8 Arts & Entertainment
Comic revenge joins music in operetta
By Julie Naughton
Senior Reporter
After an eight-year absence,4 ‘Die
Fledermaus,” a 19th-century oper
etta outlining the comic revenge taken
by an angry man, will return to the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln to
night.
The operetta was last performed in
Kimball Recital Hal! in 1982, and
was Kimball’s largest-selling show,
according to Associate Professor of
Music David Bartholomew.
Bartholomew said the plot shows
how 4‘a baritone, dressed as a bat,
trying to play a joke, can gel even
with a tenor.”
Bartholomew explains that after a
masquerade party, baritone Dr. Falke
(played by Tim Konvalin and Duane
Andersen), is left asleep by his friend,
the tenor Eisenstein (Daniel Kurek),
on a park bench.
Falke is awakened the next morn
ing by a jeering crowd. He decides to
take his revenge by taking Eisenstein
-- who should have reported to jail
that day for a minor offense -- to a
ritzy ball sponsored by Prince Or
lofsky (Yvonne Anderson). This move
is designed to embarrass Eisenstein,
through an elaborate scheme of de
ception.
According to Bartholomew, the
first act lays out the plot and “sets
you up for the joke that will be played
on Eisenstein.”
Act 2 continues to set up the joke,
but in the middle of the act, every
thing stops for the entertainment of
the guests. During the ballroom scene
in this act, Bartholomew said, enter
tainment designed to amuse the cast
members and the audience tradition
ally is featured.
The entertainment tonight will be
The Ensemble from the Opera Omaha.
Saturday’s entertainment will be
Lincoln ballroom dancers Don and
Polly Andersen. The Sunday perform
ance will feature a 25th birthday trib
ute to the Folsom Children’s Zoo and
students from the Nebraska School of
Gymnastics will perform.
Act 3 is the culmination of the
plot, and it winds up with “interest
ing political statements.’’
Music for the operetta is by Johann
Strauss Jr.
“The plot is a shell to hang beau
tiful music on,’’ Bartholomew said.
“There is dancing and lovely sets as
well.”
Bartholomew describes the show
as a “wonderful, upbeat operetta.
4 ‘The real joy of the piece is the
music,” he said. “The music is like
bubbly champagne, everything we’d
like to think of Vienna as being.”
Performances are 8 p.m. tonight
and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday.
Receptions will follow the perform
ances tonight and Saturday.
Tickets for “Die Fledermaus” are
available by calling the Lied Center
box office. Ticket prices are $ 10, $8
and $6; half-price for students and
youth under 18. Reception prices are
$5.
. -.. 1 i
Intimate play ‘Body Leaks’
inspired by theater’s past
By Julie Naughton
Senior Reporter
On the surface, the Omaha Magic
Theatre’s new play, “Body Leaks,”
explores life in a Hooded Brazilian
rain forest.
According to the dircctor/co-au
thor, the story actually is a metaphor
for the human experience.
Director/writer Jo Ann Schmidman
said the plot explores “the personal
journey of human beings opening
themselves up to new experiences.”
‘‘In this particular piece, the dra
matic action is inner conflict . . .
that’s a little different. The action
isn ’t going from place to place physi
cally, it’s going from place to place
inside your heart and soul and brain.
The plot is about people relating to
each other, and to themselves.”
The action begins in a green-leafed
hut, where polka-dot dresses arc worn
by the native survivors to control the
flood levels. The polka-dot wearers
constantly are tested by the environ
ment, from torrential rain to beaded
sweat. Inflated dots arc the financial
exchange. Loud-colored dots, because
they arc unccnsored, make the great
est change.
The natives make their way through
a path of overgrown vegetation to
follow the other survivors to Tinian
Island -- ‘‘where wind dots the mind
arid the land mines meet.” There the
survivors discover that it is no longer
necessary to wear protective head
gear_
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KFMQ:
1. Robert Plant — “Manic Nir
vana”
2. Heart-“Brigade”
3. Fleetwood Mac - “Behind the
Mask”
4. Midnight Oil - “Blue Sky Min
mg
5. “Pretty Woman ” Soundtrack
6. Damn Yankees -- “Damn Yan
kees”
7. Faster Pussycat - “Wake Me
When It’s Over”
8. Eric Johnson - “Ah Via Musi
com”
9 Little Feat - “Representing the
Mambo”
10. Slaughter - “Stick it to Ya”
KRNU:
1. Peter Murphy -- “Deep”
2. Midnight Oil - “Blue Sky Min
ing”
3. They Might Be Giants - “Flood”
4. The Church - “Gold Afternoon
Fix”
5. The Cramps — “Stay Sick”
6. Mission U.K. -- “Deliverance”
7. Plan B - “Discontentment”
8. Oingo Boingo -- “Dark at the
End of the Tunnel”
9. The Wedding Present - “Bi
zarro”
10. The Beloved - “Happiness”
TWISTERS
1. Sinead O’Connor - “I Do Not
Want What I Haven’t Got”
2. Public Enemy - “Fear of a
Black Planet”
3. Robert Plant - “Manic Nir
vana”
4. Midnight Oil - “Blue Sky Min
mg
5. M.C. Hammer - “Please Ham
mer, Don’t Hurt Em”
6. Depeche Mode - “Violator”
7. “Pretty Woman” Soundtrack
8. Heart — “Brigade”
9. Faster Pussycat -- “Wake Me
When It’s Over”
10. EricClaplon — “Journeyman”
10. Motley Crue - “Dr. Feelgood”
PROJECT IMPORT:
1. Ride — “Play”
2. Godbullies - “Dog Show”
3. Cows — “Effettc and Impudent
Slobs”
4. Mind Over Four - “The God
dess”
5. Grunting Plowman-“I Play Ju
piter”
6. Tad-“Salt Lick”
7. Pale Saints - “Comforts of Mad
ness”
8. Lush - “Mad Love”
9. Screaming Trees — “Changes
Come”
10. Loop - “A Gilded Eternity”
Music entering sixth decade
Veteran guitarist Kirkland to play in Lincoln
By John Payne
Senior Reporter
Veteran guitarist Eddie Kirkland
is likely to attract the hard-core blues
fans to Bourbon Street, 200 N. 70 St.,
tonight. Bom on a Jamaican cotton
plantation, the 64-ycar old Delta Blues
king has provided studio backing for
the likes of James Brown and Otis
Redding.
