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Show Page B8 Thursday, January 14, 1982 The Newspaper 'BojjUlglCS' t'A HOLIDAY VILLAGE MALL, PARK CITY, UT - 649-6541 get tickets early TIME BANDITS they didn't make history they stole it! JOHN CLEESE SHELLEY DUVALL i u Robin Hood Pansr SEAN CONNERY PETER VAUCHAN it as Agamemnon The Ogf Sat.Sun. 2:00, 4:30 7:00, 9:15 Mon.-Fri. 7:00, 9:15 LAST WEEK!!!- Nobody leans on BURT Sharky Machine REYNOLDS SHARXYS MACHINE Sat.Sun. 2:15, 4:40,7:00, 9:15 Mon.-Fri. 7:00,9:15 w v:-:v:v:v:v:::::v: lastweekmi " NOT SINCE 'GONE WITH THE WIND 1 HAS THERE BEEN A GREAT ROMANTIC EPIC LIKE WARREN BEATTY DIANE KEATON EDWARD HERRMANN JERZT KOSINSKI JACK NICHOLSON JL.' f REDS Sat.-Sun.2:00, 7:15 Mon.-Fri. 7:15 Ipf After the show, visit the ELECTRONIC DOGHOUSE, right next to the theatre. We feature Hotdogs and Sandwiches and in our Arcade 15 of the most popular Videogames. Romantic fledgling play needs work Even the smallest ads are read. by Rick Brough Last week's presentation of two one-acts by the, Intermountain Actors En? semble was an uneven match.' The classic play "Zod Story", by Edward Albee, overwhelmed the locally-written locally-written effort "Bojangles" in terms of length, dramatic power, and theatrical skill. "Bojangles" is the first play by local author Mike Hamill, who has an appealing appeal-ing yen for the romantic and has already learned some of the tools for economically presenting his story on stage. But he hasn't yet acquired the depth of feeling and the detail to make "Bojangles" anything more than a rather mawkish skeleton of a play. It's more a sketch than a one-act. - The play focuses on a Southern drunk tank where the gregarious but sickly Bojangles (Lloyd Stevens),' an old carny dancer, meets a,, younger man named Alone and Free (Van Martin) r, a roving guitar player. "Alone" is a defensive,; solitary character, but he becomes captivated by Bc- jangles, particularly by the : old man's story about his dalliance years ago with ;a young woman. (The affair took place in the town where "Alone" was born.) Naturally, Natu-rally, there's more than, coincidence at work here. The old man suffers an attack, and when he gasps out his name with his last breath (he hasn't mentioned it before) the younger man realizes too late that he has found his father. Contrived? Maybe, but a playwright can get away with it if he allows the audience to become acquainted ac-quainted with the characters and like them. Bojangles is a character who probably could tell funny stories from now till sundown. As played by Lloyd Stevens he sure looks like a natural storyteller. story-teller. . , f Hamill needs to give him one or two tales about rencounters with sheriffs, or carny owners, or other travelers so the audience can get to know him. This would also allow him to become friendlier with Alone and Free, because - the younger.man, also a rover, could .'; identify with those stories. Hamill could create his own stories or use real annecdotes that he's heard to give more color to Bojangles' Bojan-gles' dog dying, but needs to develop it more. In the play as written, Bojangles swills whiskey, chuckles a lot, and remi-i remi-i nisces about the good ol' times. But we don't know j what was good about them. Bojangles and another cell . buddy, the Old Man, remember re-member getting drunk with Jim and Jack. But "Jim and Jack" are just names. They ; have no personality quirks or character. Another problem is that i, Hamill tips us off too soon to the play's twist ending. For instance, Bojangles recalls that his affair was exactly 26 j years ago, and Alone and Free mentions he s 26 years of Park City's best actors in his play. Lloyd Stevens is a little- mannered, but basically basi-cally grungy and friendly as . Bojangles. Van Martin is believably a younger man. But he switches too quickly in his attitude toward Bojangles Bo-jangles one minute indifferent, indif-ferent, the next friendiy. But both actors are plagued by the shortness of the play. Mike Hamill played the Old Man, filling in at the last minute for another actor, and effectively mixed in with his two co-stars. I wish director Ron Burnett Bur-nett and Hamill could have given Bojangles' dancing