Daily
Nebraskan
Thursday, August 4,1994
Arts ® Entertainment
Sitcom-like play takes shocking look at distorted ’90s
By Paula Lavigne
Staff Reporter
Barbie beware, the library janitor
wants to be a heavy-metal rocker and
he won’t let you go until you “Say You
Love Satin!!!” at the Omaha Magic
Theatre this weekend.
David Brink’s play “Say You Love
Satin!!!” will shock,amuse,bewilder
and frighten the spandex off anyone
who dares to dismiss Brink’s peck at
the distorted ’90s.
An Omaha native. Brink has been
writing plays for the Magic Theatre
since he was 16. At 24, Brink is cer
tain theatre is his dream, although he
maintains an interest in documentary
production and philosophy.
He said the plays he has written
weren’t exactly “avant-garde.” How
ever, he does like their unusual style.
“I think (the play) is just like a
television sitcom,” he said. “The only
‘art’ I like to hear is Art Linkletter.”
The entire effort went very smooth
ly, he said, and became a very positive
experience. How would Brink sum it
up in one word? “Bitchin’.”
Brink’s mastermind lies in the ex
tremely bizarre nature of his “zany”
characters—many of whom are por
trayed by first-time actors.
Enter Fred — the Alice Cooper
wanna-be dressed in tiger-striped
spandex and red knee pads, played by
Larry Tarkington.
This tongue-waggling, disillu
sioned rock star bangs on his manne
quin guitar and greedily disassembles
an innocent Barbie — when he’s not
moonlighting as the local library jan
itor.
This is much to the dismay of the
roach-clip beauty Amber, played by
Stacy White. A dead ringer for ice
tramp Tonya Harding, Amber, dressed
in her ripped Guess jeans and six-inch
make-up, wants a “normal life” while
begging for a spot on “Hard Copy.”
Shouting “your rock-and-roll fan
tasy has become my heavy metal night
mare,” she leaves Fred without an
audience. So, Fred does the next best
thing — he kidnaps the librarian,
Maryann (Megan Millea).
But never fear, Trinity Lead
(Gretchen Venteicher) is on the trail.
A savvy private eye who punctuates
every sentence with a karate chop,
Lead makes “Miami Vice” look like
“Reading Rainbow.”
This femme fatale falls for the de
ranged librarian, Bill (Anthony Cham
bers), because they share an under
standing for “high fashion and serial
murders.”
In a completely parallel universe.
Amber runsoffwith television psycho,
Skip Winter (Charles Gould). Winter
is the QVC king in his satin bell-boy
suit with a program for nutrition, ex
ercise and financial security—all in
one.
It’s too bad Fred couldn’t have
been as accomplished a performer as
the play’s live musicians and their
band “Funkemickel.” Their versatili
ty and sound were amazing, making a
significant contribution to the climac
tic action on stage.
The stage and special effects, de
signed by Sora Kimbcrlain and JoAnn
Schmidman, heightened the sensory
overload with gold-plated stationary
bikes, neon lights and dangling strips
of film.
An Omaha Magic Theatre experi
ence is one never to forget. It’s unique
atmosphere, hypnotizing effects and
absurdly entertaining actors stun the
aud ience and “Say You Love Sat in!!! ”
is no exception.
“Say You Love Satin!!!” will be
performed August 5,6,12,13 at 7:30
p.m. Tickets are $ 12 for adults and $7
for students. The theater is located on
325 So. 16th St. in the old Lemer’s
clothing store in Omaha.
Cage, Fonda
star in funny,
romantic film
“It Could
Happen To You”
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By Ann Stack
Staff Reporter
“ItCould Happen To You,” aheart
warming romantic comedy, is a sure
pick to be this summer’s sleeper hit.
Charlie Lang, played by Nicholas
Cage (“Guarding Tcss”) is a good
samaritan cop in New York City who
only wants to do his job well.
His annoying, materialistic wife,
Muriel (Rosie Perez, “Do The Right
Thing”), is less than pleased with her
husband’s constant generosity and
dreams of leaving him and the city for
a better life.
Enter Y vonne Biasi (Bridget Fonda
“Singles”), a waitress at a coffee shop
where Charlie stops for lunch one day.
A l ittle short on cash, he leaves her
a lottery ticket as a tip. He promises
her that if it wins, he’ 11 split the money
with her.
Of course, the ticket wins, pulling
in $4 million for Charlie and Muriel
— and Yvonne. And that’s when the
fun starts.
Perez’s performance as the spoiled,
gold-digging wife is cliched and over
done, as are Muriel’s frequent tan
trums.
Also, the movie is entirely loo pre
dictable — it has “happy ending”
written all over it.
But it does score points for the
incredible cinematography. Filmed at
more than 100 locations around New
York City, there are some truly spec
tacular glimpses of the city’s nigh
points.
The soundtrack also earns a star for
songs by favorites such as Tony
Bennett, Billie Holiday and Frank
Sinatra.
Overall, “ItCould Happen To You”
is an endearing, sappy feel-good mov
ie, a good one to view with that signif
icant other.
Courtesy of New Line Productions
Jim Carrey teams up with amazing special effects when he is transformed into the title character in “The Mask.
Carrey, effects cover up film s low points
“The Mask”
k'k'k'k
By Gerry Beltz
Staff Reporter
Even if you don’t particularly
like Jim Carrey very much, you
may still enjoy “The Mask”.
After the stupid-but-successful
“Ace Ventura: Pet Detective,”
Carrey has begun to solidify as a
bankable movie star.
Carrey’s Silly-Putty face works
perfectly in “The Mask,” perhaps,
m part, because of the masks de
signed to ensure that his expres
sions would not be stifled.
Stanley Ipkiss (Carrey) is the clas
sic geek who has been put down by
society. He lets everyone run him over,
and he has no luck with women be
cause he’s such “a good friend.”
However, Ipkiss stumbles onto an
ancient mask, which brings out the
innermost desires of its wearer.
When Ipkiss puts it on, he becomes
very gallant, has a snappy comeback to
everyone, wears a devious smile that
could get him elected to office and
gains the abilities—and reactions —
of a cartoon character.
The film is hilarious from start to
finish, with only a few slow spots
towards the end. Carrey is priceless;
anyone else in the lead would have
brought the movie down a level or two.
After all, who else could lead an entire
police precinct through a conga line?
An integral part to both the mo v ie ’ s
comedy and the movie itself are the
special effects. Carrey, through his
natural mask, is able to pull off a lot of
facial expression jokes, but even he
has limits.
And that’s where Industrial Light
and Magic comes in.
The company, responsible for the
incredible effects in “Jurassic Park,”
“Terminator 2” and “The Abyss,” to
name a few, makes it possible for
Carrey’s eyes to bug out (as The Mask,
of course), for his jaw to drop to the
floor and much more.
But the movie doesn’t begin and
end with the special effects.
Cameron Diaz makes an im
pressive screen debut as Tina, a
lounge singer after whom Ipkiss
lusts. Also appearing is Amy
Yasbeck (“Robin Hood: Men In
Tights”) as a reporter covering the
Mask story.
However, there is also a new
sidekick in town; it isn’t Robin or
Tom Arnold, but Milo, Ipkiss’ dog.
This dog provides almost as much
laughter as Carrey does, especially
when ... whoops, almost said too
much.
“The Mask” is full of hoots and
hollers. Check it out.
