Arts ©Entertainment
Thursday, October 20, 1994 Page 9
Famous assassins on stage this weekend
By pauia Lavigne
Senior Reporter
Lee Harvey Oswald, Charles
Guiteau, Sara Jane Moore and
John Wilkes Booth gather together
in a timeless bar and share their
stories of what it’s like to pull the
trigger.
These infamous characters join
hands in Stephen Sondheim’s mu
sical “Assassins,” which has its
Nebraska premiere this weekend at
the Joyo Theater.
Robert Rook, the show’s direc
tor, said the musical refused to glo
rify the acts of the assassins.
“It brings to life that these
people are important and should
be remembered so their acts are not
repeated,” Rook said.
“The play shows the final out
come and results of what they did,”
he said. “If you pulled the trigger,
you’d better be willing to pay the
ultimate price.”
The assassins believed in what
they were doing, Rook said,
whether they thought their coun
try was deceiving them or whether
they just wanted to be remembered.
Rook said he researched each
assassination and the time period
in which each assassin lived. He
said the Joyo Theater lent to the
historical ambiance.
“You feel like you’re walking
into Ford’s Theatre. The whole
place is decorated with American
flags and crushed velvet curtains,”
he said. “Right when you step
through the doorway, you step
through time.
Booth’s assassination of former
President Abraham Lincoln opens
the action. Booth then travels
through time and encourages the
other assassins to carry out their
deeds.
Rook said that although the
show fed off a dark subject matter,
Sondheim was able to incorporate
comedy.
“There’s a scene where Sara
Jane Moore and Squeaky Fromme
are planning to kill (Gerald) Ford,
when all the bullets fall out of the
gun,” he said. “Ford comes to help
them reload the gun, and they have
no idea who he is.”
The former president is played
by Lincoln resident Jim Salber.
Salber said he took what he knew
about Ford and transformed it into
his character.
“I used his trips, his silliness,
his lack of knowledge about cer
tain things,” Salber said.
Salber, who was only a child
Show: “Assassins”
At: Joyo Theater
Times: 8 p.m. tonight, Friday
and Saturday
Tickets: $5
during Ford’s presidency, said
people had told him that he looked
like Ford.
“I don't know whether to take
that as a compliment or an insult,”
he said, laughing.
“Assassins” also features a sur
prising love ballad duet between
Fromme and John Hinckley, who
tried to assassinate President
Reagan to get the attention of ac
tress Jodie Foster.
1-——
“Sondheim can take the dark
est, demented subject matter and
make it successful,” Rook said.
Because of this combination.
Rook said it was difficult to find a
general moral.
“I sat here doing director’s
notes yesterday trying to think of
something great and biblical about
what this show teaches,” he said.
He figured out that the show
taught something different to ev
erybody, Rook said.
“Everyone will be either happy,
awestruck ... about something that
happened,” he said. “If you don’t
leave feeling something, then we
haven’t done our job.”
“Assassins” kicks off a new sc
ries of plays at the Joyo called “The
Theatre Connection.” The play
will run tonight, Friday and Sat
urday at 8 p.m. Tickets arc $5.
Courts* y of ths Mary Riapma Rosa Flint Thoatar
Lara Flynn Boylo and Nicholas Cago star as Suzanno and Mlchaol In John Dahl’s
“Nod Rock West,” showing through Oct. SO at tho Mary Rlopnta Ross Him Thoator.
Greed goes awry in Red Rock
By Chad Johnson _____
Staff Reporter
“Red Rock West” has reached
audiences in a backward fashion.
Originally planned as a madc-for
cable project, it was shipped di
rectly to the video outlets as a lost
cause.
The fools who ordered this trav
esty had no idea what they were
doing. On the shelves it received
good rental rates and started get-.',
ting rave reviews. Now it has be
gun the conquest of the art houses.
If the good missives continue, it
might be seen soon “in a theater
near you.”
Nicolas Cage plays a down-on
his-luck roughneck who has driven
1,200 miles for a potential drill
ing job in Wyoming. This falls
through, and Michael (Cage) sets
out to Red Rock in search of a job.
He spends his last five bucks on
gas and is tempted by an open cash
register, but his honesty holds
strong. He arrives in Red Rock
broke but honest.
Stopping ofT at the Red Rock
Bar, Michael, in a case of mistaken
identity, is offered a job by its pro
prietor, Wayne (J.T. Walsh). Here’s
the job: For $5,000, Michael just
has to kill Wayne’s wife, Suzanne
(Lara Flynn Boyle).
