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Show Page B2 Thursday, April 15, 1982 The Newspaper Heel Wopirllai by Rick Brough C- Either way, 4 Victor Victoria' is a delight Q a a 0 A Classic Recommended Good double-feature double-feature material Time-killer For masochists . only A HOLIDAY VILLAGE MALL. PARK CITY, UT 649-6541 mmmt. a m. b mm m Ball M & I I I I 100 WfcDiMboUAY rAMILY IMIvin I ALL RFATS ONE DOLLAR $i THIRD WEEK HENRY FOND KATHARINE I-Dally I-Dally 5:20, 7:30.9:3 WINNER OF WAV (40 &Sun. VJf ,3:15,5:20 j ,9:30 JT WADS -jrnriLl JFK" -WJ, ,' , WAWEfl OF 4 ACADEMY AWARDS INCLUDING m--: Htt? BEST PICTURE AND BEST ORIGINAL SCORE I. A t BEN CflOSS JAN CHARLESON Daily Sat. & Sun. -6Jg 5:30,7:45,9:55 1:00,3:15,5:30,7:45,9:55 MARK MILLER DONOVAN SCOTT SE' .OND WEEK BRDGETTE ANDERSEN PETER GRAVESm Hariind Dobbs Daily 5:20, 7:20,9:15 Sat. & Sir;. 1:30, 3:20, 5:20, 7:20,9:15 2 Victor Victoria Since we're faced anyway with the confusing question of sexual identities, why not have fun with it? That's the question from Blake Edwards' "Victor Victoria", which is a rare creature. It is a thoughtful farce. The movie begins with two characters starving in Paris of the 1920s Victoria Grant (Julie Andrews) an opera singer who is over-trained for a job in the Parisian cabarets, and "Toddy" (Robert Preston) a gay emcee fired from his last job after his sauciness with the customers provoked a riot. Victoria is so broke she has to dress in men's clothes, which gives Toddy an inspiration. inspir-ation. She can become a hit, he says, if she does her act as a female impersonator. As Count Victor Gruzin-sky, Gruzin-sky, she gets a booking at a fancy Paris nightspot, and her opening number in female costume wows the audience, including a visiting visit-ing Chicago gangster, King Marchan (James Garner). But when she "reveals" herself as a man, King is thrown for a loop he can't conceive that he's attracted to a man, instead of a tvoman. Victoria, naturally, can't admit to being a woman, or her show-business career is over. King gets her to admit the truth in private. But just when it seems the world is in its right orbit, he finds that his bodyguard Squash (Alex Karras) is gay. And in order to court "Victor" in public, he must present himself as a homosexual and, uncomfortably, uncom-fortably, he gets a taste of what his friend Squash has had to go through in living a sexual lie. But this isn't primarily a message picture. It has music, well-played comedy, and it's more interested in laughing along with its characters than teaching them tidy lessons. Best of all, it has Robert Preston, who started in movies in the late '30s and is still one of the liveliest, most likeable performers around. Preston seems like the most robust male ever, and you can't picture him as a gay. But as Toddy, he doesn't lose his fundamental relish as an actor. Cheer, exuberance, and a can-do wisdom oozes out of the pores of his skin. Julie Andrews brings a light, warm touch to her character. We like her, in spite of the bizarre act she's putting on, and so while she doesn't get much of the humor, she holds the picture together. Andrews is best in the early scenes, especially when she wolfs down a large meal in a restaurant, planning plan-ning to plant a cockroach on her plate in order to avoid paying the check. Garner is a gem. Off hand, I can't think of anybody who is better at playing abashed, but resilient masculinitv. Five minutes after his first entrance into the nightclub, he doesn't have a word to say, but he has to show that he is interested in Victoria, then infatuated, then shocked shock-ed and chagrined to find she's a man. Garner displays himself with great wit, style, and understanding. Director Edwards throws in a batch of good supporting players funny little European Euro-pean types whose antics counterpount the story, or liven up a scene that would otherwise be dull. For instance, in-stance, when Andrews auditions audi-tions for an agent, we only hear it. What we see is the agent's outer office, where an acrobat is doing a handstand on a champagne glass. Andrews' high "C" shatters the glass and he falls through a desk. In Edwards' "Pink Panther" Pan-ther" movies, such crude slapstick was the meat of the movie. Here, it's used like spice. A dumb private detective detec-tive in the movie is like a cousin to Clouseau. He attempts to uncover Victor Victoria's identity but only succeeds in getting struck by lightning. The only problem is that none of these minor characters charac-ters are homosexual. This is an odd area of neglect. The only appealing gay characters charac-ters are Preston and Alex Karras, who plays his closet homosexual with understated under-stated loneliness. The rest are swishv caricatures. (There is a heterosexual cartoon in the picture too Lesley Ann Warren as Garner's Gar-ner's moll but she has the saving grace of humor. Warren plays the old dumb-blonde dumb-blonde role with some funny new wrinkles, and she does a nightclub dance with a lewd emphasis on crotchy choreography. choreo-graphy. The movie is two-thirds effective then, in asking us to accept homosexuality. We're almost ready to go along with Preston's declaration declar-ation that sexual shame is only a concern for pious clergymen. But you don't ha ve to be a bishop to wonder if one forbidden lifestyle is all right, why not the others? (Is Hollywood ready for a happy sex farce on pedophilia?) pedophi-lia?) Though such nagging questions remain, "Victor