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Show WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2001 THE SUN Feature Technical elements highlight Dixies Chris Hock stars Tribune Media services production of Romeo and Juliet By Kameron Lopez, left, and Kike lorg, right, starred in DSCs pro- duction of Romeo and NEW YORK What was earing Chris R.ock? On the day I met him, the jokes were few' and far between. He was pensive, almost tense. Finally, after a senes of nervous wisecracks, he rexealed whai was on lus mind. Sitting hy a sunlit window, he solemnly stated, "In 14 days, my fate will he decided. " They were unchaiacteristicallv mirthless words for a comic often referred to as America's funniest but these ore serious times for Rock. Last November, he ended the run of HBO's Emmy "The Chris Rock Show" in order to focus e on movie acting. This phase of his career kicks off with the Friday release of "Down to Earth" 14 days after our interview. As Rock's first starring vehicle, it's crucial to his career. It will be followed later this year by tive-ye.- ,r Aw'ard-winnin- Juliet g full-tim- - By Amber Sands Managing Editor amber5andshotmaiI.COm With romance in the air dunng the month of February, what better play for the DSC theater department, to present than Romeo and Juliet? This tale of two star crossed lovers who fall in love despite their and loved by feuding families is all. Unlike most productions of this play which present this story in a historic Shakespearean setting, Director Varlo Davenport chose to modernize this particular production. The college's two week run ended last Saturday night with mixed reviews. While most of the technical elements were exceptional, other elements such as sound and acting desperately shuffled behind. There are times when wonderful acting can make up for poor technical design; however, it is almost impossible to have technical design make up for poor acting. First of all, with most of the technical elements, they were what made the play worth attending. The set consisted of a beautiful Verona courtyard with large stone walls and a single crooked tree near center stage. Beyond the main buildings stood a small chain-lin- k fence which gave the set an intern esting feeling of depth. Make-u- p and costumes also cannot go without mention. The costumes and makeup nicely paralleled the modem setting. The costumes were always bright and easy to notice and very well reflected the characters who were wearing them. There was one technical element that was severely lacking: sound. In between scenes or even dunng scenes a vanety of songs would barrel out of the speakers. At some points, the audience would have to strain to hear the song that was being played, and at other times (mainly the fight scenes), the music was so loud that the actors lines became hard to understand. There were also problems fading out the music at some points. Some songs would stop n Down to Earth Ira "Pooty Tang," based on the unintelligible sketch character from his IIBO show; "Osmosis Jones," an animated feature in which Rock gives voice to a white blood cell in Bill Murray's body, and Kevin Smith' s "Jay and Silent Boh Stnke Back." 'Dcwn to E.mn" is a remake of Warren Beattys 1976 "Heaven Can Wait" (itself .be 19-- 1 classic "Heie Comes Mr inspired Jordan1) Rock gen me idea n do the fi m alter a li tied w th Beatty tluee years ago. "1 Made a conscious decision to cheU oui his slulf," he said "1 watched "Red1, "Shampoo,' and so on And when got to "Heaven Can Wait,' I was, like, 'Wow, this is great! Richard Pryor should've done this.1 Then I started saying, "Oh, this tould've been funnier."' In his version, Rock plays a struggling 1 1 Please see Born. Feb. 7, 1965, m Andrews, N.C PARENTS Julius, truck dnver, (d, 1989) and Rose, teacher REaRED Beuiord-Stuyvesan- t, Brooklyn, N.Y. Six younger. WIFE: Malaak Compton, publicist, mumed Nov. 23, 1996. SIBLINGS: Education: Dropped out of high school at 1 7, later earned GED. OTHER JOBS: Red Lobster employee, laborer, screenwriter; producer, magazine editor (Illtop Journal, Howard University). Break: "Uptown Comedy Express," HBO comedy special. POLITICS: "Registered Democrat with a Republican wallet." Shape Your Future in ileaitii Care as a Doctor of Chiropractic If you want to help people get well and stay well. If you want to work independently as a chiropractic physician commensurate with your professional standing as primary care physician -- V Y to achieve the financial success V a to establish your position in the community Doctor of Chiropractic If any of these criteria match your professional aspirations, please contact Logan College of Chiropractic, today! loganudnia logan edu cnc'terficld MO 65017 Opponuntiv Institueon of Higher Fdtcaiion www log in uJu 1851 Schoettkr Road An Equal i I ; i 4 4 t X5 a" C as a 5 Chris Rock represented. Overall, the play was hard to sit through. Although most of the technical elements were great, the acting didnt balance out. This play is a tough one to produce, but it seemed that more work went into some areas and less work into others. If you want 1 Just the Facts suddenly as though someone had accidentally pushed the stop button. Other songs didn't fade out smoothly, but were almost choppy as they left the ears of the audience. The biggest disappointment of this production was the acting. The first thing that bothered me was the way the lines were being said. It was like being transported to middle school again when Shakespeare lines were read like poetry with unnecessary pauses after every line. Only a select couple of smaller paits in the play seemed to know what their lines meant, and actually reacted to the other characters. It seemed that the actors were more concerned with articulation and volume than with what their lines If you want Rock, page v t J j , |