gatsby or Mrs. Dalloway, has stood the test of time. We may have exchanged pre-frontals for Prozac and shock therapy for Celexa, but the grinding of individual gems into collective dust remains as rampant as ever. Whether you’re fl ying from the east or from the west, don’t miss this cuckoo’s nest. It’s a jolt to the system. ew One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest plays 8pm Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 10-12 & Feb. 18, with 2pm matinees Sunday, Feb. 13 & Feb. 19-20, at LCC’s Blue Door Theatre, 4000 E. 30th Ave.; $10, $8 sen. & stu., tickets at www.lanecc.edu/tickets or 463-5761. WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
