Friday, December 4, I959

Actors Score Hit With " amn Yen/tees

by Al stnnlcy
Last Friday night, Novem-
bél‘ 27, the, Gl‘lllllell Players
smashed ti triple and Success»
fully stole home to SCOl'e 21
hit With their production 01'
"Damn Yankees.”
It is somewhat surprising that
amn yanhccs,“ the ﬁrst inu-
sical comedy seen on “it: boards
of ARH auditorium since Jalul-‘
ary of 1958, was able to reach
such a high de rep or success

SCARLET AND BLACK

Page Three

”,"Oberlin Drops”
Federal Aid;

 

considering that it was producedl '

in scarcely three Weeks and cnr
ployed a cast at some 45 actors,
singers and dancers (most of
whom were on the Grinnoll
slagc for the ﬁrst. time).

The situation of “Damn Yank—
ees" prescnts itscli in the tine
expected coupling or two lcg.
ends: the old German tale oi
Faustus, the doctor oi \Vlttenc
berg who sold his soul to thc
Dcvil, and the “mast Amcrican
legend" oi the “unbeatable"New;

c

i,, ,

Mr. App]

cgate (Joe Nassii,

ré ,
upper right) says he's “going [0‘

i
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f

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i
l

tl ‘

York Yankees. The result at ““5“ give up this ﬁllhy (smoking) habit," as Joe Hardy (Bob Norris“

strange mixture, although a lit-,
tic beside the point, lends itselfl
well to thc shenanigans of a‘
' boisterous musical comedy andi
alfords the opportunity [or the
divcrsity of characterization
which periodically enables all
the “much ado" to get. on they
ground 1
The Griiinell periormance i
was able to rise well above
all expectations primarily hes
cause of three things: the
show's great enthusiasm, its
rapid pace and two members
.oi the enstAae Nassii and
Donna Jo Briley, whose per-
iormanoes possessed the spa:—
kle and polish that were miss»
ing in most or the other per—
iormers. .
ivlr. Nasslf’s Applcgato wasI
intelligent, witty and vcl‘y\ ell,-
postured His stylized deli ry
and incredible timing conveyed
pericctly thc smugncss and dc—l
monstralivencss or this “20ml
century Mcphistopheles," His lnei
larious rendition or “The Good‘
Old Days” was one of the high‘
points oi the show tprovmg that
in musical comedy a good actor
does not necessarily have to no

upper loﬂ), Gloria (Shannon
(Donna J0 Briley) and Mrs. BOY

”helluva" voice but loves tol
ing. The one time that ho didl
iorgct his handicap (ln his duct
with Sue Morris) and really act
ed as he sang, the audience ior-
gnl: It, too.

Guy, Scandlen and Sue Mor- ;
ris did capable jobs as Joc‘
and Meg Boyd. Musically, they
were quite good, but they, too,
scented preoccupied with the i
music (especially Mr. SCHIKL
leli). This preoccupation pre-
vented thcni irom making
their characters iclt as‘ iullv
as tncy might have been, In
the last scene oi the show,
however, when Applegate was
throwing himseli around the
stage so woiiderlully, they rosc ‘
to the occasion and blossomed
iorth in fine style to end the
show the way a show should
end—with a great scene.

Joe Golden ectcrl Mr. Welch
very ot‘fcctivley, although he had
trouble with lines once or twice.
He was physically inipi'essivel
and added a certain inaturity‘
to a sometimes immature look-

 

blesscd with a good “we in ing cast, Bill McCombs, on the
Order to Put- a Song across), In other hand, seemed quite iii-ab
the opinion of this l‘CVIeWQr,‘eaSC on stage and displayed M
Mr. Nassii turned in one or tlic:consimncy in his portrayal of
very best performances of. h15,tho “filtyish” baseball manager.

Slnn), and (lower 1e“) Lola

11 (Susan Morris) look on.

role they played within the}
show. Thc production numbel'l
of “Tho Game,” ior cxample,’
took a turn from the. hilarious
toward the ridiculous whcn sung
with the naivctc that the ch

actcrs prcscntcd would suggcs
Howard Dunn, as Ricky, hmv
cvcr, showed a ﬁne sense of

lcomtIdy and seemed to hold the

"team” together through
oral uncertain moments.
The choruses did a good job
but hail trouble getting the pro ‘
duction numbers oil the ground
much at the time. One of the
problems sccined to be a lack
of consistency. One instance
that coincs to mind is the first '
number oi the show, “Six
Months.” Most or the women
sang well the role or the dis-
gusted wiic, while a tow smilc
cd girlishly and ﬂuttered their ‘
eyelashes. It may seem quite
minor, but this and the ire . .
eral lack oi polish lrept the
numbers irom being real y
memomble. ,