Kirkland’s music now is spanning
into its sixth decade, and all reports
seem to indicate that he isn’t slowing
up a bit. Known for his Tierce har
monica playing and trademark tur
ban, it has been Kirkland’s uncon
ventional approach to Blues riffs that
have influenced guitarists like Robert
Cray.
1989’s “Have Mercy,’’ Kirkland’s
first American release in more than
13 years, wooed critics and reaf
firmed his stature in the Blues world.
The resurgence of Blues enthusi
asts have caused many Kirkland al
bums like 1962s “It’s the Blues Man”
to be in great demand recently. And
concert
Kirland has gone through a re-emer
gence of sorts himself lately.
“When 1 hear about Robert Cray,
I think of my bad luck,” a somewhat
resentful Kirkland said in a press re
lease. ‘Tve been doing that stuff for
years, funkin’ the blues up.”
With the success of “Have Mercy,”
Kirkland’s mainstream popularity
finally may arrive, something he
welcomes after years of watching artists
like Otis Redding and Greg Alman
turn his songs into hits.
“Quite a few people have recorded
my songs without giving me credit,”
Kirkland says. “Bui I don’t feel that
another person can feci the spirit I
feel in my songs.”
Having put past disappointments
behind him, Kirkland currently is on
an extensive American tour to further
promote “Have Mercy.”
Those with a sophisticated musi
cal palate can catch the Jamaican
Blucsman at Bourbon Street at'J p.m.
tonight and Saturday. Cover charge is
S3.
Magic Slim coun«*y of th* zoo b«i
Unce again, Lincoln gets irreverent,
smoldering music to fill the week
By Mick Dyer
Senior Editor
An Ecology Now- benefit, nation
ally acclaimed blues acts and good
local music highlight this week of
live music in Lincoln.
Alternative:
Saturday, four bands will play a
benefit concert for Ecology Now at
Duffy’s, 1412 0 St.
Leafy Green Things is a highly
motivated, local, tour-piece, grunge
rock outfit with a real Hair for the
irreverent. Good stuff.
Sam the Butcher plays post-apoca
lypse, industrial-tribal rhythms on
found objects, such as steel drums,
buckets and pipes. Its sound is sup
plemented by electronically distorted
messages repeated over and over again
by tape-loop. And primal screams
punctuate its sound. Combining all
the essentials of primitive-modern
ism, Sam the Butcher is American
shamanism at its finest.
Such Sweet Thunder is a Kearney
based, star-spangled-guitar, musket
' throat and drum corps with a clear
sound and a strong back-beat. Such
Sweet Thunder is leaving Sept. 1 for
a tour of Britain and Europe.
Cool Kiddum also will play.
Sunday, the Wild IQ’s will play
rockabilly at Duffy’s.
Wednesday, For Against and Craig
Nictfcld will play at Duffy’s.
For Against is a local, dark-pop,
electric quartet.
Craig Neitfcld is a local acoustic
and classical guitar virtuoso.
Country:
Tonight, the Sandy Creek Band
will play bluegrass at Sweep Left,
815 0 St.
Ja/.i/Rlues:
Tonight and Saturday, Eddie
Kirkland will play at Bourbon Street,
200 N. 70th St.
Tonight and Saturday, Upstream
will play at the Mountains, 311 S.
11th St.
Tonight and Saturday. Bugs Hen
derson and the Shuffle Kings will
play at the Zoo Bar, 136 N. 70th St.
Bugs Henderson and the Shuffle
Kings is one of the top exponents of
Texas blues currently on the circuit.
He is known for effortless, breathtak
ing guitar work and his gutsy, blues
soaked vocals. Bold and spicy Texas
blues played by one of the men who
has helped shape it for more than 20
years now.
Saturday, Charlie Burton and the
Hiccups, arguably the best R&B/blues/
New York-slylc rock band to emerge
from Lincoln will play at Barry’s,
235 N. 9th St.
Monday, Mothers Big Band will
play big band brass jazz at Bourbon
Street.
Monday through Thursday, Magic
Slim and the Teardrops will play at
the Zoo Bar.
Magic Slim and the Teardrops need
no introduction around here; it’s been
the Zoo Bar’s “houseband” via Chi
cago’s south side since 1975. Smol
dering, passionate blues.
Wednesday, the C Street Gypsies
will play at Bourbon Street.
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