Victoria" and the flawed but compassionate "Making Love" remind us, in different differ-ent ways, to guard against intolerance. Sexual issues aside, it's difficult to accept the premise pre-mise that Julie Andrews is accepted as a man. (The veal men-in-drag in the pictures are loutishly transparent.) trans-parent.) Her nightclub numbers num-bers tend to drag on, as if Edwards has to remind us of her musical past. And whenever when-ever the movie slows down, Edwards invariably throws in a barroom brawl. None of this hurts the picture for long. "Victor Victoria" is a double-edged delight. Psychic to appear at Kimball Cast announced for 'Cabaret' The cast for the June production of the musical "Cabaret" has been announced an-nounced by the show's director, direc-tor, Susan. Jarman. "The cast is extremely well balanced bal-anced musically, with many new faces added to the core of regulars," said Jarman. The role of the emcee will be played by Richard Scott, who has appeared in starring roles in several local productions. produc-tions. While Richard is a member of Park City Performances' Per-formances' "Regards-lo S gfeMOm R K S 1 A I R A N 1 EE " ' j at Prospector Square eJSf v f M Pi ii Chef attr inDttes Not - 10:00 a.m. -2:00 p.m. Adults $7.95 Children $4.95 649-8060 Prospector Square, Highway 248, Park City Broadway" troupe, this is his first leading role in a musical. Andrea Metos as Sally Bowles will make her stage debut. Andrea is known for her singing and guitar work as well as writing many original songs. She has performed throughout through-out the United States and Europe. Steve Stanczyk, who will be seen opening this weekend week-end in "Little Foxes", and remembered for his sinister protrayal of Mordred in "Camelot", will play Cliff Bradshaw. Steve is a member mem-ber of Park City Performances' Per-formances' musical revue "Regards to Broadway," and also served as assistant director for "Peter Pan." Several familiar faces and voices fill supporting roles. Carroll Horton as Faulein Schneider was last seen as the housekeeper in "My Fair Lady". Larry Sheldon plays Herr Schultz and is remembered remem-bered for his lead roles in "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Camelot". Faulein Kost is played by Val Thurnell, who has appeared in numerous musicals, most recently as Tiger Lily in "Peter Pan". Ralph Carlson, playing Ernst, has appeared in several local productions including the role of Fagin in "Oliver." The Kit Kat Girls, a chorus line named for the club they work, include Liz Nesi, Robin Riley, Katherine Janka, Leslie Luyken, Ruth Ann Fitzgerald and Jackie Craigle. Featured performers and chorus include Frankie Poly-chronis, Poly-chronis, Steve Chin,.. Mary Alice Cunningham, Bob Toy, Bob Richer, Madeline Smith, Jan Mann, Peter Holdorf, Bill Tatomer, Barbara Bramble, Debbie Palek, De Fisher, Dave Sturges, Kathy Morris, Don Sturges, and Sydney Reed. Aiding Jarman in this production are Barbara Smith,, assistant director; Jim Donner, musical director; direc-tor; Dennis Dowse, technical director; and Teri Gomes and Tina Lewis, costumes. The show will play five dates at the Egyptian Theatre, opening June 4 and running through June 12. A psychic awareness workshop has been scheduled at Kimball Art Center Saturday, April 24 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The workshop will be taught by Mary St. Clair, a Salt Lake transplant who has taught psychic awareness workshops work-shops through Westminster College. She was also the winner of the National Enquirer's En-quirer's Psychic Picture Contest. As the winner of the contest, she successfully identified and described a secret photograph selected by the tabloid's editors. The Kimball Art Center's workshop will deal with seven areas. According to St. Clair, she will discuss: (1) How what you think affects your life and others; (2) How to protect yourself, family and friends from negative energy; (3) Meditation as stress release; (4) Auras; (5) Mental telepathy; (6) Psychometry; and (7) Using your psychic abilities in your day-to-day life. St. Clair received national attention following the National Enquirer Contest. The editors of the publication sealed a photo of Arlington's Tomb on the Unknowns in a bank vault. Readers were then asked to describe the photo. St. Clair said she received the image through meditation. Students should bring a sack lunch. Cost for the course is $35 for Kimball Art Center members and $40 for nonmembers. Annual meeting announced for Park City Performances Park City Performances has slated its annual meeting for Tuesday, April 20, at 6 p.m. in the Egyptian Egyp-tian Theatre. The evening's program includes a reception, recep-tion, a brief business meeting and entertainment. The business meeting, a requirement for all nonprofit non-profit organizations, will see the election of five mem-' bers of the board of trustees for three year terms. In addition, there will be a recap of the first six months and a preview of upcoming events, including next season's theatre productions. All members of Park City Performances and their guests are invited to attend. ,1 4 sit 'Jesus Christ Superstar' Judas Iscariot, the anti-hero of "Jesus Christ Superstar" is haunted by his demons. The 1970s rock musical was brought to the Prospector Theatre for the Easter weekend by Salt Lake Unicorn Theatre. Jim Montgomery, who played Judas, rarely finds himself in this situation in his regular role as PM Magazine" co-host. |