a bit more flair. There's a dreadful sameness to these moments Stevens walks out stage front and shuffles around. Maybe they could have thrown in a few comic bits (Bojangles playfully aiming his high kicks at his friends' heads?). In the flashback of Bojangles' Bo-jangles' affair, Kathryn Haley Ha-ley is quietly radiant as the dancer's old-time flame. Monte Shelton, as young Bojangles, also looks the part (pretty amazing, considering con-sidering how limited the casting possibilities were in Park City. But his dancing is unexciting and you can't imagine any small-town girl falling for him. Of course, the tune "Bojangles" "Bo-jangles" is used as backgroundcreditably back-groundcreditably sung by Curt Graf and given a sometimes-unsure piano treatment by Roxanne Shapiro Sha-piro Mear. But the handling of the song needed more conviction a kind of nostalgic nostal-gic richness. Mike Hamill is one of the more interesting new personalities per-sonalities in local theater. In small roles, he has a gritty, rough-hewn presence, and one wonders what a larger part and a tough director could get out of him.We don't know at this point how his writing ability will develop, but you are advised to keep an eye out. The second play last week, "Zoo Story" was well-staged by Walter Logan Field, Jr. and superbly acted. The story is an absurdist confrontation con-frontation between the proper Peter, seated on his New York park bench, and the alienated passer-by, Jerry, who strikes up a conversation with a kind of contradictory desperation. He is by turns, curious, scornful, friendly, hostile, and beguiling. Tony Leger catches Jerry's quicksilver moods well, and the only criticism we might make is that the character becomes slightly mannered when slogging through some of the incredibly incredi-bly long speeches that Albee gives to the character. Robert A. Eccel is gripping as Peter, the stuffy but affable character who is scared, then devastated, by his park-bench experience. The one-acts were staged over three nights in a single week. Once again, we hope audience response would be warm enough that Burnett and the Kimball Art Center could stage future programs over four performances and two weekends. old. It would be a little more believable if Bojangles had a vague recollection of the . time. ' On the other hand, Hamill has already learned some of . the basic elements of good play Writing. His conversation conversa-tion flows smoothly. He brings in basic expository ( information without being obvious. And he can give his ' characters a certain romantic roman-tic rhythm in their speech. This is best accomplished in the speech where Bojangles remembers wanting to dance for the girl and her smile. Hamill is lucky to have two More odd characters at U.S. Film Festival t ' r - gff cozy & RUSTIC This beautiful home has a huge rock fireplace, 4 bedrooms, bed-rooms, 2 bath rooms, is located close to the Park City Golf Course & ski resort, has mature landscaping and pines, and a secluded outdoor hot tub perfect for after ski relaxation. $358,500. BANBERRY REAL ESTATE DIVISION 649-1602 SNOW-COVERED ASPENS surround this beautiful home. Exclusive Deer Valley location, 3 bedrooms, loft, exercise room, wine cellar, and much more. $425,000. BANBERRY REAL ESTATE 649-1602 - !. - c K9I1U.. ,7 -T -( Banjperry Realty is proud to announce : .- ' Chatham Crossing Subdivision single family lots available with excellent terms Prices range from $58,300 to $71,900 Approximately $10r000 down, no payments due until June 1, 1982. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Ann Brighton (Project Manager) Lani Beck Martha Brown Dave Coleman Mary Runge Tami Anderson 649-4084 649-7356 649-7064 582-6328 942-4350 649-7799 IKS tnl 586 Main St., P.O. Box 3121, Park City, Utah 84060 : (801)649-1602 .' Ira AiMnRP w wf Real Estate A blind woman who bounces back in song after a lifetime of tragedy? The family that runs a pet cemetery, living on go-getter spirit and bland California jargon? Yep. These are more samples of the wide variety of folk you'll meet in the films scheduled for the U.S. Film and Video Festival. "A Lady Named Baybie" The blind woman is . "A Lady Named. Baybie", and this documentary on her life ,.is entered in competition at the festival which runs Jan. 22-31. She waborn blind, under the name Nadine Hoover in 1918 in Missouri, and by the time she" was seven years bid, both her parents were dead. At age 18, she was made pregnant by her uncle, radio gospel singing in the Kansas-Oklahoma area, often of-ten with her lifelong blind friend Virginia Brown. About this time, she also began collecting dolls, but even that innocent past-time caused trouble for her. Her welfare payments were cut because she spent money on the dolls, and her church congregation ousted her because be-cause they considered them "Idols". She moved to New York in 1954 and joining a gospel association. But she was kicked out three years later for being "too lively and demonstrative." For 11 years, 1959 to 1970, she supported herself as a street singer, totally without welfare. wel-fare. She even ran into objections from friends who chided her when, in her I give them a and the eight-pound djP(fgH1s,flfties, shated to change A-ter who was btffjflitOifedr was her legslxttme to "paybie" .t .fcivpn nnfnrferinnMnrfWrttinii CS-a narve pvtllrinff fhp Invp I her permission. ' During, her early life, she was shunted from blind schoolsto foster homes to poor farms. One institution sterilized her, telling her it was an appendix operation. In the early 1940s she. began church preaching and and affection she never got 1 as a child. 1 Despite all this, the film shows a woman who hasn't been knocked down for the count. Her independent life on the street bothers some, but she says, "I don't take anything without giving any thing back. song." 'Gates of Heaven" "Gates of Heaven" is about pet cemeteries, but it is also about one family that runs a cemetery, and the way they explain and justify their importance. Cal Har-berts Har-berts operates the Bubbling Well Pet Memorial Park in Napa., Calif. He's a go-getter who can gush as enthusiastically enthusias-tically over a poddle's final resting place as a used-car salesman hawking Buicks. Son Dan is part of the family business, but looks back ruefully on his dreams of being a songwriter. Older son phil left the insurance business to work on his dreams of being a songwriter. song-writer. Older son Phil left the insurance business to work at Bubbling Well and says things like, "Mentally wise, I f don't mind opening " the ; -graves." "Gates" sets out to be a strange, silly, and oddly pathetic investigation of Middle America. For information on tickets and vouchers to these and other films come to the festival bus or call 649-2200. The Wasatch Rascals will appear tonight Hopefully you've got your do-si-dos under control, because be-cause the Wasatch Rascals are "a-fiddlin" in town tonight. At 8 p.m. Park City's Cowboy Bar will be the setting for the Rascals as, they provide string band music for square dancing. The evening, sponsored by the Kimball Art Center, will feature European dance tunes and traditional square, line and circle dances. Of course, polkas and waltzes will also be included. There's no need to worry if you're not a seasoned square dancer because all of the dances will be demonstrated and explained, so all can participate. Rich and colorful music from the 1800s through the 1930s characterizes the playing play-ing of band members David Pendell on the five-string banjo, mandolin and mando-banjo; mando-banjo; Ann Endell on the concertina and autoharp; Ted Ehrhard on the fiddle and guitar; and Paul Ras-mussen Ras-mussen on the guitar, fiddle and mandolin. The Wasatch Rascals have appeared at the University of Utah, the Salt Lake Art Center, Symphony Hall, the Utah Museum of Fine Art, and the Salt Lake Arts Festival. Tickets to the square dance can be purchased at the Kimball Art Center or at the door. The tickets are $? for Kimball Art Center members and $4 for non-members. non-members. For further information, call 649-8882. P TAT8; JOHN'S IS BACK AT THE RESORT ! FEATURING OUR BRAND NEW COLOR VIDEO SCREEN LOWEST BEER PRICES OUR CHEF'S DAILY SPECIALS PLUS V SPECIAL VIDEOSTILL PHOTOGRAPHY PACKAGES FOR GROUPS AND FAMILIES OPEN DAILY 7:30 A.M. -8:00 P.M. BREAKFAST 7:30- 1 1:00 A.M. LUNCH 1 1 :00 A.M. -2:00 P.M. AFTER SKI SNACKS 2:00-8:00 P.M. 649-5990 |