Arts & Entertainment
UNL opera enchants
audience with humor,
superb performances
By George K. Stephan
Staff Reporter
The University ol Ncbraska-Lin
colr School ol Music’s spring opera
production of ‘The Marriage of Figaro
on Friday ^harmed and cnchantcc a
receptive audience that almost fi‘>cd
Kimba'n Recital Hall.
The School of Music Opera The
1 atre presented Mozart setema comic
opera with ail the enthusiasm and
humor that the composer am <ibrc>
test intended it to have
The opera one ol the great oper
atic masterpieces by Mozart is the
scaue* to ‘The Barber ol Seville '
ami continues to tel1 the story ol Figaro
the clever barber■am' now valet to the
Count Almaviva. who throughout the
opera seeks to marry Susanna i he
Countess’ chambermaid.
Figaro, however, encounters a
severe problem alter learning Iron*
Susanna lhai the Count wants to re
vivc his rigln ol feudal privilege,”
thai is the right to seduce anv of his
female servants before they marry
The opera unfolds w ith the scries
ol tricks Figaro and the Count use to
achieve their ow n aims and the larci
cal and embarrassing situations that I
arise from them. The opera ends with 1
the Countess and Susanna outsmart- j
ing both men with a trick of their own.
The opera bubbles over with silly
situations, each one performed to
perfection by the production s sing
ers. More than once, the production
was interrupted with laughter Iron
the audience.
Among a series ol marvelous per
formanccs was Leah Miller’s. She ; '
piayed the page Cherubino an
oversexed teen-age boy obsessed with
flirting \t uh every woman in the pal
ace
Miller portrayed the amorous youth
with tremendous energy throughout
Cherubino s many little exploits.
Miller’s character displays lively
appea' as the Couni finds Cherubino
in one compromising predicament alter
another
Miller sang both ol Cherubino s
arias in Acts I ant: .1 with the energy
and delicacy needed lor Cherubino’s .
favoriu subject love.
Darn Anderson became a favorite
ol the audience from the moment he
stepped on stage as ihc mtriguc-lov- l
mg musit master Don Basilio. An- \
derson added a delightful freshness to
the role in his portrayal of Basilio as '
See FIGARO on 10
Genuine reggae sound
emanates from album
“Beer Joint & Tailoring"
Joll\ Bovs
BMCi
II you can l lorm a crystal-clear
vision in your mind ol an enormous
Caribbean sunset with the sound of
the ocean and the rustling of the jungle
foliage ever present in the distance,
then all you need is a copy of "Beer
Joint & Tailoring.”
These images and more come to
life through the music of the Jolly
Boys. How do they do it? By record
ing throe days worth of traditional
Jamaican songs ncai Port Antonio,
Jamaica — the heart of that Carib
bean setting.
The legitimacy of this album can ’t
be overstated. Almost all that has
ever become reggae, rock steady, ska
and rub-a-dub has its roots on that
island and in these songs.
Nof only arc the sounds of "Beer
Joint” beautifully captured on loca
tion, but the instruments are a I most as
elemental as the setting. The four
musicians, Joseph Bcnnct, Moses
Deans, Noel Howard and Allan Swym
mcr create their music with a banjo,
bongos, rhumba box, guitar and some
sweetly accented mountain voices.
For anyone interested in reggae,
this album is a must. From start to
finish, almost every song sounds
familiar, undoubtedly because ol the ;
heavy influence these songs came to j
have as rock steady and reggae were
being bom.
If Harry Bclalonlc hasn’t directly
covered any ol the songs in this col
lection he certainly has drawn heav
ily on this kind of music throughout
his career.
The music on this album is much
like Bclalontc’s version of “The
Banana Boat Song.” Although the
Jolly Boys chose not to include that
song on “Beer Joint,” the silky-smoolh
rhumba rhylhmsand bongos arc simi
lar.
The domination of the triplet on
songs like “Donkey Want Water,”
the punchy staccato groves of “Wheel
& Turn Me,” and “Mattie Rag,” and
the emphasis of the up beat on “Never
Find A Lover Like Me” expose the
deep roots and deep influcnccol these
songs on later Jamaican music.
