Friday, June 28, 1985
The Nebraskan
Page 7
A
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Amorous musical opens
tonight at Kimball hall
By Cindy Ilohren
Staff Reporter
When Americans think of France,
three things generally come to mind:
wine, berets and love. Spain leads
France in wine exports, the beret is
more common In Italy, but amour is a
repeating theme in the chansons of one
of France's best known song writers,
Jacques Brel.
"Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and
Living in Paris" will be presented by
the UNL Music Theatre for seven per
formances beginning tonight at Kim
ball Hall, 11th and R streets. This non
traditional musical is actually a collect
ion of 25 storytelling songs by sing
erguitarist Brel compiled and trans
lated by Eric Blau and Mort Schuman.
Few spoken lines, no scenery changes,
and simple costumes and make-up add
to the simplistic uniqueness of this
production.
"A lot of people go to the theater and
they think, 'Ah, the scenery and cos
tumes!' director Mark Jolen said. "Well,
these people are in black."
Jolen, a visiting free-lance , artist
from Maryland, said he wanted to
emphasize the underlying message
rather than the spectacle of show.
"I want the audience to see inside
the spoken word or inside the sung
word; to be able to see truth," Jolen
said.
Jolen received his master's degree
from the University of Maryland. He
performs regularly in Maryland and
Washington D.C. and teaches part time
at Montgomery College and Prince
George's College. He has his own voice
studio and occasionally acts as guest
director, although usually on the east
coast.
"When I first called and started talk
ing about contracts and conceptual
agreements and things like that, I said,
this is going to sound real stupid, but I
don't even know where Nebraska is.
And now that I'm out here, I really like
it."
After deciding the final cast of
Donna Harler, Kris Olson, Richard Colla
and Steve Andrew by videotape, Jolen
arrived in Lincoln to start rehearsals
June 9. Though the three-week rehear
sal time could have been hectic and
unsuccessful, Jolen said it ran smoothly.
"By, the time I got here everything
was well under control and they all
knew what I wanted," Jolen said. "It
was great."
Jolen decided to direct the produc
tion in order to convey what he believed
to be Brel's "concept of simplicity."
"I really wanted to hold true to what
the author wanted," Jolen said.
To create a more intimate atmos
phere a platform was built in front of
the stage for the performers. The audi
ence will sit on the Kimball Hall stage
and the four-member orchestra will
play in the hall behind the actors and
actresses.To compensate for the small
cabaret sitting, the performers have
had to make adjustments in their
acting.
"Everything you do is magnified size
wise," Harler said. "So everytime you
move, you're signaling . . .something to
the audience."
Jolen said many classify the show as
dated because the main catalyst is
love. But he disagrees.
"Brel has tuned into the fact that we
take on many masks as we go through
life and we tend to live those fallacies
and forget that there is a common link
between us. There isn't a person on
earth that doesn't want to be loved."
"Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and
Living in Paris" opened off-Broadway in
New York in 1972. The show was given
the name after Brel declined an invita
tion to attend the premier in protest to
the United States' involvement in the
Vietnam War. The show will run June
28, 29, and July 3, 5, 6, 12 and 13 at 8
p.m. Tickets are $5 for general admis
sion and $3 for students and senior
citizens and can be purchased before
the performance or by calling 472-3375.
Don
Henley
By Bill Allen
Arts and Entertainment Editor
The best part of the Don Henley
concert Wednesday night came at
the very end. In this case that was
great because the rest of the con
cert was sharp, visual and danceable.
For the second and last encore
Henley's band started those famil
iar opening strains of "Hotel Cali
fornia," the classic hit made famous
by the Eagles when Henley was their
drummer.
WEMU
The roar of the crowd drowned
those opening strains and Henley
started the lyrics at an extremely
slow tempo. It's standard at famous
musicals to speed up the tempo of
well known songs ("Oklahoma," for
instance) so the audience won't get
bored with the sound. Elton John
did this with his golden hit "Your
Song," when he sang it in concert in
Lincoln last fall.
However, Henley did the oppo
site. The lyrics were slowed down,
every line sinking into a nostalgia
hungry audience. Only when Henley
reached the refrain did he speed up
to the normal tempo, then he went
back to the slow tempo during the
lyrics again. The effect was sensa
tional and left the audience filled.
Filled with what, it's hard to say,
but it's a feeling you don't get at
every concert.
The crowd was a mixture of
younger Henley fans, known for his
solo hits, "Boys of Summer," "All
She Wants to Do Is Dance," and
"Dirty Laundry," and older Eagles'
fans, like myself.
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Mark DavisThe Nebraskan
Don Henley played Wednesday at the Omaha Civic Audito
rium, blending old Eagles' classics with his newer songs.
The new Henley solo songs were and "Life in the Fast Lane," classic
well done and clear, especially for a Eagles' tunes performed well,
concert and sent the younger set Henley was a polished performer
into hysteria. Then, everyone got and appreciative of the audience
into the act during "Desperado," response, which was refreshing.
Combo mixes ethnic sounds
By Mike Grant
Staff Reporter
Okay, it's Pop Quiz time. Which of
these forms of music is truly "hip"?
A. Pop B. Polka C. Ska C. Latino.
The answer is, of course, "all of the
above styles," especially when they are
combined. But who could combine
such variant forms of music without
producing chaos? The musical cuissi
nart is none other than Brave Combo.
REVIEW,
Whether this Denton, Texas-based
band is taking pop standards like the
Doors' "People Are Strange" and turn
ing it into a Yiddish Polka, or dusting
off the old squeezebox to pour out a
heavy accordian version of Iron Butter
fly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," the results
are always danceable.
Carl Finch, leader of Brave Combo,
calls these musical mutations "high
energy ethnic music."
Finch, as lead vocalist, pianist, and
accordianist is backed by Bubba Her
nandez on bass, Mitch Marine on per
cussion, and Jeff Barnes, who plays
both the saxophone and clarinet.
The band has been an established
act in northern Texas for years and
have toured nationally, opening for
such prominent fusion acts as Los
Lobos and Joe Carrasco, as well as con
ventional polka halls that usually fea
ture bands like polka legend Fnmkie
lankovic.
How does your average Polka-Joe
react to schottishs versions of Jimi
Hendrix?
"Old folks really enjoy it," Finch said
jn a telephone interview, "especially
the little old ladies, who like the beat."
"The student crowd is getting turned
on to it. Things are really starting to
happen with high energy ethnic music."
Trends seem to back up the Brave
Combo style, now that Los Lobos, a
Latino rock band from east LA. has hit
the scene with a mixture of Mexican
ranchero music and rhythm and blues
that is opening doors for other ethni
cally based bands.
Also, according to Finch, who is
something of a musicologist, recording
artists as diverse as Boz Scaggs and
David Bryne of The Talking Heads have
consulted him on accordian techniques.
Brave Combo's latest album, "World
Dance Music," on the Four Dots label,
has received favorable reviews. It in
cludes a soaring schottische of "Lili
Marlene," and anyone who isn't moved
to dance by the ska version of Prez
Prado's "Skokian" is a real candidate
for the marble slab.
"What we really want to do is change
people's perceptions of what is hip,"
Finch said. Well said, and well done.
For too long, since at least the 1950s,
mainline popular music in the U.S. has
Jgnored the enormous contributions
chat polka, latino and other kinds of
"ethnic" music have made, by concen
trating almost solely on Anglo varia
tions of music.
Brave Combo will be appearing at
the Zoo Bar on Monday, July 1.
FT
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