The dancing was quite well
done, with Sydney Colvin and
Sun Brown turning in cspcciallyl
good jobs, The two duos by'
Mrs, Voertinan and Griﬂ‘ Pl'llch»:
ard wcrc bcautitully danced but

saw

. ing. The cartoonish set which

, black curtain
other scellosi

{Opposes Oaih

did not lend itscli to the in- i Oterlm tolltgc last wcck .
tensity of the scenes that were inounccd its complctc with»
Pli‘yed 1" Hunt of IR and ‘dl'awzll irom participation in inc
”‘9”.“5 "0 “““Y “des‘g‘mr fedora] govcrnincnt's student
technique between the three i

l‘lozm program, under the Na

sets themselves, or between
them and the draping and itional Dclensc Education act of,
citect used in 1958, so long as an objectiona-
iblc "disclaimer aflidovit" is rc-
“ must be mi howm'm‘, that‘ouircd oi studont applicants tor
\ir, Applcgat bedroom “'leicdcral funds
most cfiectivc, wcll designed and: ‘
nicely executed, The lights were! In voting as it did, the o‘icr-
not too good during most oi thelnn board supported a “name

second act. and such things as, g g .
mg props and fallinglnghts‘mous Vlamlty resolution ”adorned
were qune distracting ,reccotiy which stated
Last, but coitainly not icast,lthcrc should be no comprvwise
Mia Nelson, Mr. Howc and Herwa the p ciplc involved in our
Hana)?“ did a“ amazing job of oppostion to the disclaimer al—
rcplaclng the usual 20-picCC 'ﬁdavlt. requirement in the stu-

bandv ‘dcnt loan provisions of the Na-
Summmg uniMr Nassll “ﬁasltional Deleasc r). icatioa act."

terriﬁc ”orchids" to Miss,
Brilcy . . . and “Damn Yankees”
was the most “damn" fun this
reviewer has had in a theatrci
tor a “damn” long tnnci :

was the commissioner's ofﬁce

The Grinncll college Board
of Trustees rciuscd the funds
from the same program last
spring iollowing a rccommcnda<

tion {ion the facility.

 

 

Remember:
‘H’le CHRISTMAS FORM‘A'L
is Dec. 11

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long career with Players.

Miss Briley accomplished the
most didicult acting job oi the
entire show with the finesse
characteristic oi a much older
and more experienced actress
She‘ hmi’dl'ed herself beautifulv
1y on the stage and was more
thansconvincing in every rc—
spcct, nor marvelous voice,l
coupled with the agility oi her
acting, built both oi hcr inn-
sical numbers into real “Show
stoppers" in anymle’s terms,
Miss Briley must be consider-
ed a valuable ﬁnd in this or
any scason.

Although Mi: Nassit carried
the heavicst comcdy load oi the
show. therc'was another note
worthy pcriorniancc. Judy Dcclc
cr's caricature oi an "old maid
midwestci-n clubvwoman" pro
vided some of thc Shaw's iunJ,
.niest moments; the ovation she
received in Scene Vl was wcll
deserved.

Bob Norris turned in on cue
cellent Job of acting as youligl
Joc Hardy. He was likable, tulll
oi energy and well deﬁned. lie,
too, gavc the audience some a»
tromely runny moments during
Lola's “seduction” number, i

Unfortunately, his musical
numbers did not measure up to
the rest oi his performance. His
prcoccupation With the, music
itscli seemed to say, “Here’s Bob
Norris who can't. sing a notcr
so please bear with him," and
hold us back irom believing that
he was Joe, Hardy who has a‘

i

i

i

 

tr‘i'lul political .\tl\t>ill\0nwnt}

Vote Republican
Defeat

Gilmour

He handled his cigar Well, but
other than that, gave no .sugges»

were not particularly outstand—t
ing examples oi chor-cography.‘
tion or his age or dilomma. it The mambo lacked 2. mm“
must be considered, however compact quality and seemed at
that he stepped into the part times to escape the duo; they,
in the middle of production tobccmc merely two dancers do:
ﬁll an unochctod vacancy. ling identical stops simultaneous—l
Shannon Slon, quite unimprcs-'ly. The “Two Lost Souls” numei
sive as Gloria. the sophisticated bar was certainly compact,
newspaper-woman, 'secmed vcry‘cnoughiindecd, sometimes Peril
uneasy and tense much of the,‘hap.s a little too “compact.” to‘
time. She lacked the ﬂare oi vi-, blend well with the manner in
vacity that might have made hex" which the song was presented‘
character (and pertonnance) by Joe and Lola.
more important and was unable Technical“, me 51“,“, MS
to convey the. excitement and “My satishaory. perhaps this
intensity oi this particular re was done for a desired mm,
1’0”” 0“ the ”all Of a big: but there seemed to be little
StOI‘Y- or no consistency in the stag- ,
The baseball 5
certainly had “umph,” seenicd - I
badly conceived lor the most
part. They looked and acted hire
a bunch of saildslotmrs rather
than the seasoned veterans that
they were. supposed to her This
did some strange things to the

team, while it

GLASSES

Malde and Repaired in
our Laboratory.

STRAND

Now - Ends Sat.

Carol Lynley
Brandon DcWiltlc

“Blue Denim”

SUN. THRU WEDr
CONTINUOUS SUNDAY

Gary Cooper
Rita Hayworth

"They Came
To C’orduru"

Plus Magoo 0' loan

Conl'qcf Lenses
' cases AND
SOLUTIONS

EYES
EXAMINED

E. J. Jensen. O.D.

Optometrist

Across from post office

 

 

 

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