Lyrically, the album is hard to
grasp because ol the Jolly Boys thick
mountain accents, but that which is
See JOLLY on 10 .
Courtesy of Columbia Pictures
James Marshall (right) and Cuba Gooding, Jr. star in the drama “Gladiator,” a Columbia
Pictures Release set in the world of underground amateur boxing.
Fight movie detriment to action films;
plot mundane, soundtrack wretched
By Gerry Beltz
Staff Reporter__
“Gladiator” (Plaza 4. Edgcwood
3) is as much of a credit to drama/
action movies as Milli Vanilli is a
credit to the music industry.
The latest release from the di
rector’s chair of Rowdy Herring
ton (“Roadhouse”) tells the sadly
predictable tale of Tommy Riley
(James Marshall from “Twin
Peaks”), who has just moved to a
new neighborhood with his dad.
As it turns out. Tommy’s dad is
up lohiscycballs in gambling debts
and coincidentally is sent out of
town for a month just as the stan
dard low-life goons come around
to collect.
Riley, in an attempt to clear his
father's debts, hooks up with a
greedy boxing promoter named
Pappy (Robert Loggia of “Big”)
for a one-night deal. Of course,
Riley surprises everyone by win
ning the bout he signed up for,
which isn't legally fought in the
first place. To make things worse
for the audience, he wins it in a
similar fashion that many pro wres
tlers win their matches: he becomes
impervious lo the blows of his
opponent and subsequently pounds
him into the mat.
This, in turn, thoroughly im
presses Mr. Horn, the requisite evil
fight promoter flayed by Brian
Dennehy (“F/X I and 2”) He sees
Riley as a natural and his ticket to
the big money. Tommy docs try to
quit, but Horn uses the debts of
Tommy’s dad to blackmail him
into fighting bigger and deadlier
opponents.
Riley eventually meets up with
Lincoln (Cuba Gooding Jr. of “Boy/
N the Hood”), who is a fellow
gladiator, and they become friends.
Gosh, is there a chance that they
will l ight one another, thus placing
their friendship in jeopardy? No,
let’s make an even wilder guess. Is
See GLADIATOR on 10
^ ^ \ \ \ V V \ \——A V-— \ 'V V—V -V
1 Wayne and Garth reincarnate Queen album ..
Much Music recently reported that the
Breeders, that all-rock side supergroup that
y features such notable rock chicks as Tanya
Donnelly of Throwing Muses and Kim Deal
of the Pixies, is back with an overdue lol
L low-up to its highly acclaimed 1989rclcasc,
“Pod.
The bad news: It’s only a five-track EP.
The good news: Deal’s cvcn-bcttcr-look
*ing sister Kelley has joined the band on
guitar. Schwrng!
MTV is back on the concert circuit with
l V V \-V-\-V
i '
another lame-brained packaged-tour deal.
Cashing in on the astounding wave ol popu
larity in alternative acts, a la Lollapaloo/a,
the station is sponsoring the “120 Minutes”
lour. PiL, Big Audio Dynamite II and Live
all will be participating.
The last tour MTV sponsored was the
titanic bomb known as the “Club MTV”
tour.hostcdby “Downtown” Julie Brown. II
Dave Kendall sits this one out, we may have
a decent show on our hands.
KBHR, the fictional radio station that
Chris-in-lhc-morning hosts every week on
CBS’ “Northern Exposure” soon will be
able to be broadcast this side of Cicely,
Alaska. Esquire magazine reports that the
show’s producers will be releasing a sound
track of the station’s play-list, complete
with actor John Corbett waxing philosophi
cal as the beatnik Chris between tracks.
Everything from Howlin’ Wolf loR.E.M.’s
“Green” to obscure French folk singers
reportedly will be on the disc.
The radio station has become an integral
■"‘V V V \ ' \ ^
part 01 inc snow s appeal.
On a final note: Queen stands poised to 5
have another posthumous hit on its hands
with the re-release of its classic “Bohemian
Rhapsody,” primarily because of the sue- ^ *
cess of the film “Wayne’s World” and the
soundtrack that features the song.
I’m sure Freddie Mercury’s smiling a ^ >,
knowing smile somewhere.
— Compiled by Paul Winner
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