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Show Tuesday, January 23, 1996 THE DAILY HERALD, Provo, L'Uh Page C5 e Film offers dark look at junior high schoo i By CHARLENE WINTERS Special to The Daily Herald two big plastic balls, and multicolored floral outfits that no one else would consider wearing, she is the gawky class oddball. Although she is capable of great tenderness she rescues a classmate from bullies only to Poor Dawn Wiener. As soon a? the seventh grader enters the cafeteria and looks for a place to sit, it is apparent she is experiencing that purgatory known as junior high school. With no one to sit with, she searches for an empty spot, only to be told someone had thrown up there. As she tries to eat, the ". be insulted by him she has few social graces and does not know when she steps beyond the boundaries of propriety. She raises her hand in the middle of a test to tell on a boy trying to cheat on her paper, and she gets more trouble than the boy. The teacher calls her a "grade grubber" and forces her to present an essay on dignity in front of taunting classmates. She thinks she is falling in love with an older, g high school sleaze ball and, upon finding his activity card, builds a glittery shrine to his image. She does not realize he is headed no where, but she is so desperate for acceptance that she mistakes his neutrality toward her as something meaningful. One particular boy, Brandon, is particularly mean to her, and when she retaliates with one spit ball after he blitzes her with them, she misfires and nearly blinds a teacher. Later, when the same teen insults her while she plays a video game and spills her drink, she calls him retarded. Dawn does not know he has a Down's Syndrome brother and that Brandon fears his own intelligence. Furious, he tells her he is going to rape her at 3 p.m., and he stalks her. While she gets away the first day, she soon is convinced she has no alternative and agrees to submit to him. While the assault does not occur, it is a disturbing scene. Brandon despite the insults and profanities her hurls at likes her a little. Dawn In scene after scene, Dawn must maneuver through the land mine that is her life, but her good-lookin- female delinquent across from her lies and tells the cheerleaders Dawn has made a pass at her. Soon the room chants with the refrain of "lebso" (lesbian), a' new taunt for the girl known as "wiener dog." This begins the movie come to the Dollhouse, a competition film at Sundance Film Festival and a black look at adolescence that would be funny except that every episode seems painfully real. " Dawn, played with plucky resourcefulness by Heather Matareso, is her family's unfavored middle child. Her but intelligent, older brother focuses on getting into college and her beautiful and cherished sister ears a pink tutu and dances to snatches of Tchaikovsky. At best, her mother considers Dawn an inconvenience and at worst, focuses a Medean maliciousness on her ugly duckling daughter. Her father is tent; His only role is to be the dwee-bish- ," ld family breadwinner. With unflattering glasses, her hair pulled into a limp ponytail secured with a hair band with (See DOLL, Page C6) West Side Story' succeeds By LAURIE WILLIAMS SOWBY Special to The Daily Heraid IVIes Side Story, with book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, is being performed in the Florence Bullock Ragan Theatre at Utah Valley State College at 29 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25-2Matinee 2 p.m. Jan. Feb. 27. Tickets $7.50 general admission, $6.50 for senior citizens and UVSC faculty and staff, and $2.25 for UVSC students with I.D. 7, 3. UVSC's theater department is lighting up the Ragan Theatre stage with an ambitious production looks the part but has trouble with the Spanish accent. David D'Agos-tin- i is good as RilT, leader of the native Jets. Brandon Jeffords has unsure intonation as he plays the likeable Tony, who's quit as the Jets' leader and decided to go straight. (In fact, these all guys seem pretty tame, compared with today's violent gangs.) The large cast of 32 does well together, playing out the story on a simple stage set that evokes concrete walls, metal railings, doorways and garbage cans in an alley. They are especially impressive in the dance scene where all are moving at once and in the rumble scene where the fight takes place. The Jets' acrobatic rendition of "Officer Krupke" brings some welcome comic relief to the tragic HIHITTWI of West Side Story this month. And it was great Saturday night to see nearly all the seats filled for a change. (UVSC students and the community don't seem to give much support to the theater department's efforts, which have at times been excellent.) The modern version of the classic story 'made popular in the '60s relies on singing and dancing :o make it Romeo-and-Juli- et work. We get both here in a show directed by Agnes Broberg. But the dancing far outshines the vocals; in fact, it's the best part of the show. Kathie Debenham's story and notice the expressive face of Brad Sorenson as Action. Saturday's audience cheered the girls' "America." The show also has its moments in smaller numbers like Tony and Maria's "One Hand, One Heart," sung amid the mannequins at the dress shop. I D) m iniif .JrPhoto courtesy of Robbi Buss Brandon Jeffords (Tony) and Amanda Barth "West Side Story" playing now at UVSC. (M aria) star in the musical Wednesday r Jan Provo LDS Tabernacle choreography brings scenes to life and often revives audience interest in the story of two rival gangs in New York City. Though the singing is adequate nu24 1996 24-2- 5, & 230 too-lou- Michael Abegg Ryan rn Johnson Christopher IT Mindy vp Kalotini Unga Latu Dianna Rhodes ' I X? Holmes Dr. Clyn D. Camilyn Bacon Daniel Gledhill Cecelia Hone Barrus Conductor and Musical Director $5 Students & Seniors Welcome to Utah Vallev Svmohonv Tune Line (88631 General Admission $4 345-TUN- E Parkina Available ; : r A -- Utah Valley Symphony energetic and the production numbers stand out, individual solos are too often d buried beneath the score recorded with synthesizers. The cast manages to stay with it, though an accomplishment in itself. Body mics would be a godsend for the leads, who have nice voices but not enough power to project past the first couple of rows. Amanda Barth makes a sweet, innocent Maria, and maintains her Puerto Rican accent throughout the show. Melody Baugh is a standout as the more experienced and fiery Anita, Bernardo's girlfriend. Chad Fulton as Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks and Maria's brother, , ft Laurie Williams Sowby, an English instructor at Utah Valley State college, has been reviewing productions in Utah Valley for 12 years. at --Mtc "?i--z- . NT Please, No Babies or Children Under 6 NuSkin Parkina Terrace :H' ) : lvf ...- -, b - 1 r LX ' 'L ,jrS yy;x Susan Sullivan William Devane Star of Knott's Landing and in a live Star of The Monroes jS r performan ce or AJ.uurnevs a v1, February 9&10, State Ragan Theatre Utah Valley it crtticanv-acciaim- ea Falcon Crest i and The Monroes til ana nearrwarminv 1996-7:- 30 p.m. College (North End of UVSC Campus) Ticket Donation: $25 (performance only) or $50 (VI.P. package including a private reception and photo with Mr. Devane and Ms. Sullivan) Tickets available at Smith sTix or by calling 'Donations are lax deductible |
