Page 16 HIGH GEAR
entertainment
Springing into spring
To be included among sprir performances by the Cleveland Ballet are the Cleveland Area premier of KurtJooss The Green Table, the return of Ozone Hour, the popular rock ballet and the world premiere of Texturas. Stareographed by the pany s Associate Director Dennis Nanat All performances will take place at the HannaTheatre
(on).
Kurt Jooss The Green Table debuted in Paris in 1932 winning first prize at the International Dance Congress and has developed a world-wide following in recent years. Subtitled "A Dance of Death." The Green Table IS dictinent of those who lead intu battle profiteers cquis diplomats and bureau-
mer
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its
an
The Cleveland Ballet is one of a few American dance companies have received Jooss .to permission to perform this work Beginning on May 3 and running through May 6 The Green Table will be presented with Mendelssohn Symphony
Scripts sought
The Gay Theatre Alliance (GTA) is seeking play scripts for its Directory of Gay Plays. GTA IS an association formed last year to foster and promote the devel⚫opment of gay theatre by uniting
and representing all regions of the country (as well as other nations) in a communications network. providing resources and information to theatre companies. playwrights. producers.. and all individuals interested in gay theatre.
The Directory of Gay Plays will be a comprehensive listing of plays about gay people. Each listing will contain the title playwright character and sel requirements a short description, of the plot. where the play was first produced contacts for rights and other infor:nation "The directory is scheduled for publication in the, summer of 1979
Playwrights who wish to have their work included in the Direc-
tory of Gay Plays should send a copy of their script(s) to Terry ∙Hilbing. 51 West Fourth Street Hoom 300 New Yor, New York
10012.
and In Concert.
Nahat
Texturas. the new Ballet. will premiere on May 9 and play through May 20. Texturas evokes the atmosphere of the American Southwest described by the choreographer being Suitry exuberant and rhythin:c
Sensus
The musical score, created by New York composer Simon Michae Martin. is the fourth commisioned work for Cleveland
Ballet in the past two years. In part. Texturas (Spanish for Textures) derives its title from its unusual orchestration, which overlays solo banjo, solo guitar, and full orchestra, complimented by the dancers' heel and castenet work
Texturas will be performed with Nahat's jazz oriented Some Times and the rock ballet Ozone Hour which played to sold out houses during its run in the Spring of 1978.
Vito (Doug Morgan) offers Kate (Jackie Engle) some potato chips in "P.S. Your Cat is Dead." It plays Thursdays through Sundays through May 27 at the You Are Cabaret Dinner Theatre in North Royalton. This is a slightly different view of the situation than the one you get during an actual performance. Explanation in review.
Audience falls for bi-sexual burglar
By P. Woodward
PS Your Cat is Dead at the You Are Cabaret Dinner Theatre is that rarity of ranities, a stage comedy in which nearly all of the lines and all of the business are actually as funny as they are supposed to be The audience see. ing this show does not have to settle for smiling benevolently of chuckling politely Judging by the non-stop laughter of the opening night audience espe Cially during the second half of the performance, this is the funn
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t-stage play written in several decades
The play opens on New Year's Eve with Jimmy Zoole, a 38-yearold New York actor. facing a monumental mid-life crisis Besides having been'in acting for twenty years without having done anything he considers important he has just lost his first big part in a big Broadway show and has just lost his steady job playing a major character in a daytime television soap opera The script writers nave decided to have him drown in the Amazon River)
His apartment has recently been rebed twice, and among the things stolen was the only existing manů cript of the novel he had been working on for ten months Just before he arrives home to spend New Year's Eve sulking, his girlfriend leaves a let. ter saying that she is leaving him Before s! can get n the door the phone rings. It's the pet nos. pital calling to say that his cat is dear
Most of the play dents with how Zoole In his current state of mind deals with the bi-sexual
burglar he catches hiding under his bed.
Zola knocks him out, and ties him up and decides ant to calline police. He does not want to wait
five hours and besides, it s New Year's Eve and the burglar is the only person around to talk to.
The big fuss you have been hearing about concerning nudity in the play is inuch ado about next to nothing Vito. the burglar. who is tied face down over the kitchen sink feels nature's call and ventures the opinion that he is too old to wet himself. Agreeing with Vito. Zoole takes out a pair of scissors and cuts off Vito's pants in deference to the sige Solons of North Royalton, Zoole does not remove Vito's paisley
briefs
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Keeping Vito s scanty briefs on does next to nothing to lessen the play's unpact. What is most important and what gets left intact is Vito's pungent dialog.
Despite being tied down. Vito does not refrain either from mak⚫ ing sarcastic commentary or from making. passes at Zoole Saying what he thinks living his life has shown him about life in general is obviously one of his greatest joys
He is a combination of Groucho Marx and Lenny Bruce and is as funny as either of them. Judging by the impact with which the. 10e of Vito came across on opening night. James Kirkwood the play's author has created one of the all time great comedy roles. Making the most of his role's great opportunities is Doug Mordan as Vito Great lives don't speak themselves and the lact that the opening night audience never grow tired of laughing at whate. Vito hau tu say must he attributed at least in part, to Mor gar's delivery
His rapport with the audience is especially remarkable considring the nature of the role Vito is earthy and sort, ofmaths but his bi-sexuality could hardly be
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more overt Despite the fact that most of the opening night audience looked very straight. Vito's various efforts at going to bed with Zoole were greeted with inrestrained glee.
Before the final deadline for submitting material to have printed in the May issue of HIGH GEAR there was unfortunately no opportunity to see a performance by Terence Mclver who plays the role of Vito on some nights.
Jackie Engle as Zoole's girl friend Kate deftly avoids suggesting that Kate is a bitchy character Kate is a successful professional photographic consultant, successful because she is toughminded and clearheaded. Engle has just the sort of clear and precise acting style needed to convey that Kate s criticizing of Zoole is based on genuine insight into his charactor and genuine concern for his well-being.
Jimmy Zoole is played by Frank Lucas with a good sense of balance. He handles especially well Zoole's criticism of himself and of his situation. This critiCism always seems accurately descriptive and never like whining self-pity. With his lack of a certain singir-mindedness we can see why Zuole's friends think that he is a problem, but we can also see him as being intelligent and unpretentious enough that we can understand Kate and Vitofinding him attractive.
Seen briefly as Fred Kate's new boyfriend, a college profesSur who teaches economic geography. David Reifel gets his characterization across without cliches Reifel lets us know that Fied is Mr. Straight while keep-
the character from being dilll or bumorless.
On opening night the acting of the four roles in P.S. Your Cat is Dead showed that the actors and Dennis Cameron, the direc tor. communicated among themselves wit': a great deal of intelligence If the play has any messages, it is that one should not think of individuals in terms of stereotypes. This possible mes sage is reflected in everyone's performance.
In addition. Cameron keeps everything moving along at a brisk pace. Performances of comedies often run out of steam during the second half, but the performance opening night picked up steam. with the last half hour seeming like one continuous laugh.
Tom Asad, the producer, says that he has looked forward to doing "P.S. Your Cat is Dead" for. a number of years. His eagerness could hardly be more justified. He proves conclusively that dinner theater productions do not have to be unadventuresome. and bland.
In addition to doing himself and audiences a big favor. Asad has also done a big favor to the play itself. He has shown what kind of production lets it have its' greatest impact
Before this smash hit production, the authur James Kirkwood
was
a successful playwright After this production he seems to be. addition, the American dinner theater's patron saint
"PS Your Cat is Dead' can be seen Thursdays through Sundays through May 27
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