Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 1994)
Arts ©Entertainment Tuesday, October 11,1994 Page 9 / light Italian comedy’s acting precise, well-timed Crowd given opportunity to interact By Paula Uvlgiw Senior Reporter In a “romantic” Italian water front cafe, “Scapino!” burst open last weekend with oddball comedy, silly stunts, swinging meat and fly ing pasta at the Howell Theatre. The play broke the barriers be tween the actors and the audience and made the performance a hilari ous pleasure. During “Scapino!” the audience members did more than laugh — they were part of the action. Actors spoke directly to them and con fided in the audience their conniv ing plans. Actors walked up to and into the audience, not once break ing character. These eccentric relationships between the characters and the au dience and the roguish contempo rary humor called to mind two words — Monty Python. A young Italian lad named Ottavio (Dean Houser) turned to his true love Giacinta (Michelle Eckley) — a lovestruck girl en gulfed in ribbons and lace — and said, “Surely, you don’t doubt my love for youT’ She replied, sighing, “Yes my Ottavio, butdon'tcall me Shirley.” OK, so it’s one of the oldest jokes in the world, but it fell into the pattern of characters caught in “se rious” dilemmas, only to mock themselves with their own foolery. The physical comic bits—lazzi, in Italian—added to the fast-paced chaos and “laugh and run” style. Although the comedy was light and off-the-wall, the acting had to be intense and precise so that the jokes and the stunts fell into place. Much of this precision rested in the clever hands of Scapino him self. Scapino, played by UNL the atre professor Paul Steger, was a common servant with a cunning edge. Scapino is the catalyst for con flict when he tries to help two pseudo-preppy Italian boys secure their two loves. The boys know their fathers won’t approve of the marriages, so they enlist Scapino and his trusty steed — Sylvcstro (Tony Heffner) to help them. Of course, it's not this simple. Everyone adds their little bit of fun. Stegcr executed his stunts with accuracy. His eyebrows punctuated every word, and he’s a pretty good guitar player, too. Geronte, Ottavio’s father, was played by the always superb Jonas Cohen. Cohen, walking straight off the 18th hole in his plaid pants and red sweater, gave an excellent por trayal of a money-hungry grump with a bad attitude. Ashley Hassler proved that even a bit part can add a lot of laughs. Her excellent portrayal of Zerbinette, a boisterous gypsy girl, added to the already quirky situa tion. The University Theatre has a reputation of professional acting and excellent performances, and “Scapino!” only added to it. Add a dose of irony, a cup of confusion and a bowl of men in scuba gear and bake in the fires of “amore” and you have “Scapino!” — serves a sell-out crowd. ‘Only you’ can tell if this film has hope By Chad Johnaon __ Staff Reporter Atagc 11, Faith askeda Ouija board the name of her soul mate. It spelled out Damon Bradley. Later, a Gypsy woman reveals the same name as Faith's des tiny. Fourteen years later — and nine days before her wedding— she gets a call from none other than (you guessed it) Damon Bradley. So, Faith (MarisaTomei)and sister-in-law Kate (Bonnie Hunt) jet off to Italy to find Faith's man of destiny. In Italy, they pursue the mys tery man from Venice to Rome where, in a moment of destinies colliding. Faith finally meets Damon Bradley (Robert Downey Jr.). In a less-than-in Movie: “Only You” Rating: PG Stan: Marisa Tomei, Robert Downey Jr., Bonnie Hunt, Joaquim De Almeida, Fisher Stevens, Billy Zane Director: Norman Jewison Grade: C Five Words: Weak late year date movie tcrcsting plot twist, we find that he isn’t really Damon Bradley. He’s shoe salesman Peter Wright, but he’s smitten and won’t leave Faith alone. The plot basically devolves from there as Peter tries to win Faith’s heart through an intri cate scheme aimed to deceive her into believing that her dream man is a burned-out surfer dude (Billy Zane). This plot also fails, and Faith is left alone again. Not to worry, romance fans; everything works out in the end, as it always does. This film contains a rather disturbing subtext. The women are constantly deceived, lied to, harassed, abandoned and ma nipulated. But as long as the guy says “I love you,” everything is OK. This subtext is not quite cov ered by the misandrous lines de livered by Kate. One line that actually drew hisses from the audience was, “I