Frantically paced ‘Light’
wears out its audiences
LIGHT from page 9
understand the brilliance of the cre
ation. The once-loyal team of leading
lady, playwright, producer and director
quickly divides as it looks for a place to
lay the blame.
Hart wants to expose the quirks and
eccentricities of those in show biz. In
the process, he uses every stock charac
ter in the book, from the overly dramat
ic leading lady to the overly flamboyant
Broadway director.
Paul Schmieding presents the most
real portrayal in the show in the charac
ter of Owen Tanner, a fellow playwright
and sympathetic friend. Schmieding’s
soft, reflective delivery and intimate
gestures provide a welcomed contrast
to the other characters’ storm of hyste
ria.
After Schmieding, Leta Powell
Drake offers the most natural perfor
mance. In the role of Stella Livingston,
Drake becomes Phyllis Diller in the
flesh. With her gravelly voice and res
onating laugh, Drake brings Irene’s
petulant mother to life. Drake has a nat
ural stage presence and achieves a deli
cate balance between slap-happy com
edy and reality.
Theatre Preview
The Facts
What: Tight Up The Sky"
Where: Lincoln Community Playhouse
When: Jan. 27-31, Feb. 3-7
Cost: $23 for adults on Thursdays and Sundays
$25 for adults on Fridays and Saturdays
$9 for students
The Skinny: A cast of eccentric show biz people
deal with the opening of their show
While the other actors handle their
characters’ eccentricities well, they fail
to maintain the symmetry Drake and
Schmieding achieve.
Scott Glen plays Carelton
Fitzgerald, the emotional director who
cries about everything. This part calls
for exorbitant flamboyance, but Glen’s
excessive sobbing loses its humor as
the play progresses.
James Cliber plays Sidney Black,
the tough-talkin’ producer who sounds
as if he should be hawking stolen goods
instead of Broadway plays. With the
panache of a small-time Mafioso,
Cliber walks the tumed-out strut of a
wise guy and contrasts his streetwise
accent with talk of fine art and poetry.
However, at times of intense anger
or emotion, Cliber sometimes garbles
his words. He also punches his lines
like a crazed boxer, wearing out the
audience with his tension and ill
humor.
Kristi Filarski Wilson plays Irene
Livingston, the drama queen starring in
this seemingly ill-fated show. Wilson
handles the over-the-top emotional
scenes well, but her Ricki Lake attitude
seems inappropriate and stale by the
end of die show.
The production is not completely
lacking in substance. Dawn Schaefer’s
art deco set gives the play an air of
sophistication and adds to the glitz and
glamour associated with the world of
theater.
The play, which first premiered in
1948, also includes some rewrites by
the show’s artistic team. The inclusion
of contemporary political banter and
theater jokes about “Les Miserables”
was tasteful and made the rather trite
plot fresher.
“Light Up the Sky” succeeds as an
energetic, light-hearted romp.
However, its whipped, sugary zaniness
can tire out an audience.
Kilmer discovers vision in ‘Sight’
SIGHT from page 9
never had to deal with before.
He starts with a simple question:
“What’s this?” Sacks asks.
After Virgil takes it from his
hands and holds it a moment, he
replies “An apple.”
“What’s this?” Sacks questions,
this time holding up a magazine with
a photograph of an apple on it.
“An apple,” Virgil replies again.
“Is it an apple or a picture of an
apple?”
It’s through dialogue like this that
the basic dichotomy of the film is
illustrated - the difference between
seeing and perceiving.
Virgil may see something, but
that doesn’t mean he’s actually per
ceiving it. The fact that Kilmer can
portray this so effortlessly makes up
for the major weakness of the film -
Sorvino.
Even an actor with an Oscar is
allowed to have a bad film. This is it.
Sorvino just crashes through much of
the film with a deeply blank look on
her face.
It is a shame, because director
Irwin Winkler knows his medium
well. Lingering shots ofVirgil feeling
the setting sun while blind, as well as
slow pans across the cityscape after
Virgil has regained his sight help
transform a narrow view of the world
to the wide open sense of truly see
ing.
“At First Sight” isn’t a film that
Him Review
TIM Facts
Title: “At First Sight”
Stare: Val Kilmer, Mira Sorvino, Kelly McGillis,
Nathan Lane
Director: Irwin Winkler
Rating: PG-13 (brief nudity, strong language)
Grade: B ,r
Five Words: “First Sight? about truly seeing
will last forever as a masterpiece of
modem cinema, but it does make for
nice viewing.
And appreciating the view hap
pens to be what the film is all about.
Exhibit used to give art students focus
anELDUN from page 9
York School art.
“I think what he’s doing is great,”
Mamiya said. “I’ve haven’t been able
to use a large exhibit for my classes
like Dan is doing.”
“We’ve been limited to small
group study in small areas of exhibits.”
Mamiya, whp teaches modem art,
said she believes the Sheldon makes a
strong effort to be a part of university
classes.
However, she said the difficulties
of scheduling class work in accor
dance with exhibits at the gallery
makes an effort like Siedell’s “very
hard to do.”
A graduate ot Yale and UCLA,
Mamiya said Siedell’s class will sur
pass attempts she has seen at other
schools to incorporate locally owned
art with curriculum.
“At UCLA, exhibitions at local
museums were used as part of class
projects,” Mamiya said. “It’s rare to see
an exhibit as large as the New York
School incorporated within a class
with such a tight focus.”
“Hopefully, this is the start of
many other classes using the gallery in
a similar fashion.”
Siedell said every instructor
should use the resources of the
Sheldon as best as possible.
“I think the gallery could be used
more by faculty, but I m not prepared
to say that it hasn’t been our fault,” he
said. “I know we can do a better job of
reaching out to more instructors.”
Siedell admits that his dual posi
tion of curator of the museum and
instructor at the university makes him
“extremely fortunate.”
“The Sheldon has one of the
strongest exhibits of New York School
art that I’ve seen on any campus,” he
said. “Hopefully the students will
learn about this period and then want
to know what happened in the 1960s
with pop art arid minimalism.
“I really believe this will be an
opportunity for real learning to take
place.”
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