Instead of going through with
it, Michael take^ a $5,000 payoff
from Suzanne, not just to refrain
from killing her but to nail Wayne
instead.
Michael decides to do neither
and heads ouf of town with a full
tank of gas and a little less than
$10,000 in his pocket.
That’s when things begin to go
awry. He hits a guy in the road and
takes him to the hospital. Here he
finds out the man has been shot,
and now Michael is a suspect.
Taken into custody by the local
sheriff, Michael manages to escape
and nearly is run down by the real
hit man. played by the ever-charm
ing Dennis Hopper.
The twists and turns and sub
mission to greed remind the viewer
of some of the best film noir.
Trust no one, watch your back
at all times, and get your hands on
the money — that is the litany of
each of the four characters who
hold a stake in the game.
J.T. Walsh’s Wayne is totally
corrupt and will let no one get in
his way to accomplish his aims.
Lara Flynn Boyle alternates be
tween ice-cold manipulator and
red-hot sexpot.
But the show is stolen, yet
again, by the maniacal and manic
Dennis Hopper — the hit man with
a sense of humor. Just stand still
so he can kill you with a smile.
John Dahl's direction — remi
niscent of that of David Lynch —
is a capable handling of desolate
locations that lend themselves to
be autographed. Dahl is able to
communicate a feeling of claustro
phobia during interior shots.
“Red Rock West” is a thor
oughly satisfying film noir that
keeps the classic traits of the old
style while adding in twists in
characterization and shot compo
sition — needed dimensions to the
genre. It will play through Oct. 30
at the Mary Riepma Ross Film
Theater.
Movie: “Red Rock West”
Rating: R
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Dennis
Hopper, Lara Flynn Boyle,
J.T. Walsh
Director: John Dahl
Grade: A
Fivc Words: Latest edition of
“cowboy noir”
Concert of praise
to lift voices, spirits
By John Fulwldf_
Staff Reporter *
Praise ’94, happening tonight
from 7 to 9 p.m. at Broyhill Foun
tain, will not be what you might
expect, an organizer of the non
denominational praise and wor
ship concert said.
“I think a lot of people... their
idea of worship is boring hymns
with a pipe organ at a church they
don’t want to go to,” said Kevin
Shinn, associate director of
Christian Challenge.
“But I think what people will
see (at the concert) is modern
music that is oriented toward
worshiping God,” he said.
The Christian Challenge
Praise Band, which consists of an
electric guitar, drums, electronic
keyboard and a flute, will play
contemporary music, Shinn said.
Everyone at the concert is encour
aged to sing along with the songs,
the words of which will be pro
jected on a screen, he said.
In addition, there will be an
“unplugged” set with an acous
tic guitar, Shinn said.
The event organizers chose
Broyhill Fountain as the concert’s
location for a reason.
“You see so many Christian
representatives at the fountain
who just condemn and bring
people down — like Brother
Jim,” he said.
The purpose of the concert is
not to condemn anyone, push a
political or social agenda or tell
anyone that they're going to hell,
Shinn said.
See PRAISE on 10
Pulitzer-winning poet
to read, speak at UNL
By Jo>l ttrauch
Senior Reporter
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
Richard Howard will be reading
his poetry and speaking today
and tomorrow at the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Bill Rcgier, director of the
University Press, said, “(Howard)
is a phenomenon. He docs his
readings with a combination of
genius, flamboyance and careful
attention to his audience.”
In addition to winning the
Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1970,
Howard is a prolific translator of
French literature and theory, hav
ing translated nearly 150 works
in the last 30 years.
Howard is translating “The
Flowers of Tarbes” by influential
French author Jean Paulham for
the University of Nebraska Press,
Rcgier said.
“One of the little-known truths
of American literature is a great
many of American writers honed
their skills by making transla
tions.” he said.
Howard will read from his
own poetry at 8 tonight in the
Christlicb Room in Love Library.
Regier said that if only one
word could sum up the way
Howard used his wide range of
poetic voices, that word would be
"sympathy.”
“All by himself he can convey
a wide range of characters,” he
said.
“He is also an exceptional lan
guage poet,” Regier said. “He
makes words musical without
making it sing-song.”
At 3 p.m. Friday in Room 201
of Andrews Hall, Howard will
speak on the works of Emily
Dickinson.
“His greatest expertise is hard
to identify because he has so
many,” Regier said. “But among
his many other specialties, he is
an authority on her poetry.”
These events arc sponsored by
the University of Nebraska Press,
the departments of English and
modern languages and literatures
and the University Committee for
Lesbian and Gay Concerns. Ad
mission is free.
“Anyone who attends will not
forget it," Regier said.