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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 2001)
'Dancer In the Dark' vivid, real BY SARAH SUMNER Protected in a world full of day dreams and an obsession of musi cals, Selma intimately divulges her hopes and secrets in the 1960s based melodra matic musical “Dancer in the Dark,” the winner of the Cannes Film Festival's Palme D’Or, or best film for2000. Bjork, Iceland’s popular industrial/pop rock musician and the winner of Cannes’ best actress for 2000, leads the cast with little acting experience as Czech immi grant Selma, a single mother with a 12-year-old son. She is slowly going blind from a hereditary dis ease from which she is desperate ly trying to save her son. Selma works tirelessly at a fac tory as a punch-press operator with her best friend and confidant Kathy, played by Catherine Deneuve. She also enjoins straight pins to cardboard pack aging for minuscule change to save money for an operation to correct her sight. Dancer in the Dark ★★★1/2 10 get nerseu tnrougn tne long, tedious hours of hard labor, she falls into her imagination and her passion for musical theater that she familiarized herself with as a child. Sounds become music, steps become beats, workers become dancers, and toil becomes rhythm to the feature playing in her head. She can escape from her poverty and disease with the hope of a new life for her son and embrace her love Of music Through her trials of hard labor, dealing with a troubled young son and going secretly blind, she is charged with murder and her life is turned to not only fighting for her son's life, but also for her own. Director Lars vonltter takes a slight step into Greek tragedy with the fall of the great hero, while intermixing the sounds of normal life into a playful representation of love overcoming adversity. Along with factory and train sounds, footsteps and noises, actual instruments are incorporated into die song. Backup singers support Bjod&vocal Mend of plea and joy In Please see DANCER on 6 Plate full for area art BY CRYSTAL K.W1EBE Lincoln’s art community is once again offering a full schedule of visual art, music and drama this spring. Current exhibits at the Noyes Art Gallery, 119 S. 9th, include a variety of area artists whose work includes beaded jewelry and stained glass, along with paint ings and photographs. Colorful seed murals by artist Julia Noyes are now on display. Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital patients worked with Noyes on one mural depicting several doors. The gallery is hosting a free artists forum on Jan. 19 where "artists can come and share expertise about using archival Please see ART on 6 \\ . , -'.s ,i*»5i a i'i ! :H \i . In t hr ( Jlfi’tt.ims ! rh n . ' * ' * • tf»fulli «vf vSafr M >*.wu itulvwti iwn IVfi-1 r.m Mm •* l I tun;il fmttei iit I i.nufor ? hr I hr«*r Muskrlt <sls M.u -t t -i'Mcih .Ii i'hi miltii.mum hru no Inclinin' l*«>\ who move m \\ ith his mnthof, uul Imtl' him .Hi iiimi' uirt m t -mi.ill ion im\ he in no it im in i .iHtJVVnd (font >h( !«u.ii ntw!< f.u lit} niijthill fill n,ui on <1 in. me .uni > m mi. * ■) biv;l> i Jmol juom I Im- .iboit *1 ■ oiih ,! ..implc (m m.Mli OS I li.H .in |tnii IM ci j loj the i H 'I I In '■> 'the Three MuskateerV" baiiet h a part eft hr- lied i ente? \ schedule for ih>. yim-j w on Contemporary adaptations await inllNL spring theater schedule PT oAnAn oUMricn Spring fever will soon be in the air, and the UNL Theater Department is way ahead of the crowd with its selection of plays for this semester. Julie Hagemeier, Theater Manager of UNL’s Theatre Arts and Dance Department, said the spring schedule will offer a “cross-section” of the theater world - something for every student The main stage’s modem shows will be a change from last semester, when students performed “All's Well that Ends Well” the bi-annual “A Christmas Carol” The second semester, Hagemeier said, will be more contemporary. The lineup begins in February with “The Philadelphia Story”, by Philip Barry. It shows from 15 17,20-24, all at 7:30p.m. at the HowelLTheajer. Based in the 1930s, this classic comedy originally starring Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and James Stewart, follows the happenings of a high-class young divorced woman who’s engaged to be married again. "The Last Train to Nibroc”, by Arlene Hutton, runs from March 8-10 and 20-24 UNL is partnering with the Nebraska Repertory Theater for the story of a young soldier who has the dream of becoming a big city writer gets on a train ana sits next to a young gm named May. His desire to become a writer is enhanced when he discovers that F. Scott Fitzgerald and Nathaniel West are on the same train he is. The forever young “Peanuts” gang is conjured up again in “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown.” This is based on the Charles M. Schulz comic strip, with the book, music and lyrics by Clark Gesner. The show runs from April 19-21 25-28 at the Howell Theater. UNL is again working with the Rep. The play first ran in the 1960s, but was updated for Broadway in 1998. For now, the old version of the play is being used, but that may change in the next few weeks concerning rights information, Hagemeier said. The updated script would include the character of Sally. For the main stage, consideration for the plays goes through a series of levels before the play is cho sen. “We look for the need of the students, what the director wants, and the needs of the audience,” Hagemeier said. Hagemeier said that there is a great variety for the students to enjoy with the main stage theater and also the student-directed Theatrix productions. “Theatrix is having a great season and the selec non is very interesting, nagemeier saia. The first Theatrix performance is an adaptation of “Scenes From A Marriage,” written by Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman. This serious play takes a look into the lives of one married couple and starts its run from Feb. 1-3 at the Temple Building. The director, senior theater major John Elsener, is directing for the first time for Theatrix, though he has acted in many productions. Elsener said the play is a translation of a translation and it is crucial to keep the content. “I think that it is real important in translations to try and find the original rhythm because so much can get lost,” Elsener said. “The Club”, a musical by Eve Merriam, begins March 1 -3 at the Temple Building. “The Club” displays gender-bending issues in a caberet style, kit-kat club with lots of singing and dancing for musical lovers. An opportunity for student playwrights to show their star potential is the Nebraska Masquers’ One Act Play Festival, April 5-7. ThqTheatrix program is an opportunity for stu dents to make an experience happen that is not nor mally going to be done on first stage,” Hagemeier said. “Theatrix is more experimental," she said. “The f “Theatrix is more experimental. The one acts take chances. Some are more polished and ready than others." Julie Hagemeier UNL theater manager one acts take chances. Some are more polished and ready than others. The conception ofTheatrix began in the 1980s by the Nebraska Director’s Theater for students wanting to learn more about directing. Those who have a Theatrix concept, must submit a proposal with the idea, the number of people needed, and technical information to the Theatrix council by the end of the prior semester to which they want the production of the play to begin. The council then ranks the ideas and includes runners-up. The plays are given around $100 to pro duced, not including publicity, though they may bor row props and costumes.