think all men should be issued team ierscys, with the word ‘liar’ on the front and their names on the back.” However, it is this same Kate who returns to her jerk husband after he uses the magic words. Marisa Tomei plays the over idealistic Faith. On her quest to find her destiny in Italy, she falls for the same con more than once. Tomei is just “cute.” She does not show either the depth or the See ONLY YOU on 10 Courtesy of Gramercy Pictures Jason (Alton Payno, loft) trios to roason with Ns angry youngor brothsr Joshua (Bokoom WoodMno) In "Jason’s Lyric." Urban drama sings off key By ttwry leltz_ Staff Reporter While the Nebraska Cornhuskers are on their third string quarterback, urban dra mas are now on their second string directors. The high-quality urban dra mas (“New Jack City,” “Boyz N The Hood.” “Menace II Soci ety”) opened the floodgates, and now that this section of the movie market has been seen as profit able, producers are willing to finance the release of lesser-qual ity films, such as “Jason’s Lyric.” The main problem with “Jason’s Lyric” is its heavy handedness: so many underde veloped characters with so many interrelated themes with so little time. Jason (Allen Payne) is the focal point ofthc film from which all themes launch (and burn). This begins with Jason’s fa ther Mad dog (Forest Whitaker) being gun nod down in front of the entire family. Since then, Jason has always had nightmares about that fateful night. See JASON on 10 Movie: “Jason’s Lyric” Rating: R Stars: Allen Payne. Jada Pinkett, Forest Whitaker, Bokcem Woodbine Director: Doug McHenry Grade: 13 Five Words: Yet another urban drama, romance Films reveal lives, art of contemporary architects Architecture College sponsors film series to inform students ly John Fulwldf Staff Reporter A series of films now showing at the Mary Ricpma Ross Film The ater will show the art of architec ture. The film scries, entitled “The Art of Architecture: Filmsand Vid eos by Michael Blackwood,” is cosponsored by the College of Ar chitecture and the Sheldon Memo rial Art Gallery. “Michael Blackwood is ... the prominent filmmaker who focuses on filming of contemporary archi tects during their lifetimes. So these are all live interviews and topical films, not only on the person, but their work and their history and backgrounds,” Cecil Steward said. Steward, dean of the College of Architecture, said the college's objective in sponsoring the series was to “bring as much new infor mationon national and international architects... for the students.” The seventh film in the 14-film series, “Kisho Kurokawa. From Metabolism to Symbiosis,” which showed last week, was a retrospec tive of Kurokawa’s past work and a discussion of his current architec tural theory of symbiosis. In symbiosis, Kurokawa's pn mary concern is fitting his architec ture in with the existing environ ment, rather than destroying the environment to make room. “Kurokawa's objective is that there has to be a symbiotic relat ion ship between his buildings, the cul ture, and nature," Steward said. “One piece of architecture could not be created, let's say for Tokyo, and then be transplanted to New York and be successful — it has to be a part of its local culture as well as its local environment." Kurokawa will be coining to Lin coln Thursday to give a 4 p hi. lecture at the Riepma Ross Theater as part of the Hyde Lecture Series, Steward said. “Mr. Kurokawa has been invited explicitly because of his interna tional reputation," Steward said. “The College of Architecture ... strives in several ways to bring an international dimension to the stu dents.” The College of Architecture does not require its students to attend the films, Steward said, but some fac ulty may ask their students to attend as part of class. The eighth film in the series. “Richard Meier,” is a tour by the architect of his major buildings and of the architecture which has most inspired him. It is showing at 12 p.m. Thursday. 3 p.m. Friday, and 11 a.m. Saturday. Admission is free to all films in the scries. Kurokawa also will be giving the keynote address at the Central States Regional Meeting of the American Institute of Architects, held in the Comhusker Ballroom at 10:00a.m. Friday. Steward said the scries wasn't just for architecture majors. “Architecture ... is one of the humanities.'' he said, “so the typi cal university student should be in terested in architecture because it's part of our culture and our history as any other work of art or any piece of literature.”
