OUT ON THE TOWN BEHIND THE GROOVE

BY ALAN CHASAN AND BILL KEART

CHER AND CHER ALIKE... Sorry if this lady keeps getting a mention, but CHER really is news again. Not only did she finally crack the U.S. Top 40 (her first entry into the pop pantheon since 1991's "Shoop Shoop Song"), she's set a new sales record for female artists in the U.K. Even MADONNA has taken notice. Expect the material girl to direct the video. for "Dov'è L'amore", a cut from Cher's album that's highly reminiscent of Madonna's own "La Isla Bonita." Meanwhile, the betting is running high on just how "live" Cher's rendition of the National Anthem will be at next week's Super Bowl. If you bet wrong on that one, get your money back February 22nd wagering on the ABC's TV flick And The Beat Goes On: The Sonny & Cher Story).... FLY GUY... His name is MARK MCGRATH. It's his band that is known as Sugar Ray. The group's third album14:59, a take on ANDY WARHOL'S 15 minutes of fame is out and already rescuing McGrath and his cohorts from onehit-wonder status (achieved with

1997's Fly). The new CD's lead track, "Every Morning" is moving up the charts fast and its video offers lots of looks at McGrath's adorable features....

UN-BREAK MY HIATUS... TONI BRAXTON isn't just back on Broadway (where she's been headlining Disney's Beauty and the Beast), she's back making records, too. Once the top vocalist at LaFace Records, Braxton sued the label several years ago to free herself from a restrictive contract. She wound up counter-sued and was forced to declare bankruptcy, effectively halting the progress of both suits. Well, all seems to be forgiven. There's a new contract

in place and Braxton is back at LaFace. Look for the new album this summer....

BLEACH BREACH... With its first new album in 17 years (February's No Exit), a resurrected BLONDIE is facing legal troubles as well. Two original band members-NIGEL HARRISON and FRANK INFANTE-weren't invited back and are suing the other members. There will be a summer tour supported by releases on Loud and Logic Records. The latter label will proffer Soul Solution mixes for the band's "Maria" release....

A MADONNATHON BY ANY OTHER NAME... VIRGIN

VOICES: A TRIBUTE TO MADONNA is due in April, with a host of '80s artists lined up to warble Madonna tunes. Included: LOLEATTA HOLLOWAY (doing "Like A Prayer"), HEAVEN 17

("Holiday"), INFORMATION SOCIETY ("Express Yourself"), Bow wow wow ("Like A Virgin"), BERLIN ("Live To Tell"), DEAD OR ALIVE ("Why Is It So Hard"), and BOY GEORGE ("Bad Girl").....

BOY OH BOY... They were the biggest boy band of all time (earning $840 million in one year alone.) But they haven't recorded for five years. Two of them have new solo albums coming out. One acts. One is in real estate. And one is simply missing. But on February 16th, the Greatest Hits of N.K.O.T.B. (New Kids On The Block) bows in stores nationwide. Just what the country needs....

WHEN YOU BELIEVE... A massive effort to rescue My Love Is Your Love, WHITNEY HOUSTON's new album, is in full swing. Her duet with MARIAH CAREY ("When You Believe," taken from the animated feature Prince of Egypt) struggled at radio and began falling on the charts. But last week the song rose from #64 to #25, buoyed by strong sales that Houston's label (Arista) knew would be waiting at retail. Arista is also supporting Houston on other fronts. The label is buttressing the her dance versions of "It's Not Right But It's O.K." with CLUB 69 and HEX HECTOR mixes of the new single, "Heartbreak Hotel." Now, if only Arista could do something about Bobby!....

OUT ON THE TOWN

OPERATIC

BY RAYNOR BEAN-BURTON

Pure Puritanism

TO BE PERFECTLY FRANK, THE CONCEPT OF A three-hour operatic version of esteemed playwright Arthur Miller's THE CRUCIBLE had me ready to confess to just about anything. The conversion of this American classic into an opera threatened a long and dreary evening of bonnet-wearing puritans shrilling "Goody this" and "Goody that" on the wrong side of the musical theatre divide.

Thankfully, my fears were proven utterly unfounded. As with Franco Zeffirelli's Pagliacci, Bruce Beresford proves that film directors have something extremely fresh and intense to bring to the operatic milieu. Robert Ward's opera has been transported into the here and now, not with sets and scenery, but rather with a modern emotional honesty.

The linchpin in this emotional purity is baritone, Kimm Julian as John Proctor, who manages with a prodigious stage presence and acting ability to be an intensely sympathetic character, despite this man's primal betrayal of the woman he loves. That is no small feat. Not only is Julian the dramatic core of this production, he has a marvelous voice.

Although Proctor's wife Elizabeth (Kristine Jepson) and his downfall, Abigail Williams (sung by Susan Tilbury) have less stage tine. both stand out as powerful counterpoints. Jepson must struggle with the unfortunate features of Elizabeth: not only is she just about as holier-than-though as it gets, she must also take the blame for her husband's infidelity.

Somehow she manages to keep her character from disappearing into one pious dimension. In fact, she creates such an aura of thoughtfulness in Elizabeth, the one and only dramatic anomaly in this opera is why Proctor lost touch with this interesting and intense woman.

But then we meet Abigail. In a short scene in which Proctor presses tells her to admit to the Salem village idiots bent of rooting out

Trouble on the homefront: The Proctors.

witches that she has falsely accused Elizabeth, Tilbury succeeds in showing us how she won Proctor's lust, even though she proved unable to win his heart.

This is a sensuous interlude in an otherwise stark drama, yet it tells us everything about how human this small town is and how unrealistic the expectations of puritanism. It also begins to hint at the subterranean world of the adolescent girls in which sexual repression-coupled with a dastardly mixture of blind faith and conformism-causes them to perpetrate the witch hoax.

The rest of the cast keeps the story moving, but the members of the court tribunal, the reverend and the nefarious landowner Thomas Putnam have a tendency to blend together in both appearance and tone.

Last but not least, the sets have a special place in this production. They are brutally bare, and bathed in a perpetual chilled evening light, tempered by candlelight. The structures that shelter this town are expressed schematically with simple timbers behind which hangs a deep New England sky.

John Stoddart's evocative set is used to its best effect when, during a scene change, we watch a building's timbers come together in a dramatic silhouette. This is great theatre and even greater opera.

Performances January 23, 25, 28 and 30, in the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theatre. Some tickets are still available. Call 202.295.2400 or visit the website at www.dc-opera.org.

METRO WEEKLY

January 2 1

1999

METRO

WEEKLY

January 21, 1999