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HIGH GEAR/MARCH 1978

WIZ TO WHIZ INTO HANNA

The Wiz, the smash hit Broadway musical version of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and winner of seven Tony awards, will open at the Hanna Theatre in Cleveland for three weeks only, March 14th through April 1st.

The highly-acclaimed touring company of The Wiz, features teen-ager Renee Harris as Dorothy, the little girl who is whisked from reality into the marvelous, magical world of Oz.

Swinging along with her and the high-stepping Yellow Brick Road of orange Afro-styled doss are Ben Harney as the oiled up Tinman, Ken Prymus as the mean ole Lion, and Charles Valentine as the loose-jointed Scarecrow.

Lasily VII UUWII 1118 road, Dorothy and her droll companions encounter an assortment of fantastic characters including Vivian Bonnell as Addaperle, The Feel-Good Girl, Carolyn Miller as Big Bad Evillene, the Wicked Witch of the West, Kamal as The Wiz himself, and Peggie Blue as glamorous Glinda, who teaches Dorothy the true secret of her silver slippers.

Hip dialogue and jive humor pepper William F. Brown's book for The Wiz, and the rousing pop-soul score, winner of both a Tony and a Grammy, has music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls.

The energetic, Tony-award winning choreography and musical numbers were staged

TRAVERS' FAN

Dear Editors:

We, as members of the Gay Community are frequently urged to show our support of various entertainers. Often these people have made statements soliciting our support, or have in some manner, publicly, aligned themselves with our community and its goals.

Last year, High Gear and the gay community urged us to support Chita Rivera when she appeared here. We did and her stay in Cleveland was highly successful. As a result she has been back to Cleveland twice in less than a year (one more time at Playhouse Square, once a Front Row) and she is due back, once more at Playhouse Square in March.

Kamal as The Wiz from THE WIZ

We are also to be visited in March by Mary Travers of the late Peter, Paul, and Mary. She also will be appearing at Playhouse Square. I am writing to urge the community to support this entertainer.

Her concerts are not gala extravaganzas with fabulous costumes and elaborate staging. instead there is only the stage, a microphone, and her voice. Her talent is such that nothing else is necessary to support her. The result is a warm, intimate evening between performer and audience.

Her ability as a vocalist should be enough to bring anyone out to see her. However, there are ⚫further reasons to attend her

concerts. While I am unaware as to whether or not she has taken a public stand before the press aligning herself with the gay community's fight against oppression and inequality, I do know that she has, in the past, made her concerts a moving plea for the right and freedom to love.

She speaks not for heter-, homo-, bi-, or any other, of societies sexual subcultures, but instead, speaks for and to mankind as a totality. She asks simply that we recognize and accept our right to love whomever we choose. She reminds us that the importance is not whom we love, but that we simply do love.

OVEN PRODUCTIONS

PRESENTS MONA GOLABEK

March 11, internationally acclaimed pianist Mona Golabek will be performing a concert of music by Beethoven, Chopin, Tchaikowsky, Bach, Liszt and Scriabin. The concert starts at 8:30 P.M. at The Cleveland Institute of Music. Oven Productions, a non-profit feminist organization devoted to promoting women artists, is producing the event.

Mona Golabek first came to international attention when she won the "People's Prize" at the Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. She soon after appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta, made her debut at the Hollywood Bowl, and appeared as guest artist with orchestras in

Mexico and Japan. In 1974, she made a sensational debut with the New Philharmonic Orchestra of London, again under Zubin Mehta.

Other appearances include the Houston Symphony, the Honolulu Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, and the Seattle Symphony. Ms. Golabek has been the recipient of numerous awards. A television documentary has been made about her which has been shown nationally several times.

For the first time in her performing career, Mona Golabek is examining what it means to be a woman in the arts, and is wanting to share those exper-

iences with her audiences. "It is enormously important to be able to hold a question and answer period following the concert. I would like to share my thoughts about the music, what it is like being a woman concert pianist, and hear reactions from the audience."

Also performing solo in this concert will be harpist Deborah Fleisher who has performed around the country and is presently living in Cleveland.

The next Oven Productions event will be an April 14 concert with Willie Tyson, comedienne and musician who records with Wise Woman Records, and Therese Edell, Cincinnati artist currently releasing her second album.

by George Faison. Geoffrey Holder, one of the few ever to have won two Tony Awards in the same year as Director and Costumer for The Wiz, has peopled the stage with a dazzling array of colorful creatures including Munchkins, menacing winged monkeys, and a Mice Squad.

The elaborate sets, ranging from a simple Kansas farmhouse to the funky glitter of Emerald City, are designed by Tom H. John, with lighting by Broadway veteran Tharon Musser.

Producer Ken Harper, who conceived of the idea of a contemporary version of L. Frank Baum's classic story, has turned The Wiz into a Broadway phenomenon which has broken house attendance records in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto.

Silk will swirl, crows will fly. and poppies will lure when the razzle-dazzle fairyland world of The Wiz, full of sass and flash, comes to the stage of the Hanna Theatre on March 14th for three weeks.

The first week's performances are Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8:30 P.M. with matinees on Wednesday and Saturday at 2:00 P.M. The second and third week's performances are Monday through Saturday evenings at 8:30 P.M. with matinees Wednesdays and 'Saturdaes at 2:00 P.M.

I feel that more importantly than trying to secure the rights for a minority, the Gay movement is also working for the rights of everyone to accept her or himself as an individual and for their right to love as they

ODDS 'N' ENDS

Watch out, gay citizens of Cincinnati, Dr. Lee Mason of the Madeira Church of Christ is beginning to sound too much like our foe Anita when he says that we are into recruitment of the young frequently called the most exclusive club in the world, the United States Senate is now being investigated for hiring practices among the blacks, women, and the physically handicapped. Ohio's own Senator John Glenn has acknowledged that discrimination in the Senate is "blatantly outrageous"... Did you know that supposedly Florida oranges are dyed with Cirtys Red 2, a carcinogen? So says The Elements, a magazine concerned with environmental and ecological matters ... A women at the Central Hospital in Bergen, Norway, actually refused to accept a blood transfusion from a male donor because of her feminist views. She was given more blood when a suitable female donor was located... Many of the country's gay newspapers/magazines/letters are pleading for help in any form in order to stay in the business of keeping you more aware. If you haven't already, why not come out and join up! Your involvement could change the tide in gay politics, not only in your own area, but also for the country...

can best express that love. Mary Travers in her concerts makes an eloquent statement in affirmation of this right.

Sincerly, Gregg Leach, Garfield Heights

FILMS COMING TO THE HEIGHTS ART THEATRE Cleveland Heights (932 5955) $2.50 admission Euclid Heights Bitd. at Coventry Road

March 12-13 Three Marx Brothers Films Duck Soup, Horse Feathers, Monkey Busines

March 14-15 Julie Christie in Don't Look Now and Roman Polanski's The Tenant

March 16 18 Flesh Gordon and A Boy and His Dog March 19-20 Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and Frenzy March 21 22 Luchino Visconti's Death in Venice

March 23-25 Behind the Green Door and Resurrection of Eve March 26-27 John Water's Mondo Trasho and Multiple Maniacs March 28 April 1 John Water's Pink Flamingo, Female Trouble and Desperate Living

Mona Golabek