Composer Glass
illuminates the
art of operas
GLASS from Page 9
Glass’ contemporaries.
“A Composer’s Notes: Philip
Glass and the Making of an Opera”
is a documentary on the composer
at the peak of his form, as he goes
through the various processes of
creating and producing
“Akhnatcn,” his third opera.
In this 1986 film, thccamerasof
producer/director Michael Black
wood shadowed Glass for three
years during the conception, com
position, and all the way through to
the first public performances of
“Akhnaten.” Glass is followed to
Egypt, where pharaoh Akhnaten
held his controversial throne, to
India, and New York, and finally
to Germar and Houston for the
World ana American premieres of
“Akhnaten” in full performance.
But the main focus of the film is
the opera “Akhtanen.” Akhnaten
was an unusual human being.
Although there is some doubt as
to whether Akhnaten was a guy or
not, which is a major point in the
performance and costuming, he
was undoubtedly a strange, unique
individual. Sophocles’ “Oedipus”
myth is said to be based on the real
life story of Akhnaten, which gave
Glass the initial inspiration for the
opera.
Centuries ago, Akhnaten was
an Egyptian pharaoh who had a
radical approach to nearly every
thing, including his personal life
and methods of governing his
people. He broke down Egypt’s
multi-theological system of reli
gion and enforced a one-god phi
losophy on the country — one of
the first recorded instances of
monotheism in world history. He
also carried on a simultaneous re
lationship with his Queen, Nefer
titi, and his mother.
W hat was possibl y the strangest
aspect of Akhnaten was his oft
remarked-upon appearance. The
actors portraying him in the operas
wore hip padding and false breasts
in an effort to recreate his feminine
appearance and thin upper torso.
The film also shows a costume
being fitted with a false penis logo
along with his unorthodoxically
misproportioned body.
But Akhnatcn’s reign was
short-lived, however, and records
of it were even shorter. His palace,
city, and kingdom were destroyed
by rivals to his throne, and after his
death, virtually all record or
memory of Akhnatcn and his reign
were eliminated.
The film climaxes with the
Houston and Stuttgart perform
ances being contrasted against
each other, so one can see the
similarities in the worksand Glass’
indelible stamp on each produc
tion, as well as the striking vari
ations in the two very different
performances.
Possibly the most interesting
facet of the movie is watching the
creative process of Glass’ compo
sition. He is seen in conversations
with stage directors, costume de
signers, librettists, actors, and vir
tually all of the various people that
go into making a stage production.
This is one of the most fascinat
ing parts of the film, and Glass, in
both at-the-time interviews and
narration dubbed in later, com
ments on how his compositions
come about, and how this is fit into
the overall text of the opera at
large.
The film is, at times, hard to
follow for anyone who doesn’t
know the names or positions of all
of the various directors, librettists,
singers, musicians and other col
laborators Glass has conversations
with, but is generally a well-made
look at one of contemporary clas
sical music’s biggest names. V
“ A Composer s Notes” is show
ing this weekend at Sheldon Film
Theatre as part of Sheldon’s Film/
Video showcase on the films of
Michael Blackwood.
“COLLEGE TOURS” PRESENTS
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7 nights $169* / $399*non-stop air
via Holiday train
(pi ices effective until Dec. 15. 1987)
For more information call 464-7319
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‘Flowers in the Attic’ withers;
Andrews' novel a fuller bloom
By Micki Haller
Staff Reporter
For people who have already read
V.C. Andrews’ “Flowers in the Attic,”
the movie will be predictable and
disappointing. Those who haven’t
read the book will find the film point
less, unmotivated and confusing.
Movie Review
It seems to be a universal law that
movies are never as good as the books
that spawn them.
Andrews’ btx>k explored a world
where good docsn’t conquer evil and
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the sins of parents arc doomed to be
repeated by the children.
In the movie, the themes aren’t
fully developed, and the moviegoer is
left wondering why things are happen
ing the way they arc.
The loving family — Mother,
Daddy, Cathy, Chris and the twins,
Cory and Carrie — is emotionally
destroyed when Daddy is killed in an
accident.
Mother, played by Victoria Ten
nant, decides she can’t make it alone,
so she takes the family home to meet
the grandparents.
However, Mother has done some
thing to make her parents very angry:
She married her unde.
The grandmother, played by Lou
ise Fletcher, is a Biblc-toting sadist
who locks the children in a room
leading loan at * ic while Mother tries
to win back the love of her father and
inherit his millions.
Mother eventually stops visiting
her children, and the teen-aged Cathy
and Chris become parents to their
much younger siblings.
In the end,good iriumphsoverevil,
and the children apparently live hap
pily ever after, despite a few bad
memories about Grandmother and the
attic.
The movie centers on Cathy and
Chris’s struggle to lake care of the
twins. Cathy, played by Kristy Swan
son, notices the peculiar changes in
Mother, while her brother Chris,
played by Jeb Adams, ignores-her
greed.
Swanson’s Cathy is indignant with
righteous convictions; it’s also called
overacting. On the way to the grand
parents’ home, she makes a dramatic
speech about why the children should
have had a pet.
“Pets die,” she said. Someone
should have prepared them for the fact
that fathers die too, she said. Appar
ently, a pet’s death would have pro
vided a learning experience and pre
pared the kids for Daddy’s death.
Fletcher speaks like a space alien
from late-night TV. After calling the
children “devil’s spawn” and dis
pensing with other niceties, she stiffly
smirks and leaves the room.
Adams doesn't seem to be acting.
His natural responses arc a welcome
relief, but he docsn’t seem to be doing
much anyway.
The movie provokes little praise.
The book isn’t much more than the
price of an evening admission, and
there arc better ways to spend an hour
and 40 minutes.
GREAT WHITE NORTH WEDNESDAYS
7:00 PM to Close
Molson’s, Labatt’s, and Moosehead
Only 95' a Bottle
CHESTERFIELD'S
The Cornhusker Marching Band
#fl)
Friday, December 4, 8:00 p.m.
and
Saturday, December 5, 8:00 p.m.
Kimball Recital Hall
adults $5.00
students $3.00 Tickets available at Band Office
(college or younger) (123 Westbrook Music Building)
senior citizens $3.00 and Kimball Box Office
(65 or older) (113 Westbrook Music Building)
